The next morning caught me by surprise. It snuck up on me because I'd been working on the power armor designs all night long. The most obvious improvement, was replacing the armor's neosteel plating and components for the Khalai alloy, which I'd starting calling Crysbronze.
During the formation of Crysbronze, the starting alloy was a true slurry of dozens of different metals. This slurry was then infused with an artificial form of khaydarin crystal and then the molecular lattice was vibrated into the most stabile formation possible. Did I really understand the chemistry of it? No, not yet. The forge handled the heavy lifting of the calculations, I only needed to understand the process. While that didn't sit well with me, I didn't have the time to dig into every single detail right now. This one step improved the defensive performance of the armor by about 25%. As an extra bonus, it lightened the armor's weight by 10% as well.
The next step was to replace the armor's incredibly intricate electrical system with layers of the artificial Psicrystal. My experiments had shown that Psicrystal was everything one needed for machines. It acted as a circuit, a resistor, a transistor, or even a superconductor. It could generate fields, full spectrum electromagnetic fields, which meant Psicrystal could act as a fuel cell, a battery, a generator, and so much more. In large enough sizes it could store huge amounts of data, or even function as an easily programable processor itself. A layer of Psicrystal gave the armor a 12% increase increase in reaction speed and extended the battery life of the suit by 50%. It was also added vast series of improvements to the onboard computer assistance module for things like targeting and mapping. I thought about completely replacing the power generation module, but I wasn't quite sure how to get the psicrystal to remain stable under the full load required by combat. I knew was possible with a larger crystal, I simply hadn't figured out a way to do it at the required size. I struggled to alter the baseline code of the armor's systems to integrate with the Psicrystal code, but I managed a few work arounds.
Lastly, I used some of the more mechanical feedback systems of the Dragoon and the Khalai cyberware to cobble together a small improvement to the strength enhancement of the suit, however it yielded only a 6% improvement. I was certain that I could crank that up once I got some more experience tinkering with both technologies. Sadly, I didn't see a way to upgrade the gel impact lining yet, most Protoss equipment seemed to lack any equivalent of impact gel. That was hardcore, but maybe they didn't need it?
Oh and I'd finally figured out how to get the Forges to enamel the armor in other colors. I decided to go with a deep forest green with a midnight blue trim. A stylized version of Meadran, rendered in silver, would be our emblem. When the first of the new suits rolled off the assembler, I immediately fell in love with it. It looked amazing, and I was dying to hop right in, but I hadn't made it for me. I had Jitters help me haul it out to where Raynor was training our future soldiers. Oof, just the torso was fucking hefty, even with my new Body stat.
Between us, we finally managed to drag it all the way out to New Lordaeron's Town Hall. The sun was still rising but Raynor had already been running the recruits ragged, he stopped when he saw the armor. He went completely still. Sadly, I couldn't tell if that was a good still or a bad still.
"Good Morning! Special delivery for James Raynor!" I was excited, if it worked properly this armor would change so much. The Protoss robots were great and they could certainly defend our territory, but we needed troops that were faster to produce. Numbers would allow us to expand forcefully, if that became necessary. Also increased our military would bring peace of mind for the citizens.
James gave the armor a critical inspection. He tested every joint, poked at every plate. At his satisfied nod, we assembled it around him, making sure that everything fit him to a tee.
Raynor ran a quick diagnostics test. I crossed my fingers, and when that returned an all clear, he quickly started a series of movement tests. After a few minutes, he declared, "Handles like a dream. Smooth as silk and twice as useful. Might have gone a different way on the colors, but hey, this is your rodeo." Now that I knew the armor worked properly, I had Jitters setup two Forges on either side of, and just behind, the Town Hall.
"It'll be a hassle, but we'll scan everyone up and get them all a suit, probably by tomorrow." I called over a few Probes to get started on scanning the recruits.
"Sounds great, Hoss. I'll keep working 'em 'til then." Raynor had his faceplate closed, which showed that I has copied his skull pattern on to the cover. Very intimidating. He started barking at his boys, getting them to redouble their efforts.
I, on the other hand, decided to take a break. I wandered over to the nearby hill side and sat down to stare far out into the badlands for a spell. The minty purple grass had already taken over this area and made for some comfortable sitting. Jitters floated over to be next to me as I stared out at the terrible desert, my mind trying to come up with plans to bring life back to everything I saw. My little Robo-Buddy gave a troubled beep.
"Nah, I'm fine. Just a little overwhelmed, by all of this." I waved my arm to take in everything. "Half the time, I've got no clue what I'm doing, and the other half I'm still confused about whether or not what I'm doing is the right thing." His countering beep was vaguely reproachful. "Hmm. Yeah, I know I'm doing the best I can. That's what bothers me the most. Why didn't they take someone who knew about the kinds of things that are going on here? I can't help but feel like I'm missing opportunities just because I don't understand how this all works." Jitters bumped lightly against me. A kind show of support. I gave him a pat, and sent comforting thoughts at him. His concern stated, he flew off to get some more work done, leaving me to my thoughts.
