Ariel, also known as Avi Process Number 5, was exploring.

It wasn’t particularly exciting, though. Sure, the horizon was constantly expanding. Sure, it was neat to watch as raw ectoplasm was pulled from the “sky” and converted into physical matter before her eyes as she walked to keep up with the process.

The sight was akin to those disintegration effects you’d see in the movies, but in reverse. The ectoplasm was very shiny and colourful, like rainbows given physical form as they neared, then transitioned and converted into the landscape that she was currently walking on. The ground, covered in soil, rocks, and budding flora looked as though it had always been there. Someone not familiar with the nature of the Realm would assume that everything they beheld had been there for eons.

Nope.

This was all new. She was very impressed with just how… potent [Genesis, Greater] was. From the archives that Altaea had left in her… databanks, the version of [Genesis] that was taught before Altaea’s unfortunate eviction from her original world was… lame in comparison. Ariel was glad that Altaea had retained the traditional teachings of the “ancients” because the… nerfed versions taught to the public just plain sucked.

Ariel shook her head, enjoying her new body. Yes, she was almost identical to Altaea, but she’d made a few adjustments. The primary one had been to reduce her bust size. Again, she couldn’t understand how Altaea had managed with her 36GG bust, but she had mad respect for her. Anyone able to fight as a Paladin, for years on end, to save her universe with her friends while carrying such a massive burden was beyond impressive.

Ariel shook her head. She’d reduced her bust by several letter grades. Sure, she would still be considered “busty” back on Earth, but nowhere near as attention-grabbing as Altaea would have been over there.

Another change that she’d made was the hair colour. She’d become rather enamoured with the purples of the Aneath Clan, so she’d chosen a deep purple that verged on black that had a few lighter highlights here and there. Her hair was still long, with slight helix-like waves to it, though. She very much enjoyed having long hair, even though it wasn’t practical at times.

She’d kept her height, coming in at just over 182cm. Tall by most standards, but it was what she was familiar with. Ariel grinned. Sure, the rest of her figure might look “willowy”, but she’d kept the hourglass figure. Was that vain? More than likely. But since Altaea had given Avi- and thus her- her own form, she wanted to stick to that… except for the impractical parts though.

Well, maybe she could have kept the large bust given how well Viridian Silk performed…? Nah. That size was still impractical, even with the body of a High Elan.

She looked down at herself, taking in the Mass Effect style armour. It was that “carbon black”, though it did sport her favourite “N7” logo on the left side of her chest, and again on her right pauldron. It was very much not the same as what Altaea had left for them.

The armour may have looked like N7 armour, but it incorporated technologies from several different universes. As fantastic and ahead of its time as the original materials were, she’d gone with a few alloys from the Star Wars universe as they were surprisingly durable. The plating would undergo another revision once they were able to start producing the “Beskie” that Megami had made in larger quantities.

They’d also discovered that Beskie wasn’t just good at dissipating and scattering mana, but it also worked with directed energy. Energy like condensed/beam energy. Like lasers, blaster bolts, phasers, plasma, and whatnot.

If it weren’t so damn heavy, it would make wonderful armour plating. Well, they’d figure something out. Probably just making it much thinner or something. Which would work pretty well if the stuff weren’t so damn hard to shape with the equipment they had on hand.

Ariel shrugged as she hopped over a narrow crevasse that appeared in her path, landing lightly on the other side, her maneuvering jets taking most of the credit for that. For as physically strong as she was, that was only comparing her to “mortals”. If she’d started cultivating, or even body refining, then she wouldn’t have needed the extra boost that her armour gave her.

She shook her head, just glad that she even had a body. Asura did well enough with the pseudo psicrystal body that she used most of the time, having done miraculous things with [Holographic Projection], but that wasn’t for her.

Ariel grinned. They were all just different aspects of Avi’s personality. They were one and the same, and they each actively shared the memories and experiences of the others, all at the same time. They were one mind, but working at different tasks. She understood why Kinkade kept most of what he was doing from Joram, as Joram was a bit more than a little bit… distractable. Sure, the ADHD had been “fixed” when Altaea had remade him, but decades of living with it had very much set the stage, as it were.

