13.1 The Ubermen Categories
(Optimisation, Creation, Transformation, Subjection)
Win’s progressed miles in the couple days since he was given Maeven’s textbooks. It couldn’t have been a handful of patrols before his minion started to walk. Win had commented that it didn’t look very natural, moving with a robotic hesitance as if its armour was severely rusted in place, he doesn’t realise how lucky he is to be able to say that.
He must have always had it in him. All he needed was a push. The rate will plateau, eventually. It has to.
“Ready?” says Maeven.
“51,” answers Win
“43,” answers Maeven. “Close.”
He doesn’t appear to appreciate the comment.
“The Ubermen Categories distinguishes Will into seven types,” she begins. “I’m sure you know them at least on a superficial level.”
“I know Will for Creation,” he says.
“Do you know you have a secondary?”
He doesn’t answer.
“Maybe you can guess once I’ve gone through them,” she says. She grasps her hands. “So, Concepts. A Concept is the repertoire of abilities a User is able to manifest. We know that they usually follow some sort of theme. Your Concept is your minionism. Captain Eyeshot’s is her physical and weapon enhancement,” she explains. “User Concepts are infinitely unique. So there is also infinite ways we could possibly understand them. That’s why the Ubermen Categories were made, to standardise our notion of Will and the broad ways it can manifest. You know about Will for Creation, that’s when Will is used to create. What about Will for Optimisation?”
Win pauses. “That’s about strengthening things.”
Maeven picks a rock from the ground. “Yes, it can be. Optimisation represents the use of Will to maximise or minimise the quality of something.” She shows the rock in her hand. “For example, it could make this rock heavier or lighter or sharper or blunter. But its most distinguishing idea is that it manipulates an inherent quality of the subject. If I turned this into something completely different, let’s say, a stick, that would most likely fall under something like Will for Transformation.” She lowers her hand. “There’s something else that’s unique to Optimisation that is not present in five out of the seven Ubermen Categories.” She pauses to make sure he’s listening. “Every User has a bit of it.” she says.
They stop so that Heigen can catch up. The minion doesn’t move unless Win devotes to it his full attention. So they can only walk distances at a time; very, very slowly. First them, then Heigen, and so on.
“That’s why Users are stronger than the unwilled, Optimisation tends to support us as we grow, no matter how we choose to specialise. Overtime, your wounds will heal faster, you’ll to be less prone to sickness and your cognition will improve; you’ll probably get better at the counting game, that’s the benefit of Optimisation constantly working in the background. Look forward to that—do you notice anything about my fist?”
Maeven raises it again, the rock caged in her fingers. Faint white swirls emit from her skin.
“There’s smoke coming out of it,” says Win.
“That’s called Resonance. My Resonance, at least the appearance of it.” She flares her grip with Optimisation Will, then opens her fingers to reveal the rock has been crushed to dust. She pours the dust from her hands and pats her pants.
“Will for Subjection,” Maeven continues, “is the use of Will to subject people and things to the User’s desire. I think this is Ina’s specialty. She uses snakes that manipulate you in different ways depending on the species.”
Will for Transformation—that’s straightforward, that’s using Will to change something into something else.” She points to the side street. “If I turned that moped into—I don’t know—a piece of bread, that would probably make me a Transformist.”
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“Can you?”
“No.” she answers. “The Categories say that every user dominates in one category. They also tend to have a second, sometimes a third. Which brings me to what I was saying earlier, you have a secondary as a minionist. Do you know what that is now?”
They stop walking. Win doesn’t have to think long. He seems to just realise it as he answers, “Subjection.”
Maeven nods. “That’s how you control Heigen.”
Win raises his arms and calls his Will for the minion to catch up to them. Just like how Hunter does it, he’s using Subjection to command Heigen to walk.
“Let’s pause on the Ubermen categories and think about the rock for a second, okay? If a User used Will to change the rock into the shape of a ball, what Ubermen category would they fall under?”
“Transformation?”
“I would say so too. But what if they achieved that by minimising its sharpness? That sounds more like Optimisation, right? And what if I actually commanded it to change to a sphere? That sounds like Subjection.”