[ Adjusting...]
[ Quests Offered
Establish two new Outposts in the Badlands around Night City,
They must be at least 50 miles apart.
Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Mercenary Squad Token
Accept: Y/N ]
[ Quest Offered
Establish Outposts in Night City Charter Hills and Santa Domingo areas,
They must be at least half a mile apart.
Reward: 4000 Company Points, 1 Theme Token
Accept: Y/N ]
[ Quest Offered
Regain control of your first Outpost and rebuild it,
Reward: 3000 Company Points, 1 Hero Token
Accept: Y/N ]
[ Quest Offered
Kill 100 Gangoons or 50 Corpo Agents,
Repeatable and Ongoing.
Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Random Supply Token
Accept: Y/N ]
[ Quest Offered
Make an alliance with a local faction,
Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Adjutant Token
Accept: Y/N ]
[ Quest Offered
Survey a different city,
Must have at least 1,000,000 inhabitants.
Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Power Token
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Accept: Y/N ]
"What the Fuck!" The flood of requests startled me. All this time not even a whisper. Now bam! Here's a bunch of tasks for you. It seemed like the Company knew when I was vulnerable, and liked to pile it on.
I started reading the Quests. More outposts, which was already part of the plan, so no stress there. I hit yes on those. A Merc Squad? Do I have to pay them? Maybe not the best reward. In contrast, I definitely wanted a another Theme Token for more power and flexibility. Taking back my first outpost seemed like a no brainer. You bet your sweet ass I wanted that back, again no worries there. I accepted that one. Another Hero, please. I needed all the help I could get, and Raynor was already proving to be a godsend. He was helping the Lordaeron folks get settled in far better than I ever could. I've never been much of a people person.
Killing Gangoon and Corpos, well sure, I'd already made my peace with killing for profit. As long as I knew the target was scum, I'd be able to sleep at night. No problem saying yes to that Quest. Extra supplies would probably be a great bonus. Hmm, I'm already in the process of making an alliance with the Aldecaldos. I felt good about grabbing that one. I wondered what an Adjutant would do for us. Survey a different city. That one seemed like a hassle since I already had a ton of work on my plate. But there was no time limit and I'd need to expand to other cities eventually anyway. Sure bring it on. What's one more stick of straw now? While my first Power had seemed to be a dud, maybe another one would be just what I needed.
Well, having clear goals was better then sitting around moping. Next task, we were going to start some Probes digging their way back towards NC. More work, always.
A dozen new Probes were commissioned from Alina for the newly dubbed "Project Underbridge". This project would create a waystation, slightly to the north of New Lordaeron, which would allow troops and vehicles access to an underground roadway. This project would further build a road that traveled back towards the broken bridge area and construct a new bridge across the canyon, roughly 500' below the former bridge. Once the construction continued on the the other side of the canyon, the roadway would then be aimed towards linking up with and expanding the tunnel the Probes from my Japantown Outpost were digging. After hitting the NET and looking at a few maps of NC, I wondered why the quest wanted me to build another Outpost in Charter Hills which was right next to Japantown.
Project Underbridge's waystation path leading deeper into the earth, would be a gently inclined spiral road. This would make it easier to walk, if needed, or to drive up or down. The bridge itself would be loosely based off the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge in Arizona because it was the only canyon spanning bridge I remembered well enough.
That reminded me of a fun trip with my parents and sister, we saw a lot of the Southwest that summer. Though my parents' real goal was to to see some band they were huge fans of. They didn't take us to the concert. Leaving my sister and I stuck in a Hotel room for together with nothing else to do. Though being the well behaved children we were, we fell asleep watching the cable channels we didn't get back home. Hmm. What bands were shared between this world and mine? Where was the deviation point between the shared history of the two different Earths? A good question though I'm not sure how useful it would be for me to find those answers.
The good news was that once I conveyed my thoughts on the designs to the Probes, my input was no longer necessary. The Robo-Buddies would handle all of the work, some part of me was wondering if it was bad to rely on them so much. I knew that they were capable of real emotions, but they seemed so happy to help. I decided to just take a walk to clear my head. I cast a quick series of spells on myself. Thanks to my Cleanse spell I never had to take off my clothes or armor anymore. At this point, I was so wound up, so worried about hidden threats, that I wouldn't even take off my armor in the Valley.
I slowly made my way over to one of the farms, cause my contemplations to turn towards whether we should start a few more compounds. The Nomads would be here soon and I'd like to have enough food production for everyone. Speaking of more mouths to feed, I should expand our rations subscription, maybe triple the current amount? More folks would be coming later I'm sure. Since the rations were specially packed in an interdimensional container they never went bad. Which meant that it was always better to have too much and not need it than need it and not have it.
That thought tackled, I soon began enjoying walking amongst the already waist high stalks of corn. My eyes started to notice the differences between these crops and ordinary plants from back on my original world. Mana had started to saturate everything in the area quite nicely, helping everything to grow not only faster but stronger. We would likely have the first harvests within the week, and future cycles would become even faster as the energy further increased growth rates. Then I considered what the cost of all this accelerated growth might be, but thankful got distracted by the motions of the farmers weeding and checking the plants for pests. They had mentioned before that there hardly seemed to be any of the usual bugs, but the weeds were becoming a real hassle. Was that the magic energies flowing around us, or just part of the wasteland's normal condition?