Quick processing had been a strong point for Joram back on Earth, especially given his inability to stay focussed on something that didn’t truly interest him. Well, he’d not only kept his ability to quickly process things, but he’d kept the habit of working, or thinking, on several things at once. So, given that Joram was trying to go to “University”, as it were, not to mention the many other worries on his mind, they’d all agreed to let Joram just focus on what was in front of him.

And by “they”, she meant Avi and Joram’s extra Minds. She was very much pleased that it had worked rather well. Sure, Joram still had a ways to go, but he was making progress; and that was what mattered.

Ariel idly scanned a new mineral deposit with her built-in omni-tool as passed by, adding it to the growing database. It wasn’t that she was needed out here or anything. No, she was just out for a walk, taking time getting used to her body and the new armour that Avi had made. Or, rather, that she’d had produced.

Given how fast the cycle of production went for the replicators, they’d managed to get them to produce items with a resolution of 13pm, or 1.3*10-11m. And the cycle of “make something that can make something incredibly tiny, that can then make something that can make things that are even smaller” just kept going. Nano bots were very much a thing now, not to mention the even more refined Pico Bots that were starting to be produced.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Replicator technology had very much been a game-changer for production in the Realm, not to mention Avi’s own personal Realm. It wasn’t as large as Joram’s, but given that Avi had used [Genesis, Greater] to create hers, well, it would just be a matter of time before their Realms were basically the same size.

That said, Avi’s production had very much ramped up. Various flora had been transplanted, replicators procured, and facilities built up. Compared to Joram’s Realm, which was mostly raw and untouched, Avi’s wasn’t.

Ariel grinned as she stopped and looked back at where the mega-structures of Avi’s production city stood. Given that all of the energy produced in the Realm was “clean energy”, the expected clouds of smoke and smog weren’t to be seen here. Just massive research, refining, production, manufacturing, and storage warehouses could be seen jutting up from the horizon. It was quite the sight to behold given that it had only taken a few months to build up. That was mainly due to Avi redirecting resources from the orbital space station hiding behind the second moon that orbited Dovaynia, but still. The influx of construction materials, various droids numbering in the tens of thousands, and a drive to “Get it done!” had worked miracles.

Ariel, being a shard/facet of Avi’s personality, and thus given to having a slightly different perspective than the other Minds she had running, thought that it might do some good to have Joram contributing to things over here, just as Avi had done for Joram and his Realm. She understood not distracting that easily distracted man, but….

She sighed as she scanned another mineral deposit before sitting down on it.

Ariel knew that she and Joram were connected, practically the same being. But Avi’s tendency to just hare off and do something were very much in line with what Altaea would have done. Which she didn’t agree with. Not having been there, or having been given the memories surrounding Altaea’s departure, Ariel very much disapproved of they way Altaea had left things, and how she’d left Joram.

Sure, Altaea had left him with Avi, and thus her, but the damage that it had caused had been profound. Joram went about his life as though it hadn’t affected him that much, but she knew better. From his reluctance in trusting people to his inability to easily form connections with them all the way to how long it took for him to finally get together with Avi… she saw how damaged he was, even if he couldn’t or wouldn’t see it.

Heck, even his getting together with Avi had been the result of the Saiyan DNA that they’d assimilated. Well, that had probably been what they’d both needed, really. That extra… confidence had gone a long way to getting Joram “out there”, as it were. As much as Avi didn’t admit to herself, Ariel could admit that Avi had inherited a bit too much… caution from Joram when she’d been formed.

She was very much glad that Avi was now getting laid on a regular basis. She was equally annoyed that Joram was still unable to form other intimate connections, but she supposed that decades of monogamy being drilled into his head was a bit hard to get around. Though, he was starting to, albeit slowly. Very slowly.

If she’d been one of those poor girls, she’d have likely… pushed a bit harder. Well, it was probably a good thing that she wasn’t one of them, because she knew just how stubborn Joram could be. Heck, she was too. But. She was more open-minded than he was.