Win blinks at her, his confusion growing.
“The User’s intention sits at the heart of it. Subjection is associated with the intention to command, Transformation the intention to change, Optimisation the intention to enhance. If you truly want to know what category they’re using, you have to understand their fundamental approach to solving problems. Two things: category in appearance and category of mind. They don’t technically have to be the same,” she explains. “Cool, right?”
“Not really.”
She stops grinning.
“Sorry.”
“Well…at the end of the day, it generally is how it looks. But even experienced Users aren’t immune to misreading Will, so, don’t worry about it if you do.”
They’ve reached the end of a path. Beyond it is a school. They can hear the quiet squeaks of the playground swings, the crickets chirping as they start to loop back around. She’s grown to like these patrols. After dusk, the streets go quiet and the sounds of rushing sand and buzzing of streetlamps are a welcome respite from rowdy assignees.
“Ready?” says Maeven. “294.”
“266,” says Win. He scratches under his cap. “Dammit.”
Moon’s up high, she realises. “I think I have to go. What’s the time?”
Win clicks on his wristwatch and shows it to her.
“Yes. I have to help Sky with something. You can head back yourself.”
“There’s still three categories left.”
“Next time,” she says, rushing off.
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13.2 Sky Company
Completing this campaign is, as Victor puts it, as much of a game of intelligence as it is of strength and power. But before interrogating locals, before gathering the information necessary to make the right decisions, their foremost priority is to gather trust. That is, apparently, the key to the VR’s success. Ocean Company hasn't been filling potholes and re-levelling pathways just to pass the time. Building a relationship with the citizens of Mortareste means they can be open to the Reserve as to what they know about the nature of the enemy.
This means the fact of there being an enemy in the first place must have already made the rounds. Whether Maeven started it when she told Ocean after the replenishment mission or someone else, the assignees of the Reserve have now established a Them.
“That is why we’ve been tasked with eradicating one of the most troublesome criminal organisations here in Jurn.” Victor taps on his fold out bunk in the sleeping tent, crinkling a spot on the map. “Sky Company, Maeven, any questions before we start?”
“What’s the organisation?” asks Henri, assignee number six. A wide-chested man with black hair that stands up like a patch of grass.
“It appears to be a syndicate of robbers. A fairly sophisticated one, too.”
“There a boss?” asks assignee seven, Eliza. She always keeps her yellow hair in a loose bun, and she doesn’t smile when she talks, wearing clear, wraparound glasses. Intimidating, Maeven thinks, in a more brooding way than Ina is.
“That’s what we’re thinking. Someone who provides them with weapons, connections and bail money, presumably in return for their undying loyalty and the commission of stolen goods.”
“And the plan?” says Eliza.
“We take watch over these streets and wait for something to happen.” On the map, Victor circles the northeast corner of the city with his finger. “Captain Leichman informed me that we’ve kept distance from the area as to not scare them off. If we spot some activity, stand back and observe where they hand over the stolen goods.” He looks at Doom, assignee number nine.
Doom’s a Transformation User, he’s crafted his body to look like a sort of rusty, tinny version of Frankenstein’s monster.
“Sorry Doom,” says Victor. “But you’re not exactly inconspicuous. You’ll be sitting this one out.”
Doom creaks as he nods. Then the leader lays out the rest of his plan.
Victor, Henri, Eliza and Maeven will each survey an assigned quadrant of the city’s northeast for two days, if necessary. Afterwards, they’ll meet together at the community centre to exchange what they’ve learnt.
There are no uncomfortable questions, no jokes. When Victor speaks, Sky Company keeps quiet and listens. Rooms draw to him every time the red-haired assignee opens his mouth, don’t they? How does he do that?
Perhaps he’s a Subjection User, and his influence slithers onto people like Ina’s green viper.
Maeven feels a Resonance burning her neck. It’s Captain Eyeshot, standing some distance behind her from outside the tent, possibly spying on her through the tarp. As the weeks go by, she’s finding herself growing increasingly attuned to the captain’s Will Signature.
“Got that, Riel?” asks Victor.
She eyes the leader and nods.