Expansions of the base farm buildings had already turned each into a little complex. It was as if each farming compound was it's own little domain, and with a rapidly developing ecosystem of their own. They had their own wells now, toolsheds, composting bins, silos and barns. Also a few trees lined each farm, those were already bonded to wisps for more lumber production. I was told that surrounding each farm with trees helped with wind erosion of the top soil. Lastly each farm no matter the type, had their own chicken coup. Apparently the Feralassian chickens were over populating the valley, so now new chicks were rounded up by the Probes and brought to live on the farms. The grubs that were the chicken primary food source had already found their way to the fields, somehow, where they help aerate the soil.
Huh, I soon understood that I didn't need to be so worried about the logistics. Mana infusion made most things better. 'Course my fuzzy wuzzy mood that didn't last long. I noticed that the farm houses were big enough to house the farmers and any hands, but what about the builders and the laborers? Preemptively sensing my darkening thoughts, Alina assured me that enough housing was already going up not only for the workers and the recruits but for visitors and guests and any new summons.
Though right now, the main priority of the Lordaeron builders was a barracks. A mini fortress where footmen, and after further development, knights could be trained. I wasn't yet sure what the utility of these soldiers would be, but I was more than eager to find out. Walking back towards the Town Hall I caught sight of Probes scanning each of the recruits while Raynor ran them through their drills. I waved at everyone as I continued back toward the Valley. My current goal was to hit the Company Store for more rations and maybe some new farm stock.
Lumi met me at the end of the caves. After we had some perfunctory greeting scratches, he got to his current business. 'Small Brother, is it safe to start roaming outside the Valley yet?'
'Sure, just stay within the zone of the Pylon coverage and you should be fine. Let Faergin know if you see him before I do.' The treant sure liked to roam around, dancing merrily the whole time. He was possibly trying to find a place to root, or maybe to make up for time spent in the Companies' stasis.
Lumi was already gone before I'd finished the sentence. I guess even he had a version of the zoomies. "Ha!" I was quite amused by his antics. He was still a canine despite everything else.
I didn't manage to catch sight of Faergin, but did stop by to check on Meadran. I'd noticed he was becoming quieter lately, I asked if he needed anything. 'No, Young One, it is the nature of my kind to spend long periods in slow thought. We are quiet by nature and find the pace of other folk dizzying at times.' He felt sleepy, and maybe I had been pushing him too hard. I still had little understanding of the needs and desires of the tree folk.
'Ah, I should have thought of that. Sorry Meadran, I'll let you have some peace.' With everything that had been happening, Meadran had probably seen it all as one big blur of activity. It was fair leaning on the tree as much as I had been. Sure, I was desperate at the time, but now I had others to help out.
'Thank you, Young One.'
I finally got to the Company Store. I was starting to realize just how bound, how trapped I was to this system. Feelings of being exploited were bubbling up from my gut. It might be a while before they got to a full boil, but they were there. After all, I'd never asked for this. Yet, I knew I'd already accepted that helping folks and this land was my responsibility. Even if I didn't understand why I thought that way. Maybe this was part of what Meadran meant when he talked about the difference between knowing and understanding.
Turning my mind back to the task at hand, I pondered my options in the store's menu. Since we were installing Moon Wells into each Farm, I went with rice this time. A nice sounding Pandarian Jade Rice for 500 CPoints. Then I scroll through the beans options. I picked up a set of Hinterland Hardy Beanstalks for 300 CPoints. Those would require trellises but I was sure it wouldn't be a problem. Let's see, what else? I wanted some bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Well, not absolutely everything, but a lot of things, maybe even most things. I choose a Camberland Pig for another 500 CPoints. Then I doubled the subscription on the livestock feed for 200 more CPoints.
After that, I went with a bulk package of high quality rations for 1000 people for 500 a month. It rolled into my other subscription so I only spent 400 more CPoints. Leaving me with just 300 Company Points. I was really going to have to hustle and complete some of those quests before next month came around. I had no desire to see how the Company dealt with defaulting on payments.
After making sure the Probes knew about the new crates. I went back to the Town Hall and summoned two more builders and laborer along with six more farmers. Then I let Dughan and Raynor know about the new farms, and fresh batch of supplies coming in. I went on to explain about the Nomads and how we were to treat them as honored guests.
Dughan gave his typical crashing salute, "As you wish My Lord." Reliable as always.
Raynor just laughed, "Tryin' to impress your lady friend, Hoss?" And there it was, a small smirk on Dughan's face, before he schooled his expression back to neutral. I was so glad to be able to amuse everyone.
"What? No! I'm just trying to make sure there going to be plenty of food." I grumbled, which apparently was the signal to start ripping into me.
They both got into giving me shit for the next hour. So happy to help moral.
Why me?