She was aware of the double standard latent in polygamy and harems. Each woman was expected to be devoted to just one man, while the man could have multiple women that he expected to remain faithful to him. Well, there was also the female version, but that was effectively the same. She really didn’t care about all that. Sure, she, being Avi and all, was very much in love with Joram as well as his Minds, as they were all still him. Probably much how Joram’s Minds were also in love with every Mind that Avi had; Kinkade and Asura being a prime example of that.

But she could also admit to herself that, after having gotten to know the others, she was more than OK with having fun with them. Now, Ariel wasn’t sure if any of the other wife candidates would be interested in physical relations with the other wives/wife candidates, but she didn’t have a problem with it. They were all in the same boat, as it were. They all liked/loved Joram. They all, pretty much, liked each other. So, why not get closer, as it were?

Ariel looked over her shoulder at the receding line of creation. It was very beautiful. She wondered if Joram would bring his future wives here, or to his Realm, to see it one day. Not just the sight of the line of creation, but also to watch how the already created horizon as it changed. The… city, had been build on segmented platforms. Each structure had its own platform, and those platforms had been built with adjustable supports that could alter their length. Why? Well, when the planet’s curve was constantly changing to accommodate its new size, well, building didn’t like that much. She wasn’t sure when the anti-grav units would start being produced but when they were, it would make things so much easier. Well, that and when the Realm got large enough to finally allow for “space”, then making a series of orbital stations would solve a lot of those issues.

Ariel shrugged again. All of that was for the eggheads, as it were. Her personality was more geared toward… activity. Upon reflection, she was very likely to have come into being due to the added aggression that came with the Saiyan heritage that Avi now enjoyed. Sure, there were crazy and quite frankly OP benefits to it, but Avi hadn’t enjoyed the added aggression and competitiveness that came with it.

So, that led to Ariel’s “creation”. Well, that sounded a bit more dramatic than it actually was. Anyways. Ariel didn’t really care as, again, she and Avi were the same being. She was just a facet of the whole… given autonomy of thought… that was still part of the whole.

Ariel shook her head again, not wanting to bother with all that. Yes, she had all the same knowledge and capabilities as Avi, but that didn’t matter. She was closer to being a “Marine” than anything, so she felt as though she should go with it. Hence the armour. And Harrier and Black Widow on her back mag-strips and the M5 at her hip. And the lightsaber on the other hip….

Yeah, she was kitted up. Her amour even sported shield generators akin to those from the ME Universe, though they’d been upgraded significantly. Now, she just needed to get out and have some fun….

One day.

She was aware that Dovaynia wasn’t Earth. The local fauna was considerably more robust than what was found on Earth. For as kitted out as she was, she was under no illusions of grandeur. Tier 0 creatures would be easy enough to handle, but once they passed into Tier 1, well, it would get harder. Tier 2 would be even more difficult, and fighting anything in Tier 3 was almost guaranteed to go poorly for her.

The reason why Avi had enjoyed the tremendous success she’d enjoyed in hunting down the extermination squad members was that they’d all underestimated a “mortal”. The various creatures she might run into wouldn’t likely suffer from the same hubris. What was the saying? “A lioness will use all of her strength even when hunting a rabbit”.

Yup. In some ways, animals were much smarter than people were.

Hence why she wasn’t out hunting or something like that. Even though she would have happily done so, and probably would at some point, she also found waste downright stupid. When she eventually started hunting, she wouldn’t just “take a picture and leave the beast behind to rot”. No, she would store her kills away for later use. There were many beasts that had parts like claws, fangs, and their hides that were very useful to the various crafters, not to mention the meat that would go to keeping Brightside fed.

Ariel adjusted her AR visor as she checked the time- Dovaynian, not local. Joram was scheduled to start working on the Belladonnas soon, and she wondered if he’d appreciate some company, as solitude tended to allow for imaginations to run wild.

She nodded, smiling. Yup, she’d pop on over and keep him company. And if something more were to happen while she kept him company, well, she was still Avi.

With a wicked grin that Ariel hadn’t noticed forming, she shifted over to Joram’s Realm for some fun.