After Balor departed the civilization shard’s atrium in the center of the citadel, hastily making off to prepare for Earth’s failing assimilation, Coop checked on his companions. Looking around, he felt like he was the only one even remotely alarmed by each bit of additional information they gathered. He expected at least a few of them to be falling down a rabbit hole, imagining the possibilities and implications with two different unchecked entities governing the universe. Normally, he thought he was the steady one, taking things one step at a time, but everyone else was the picture of indifference this time around. Coop shook his head to himself, worried about what the apocalypse had done to his friends’ psychology, and what it had done to his own.
Kayla was casually polishing the hilt of her sword with the edge of her waistband and Camila and Charlie were quietly joking about something else entirely. Coop glanced at Jones, hoping to find a reasonable reaction, but even the senior caretaker avoided being overwhelmed by the revelations he had received all at once. Instead, the old man was carefully observing the stone construction of the citadel, evidently getting used to his new abilities in the meantime.
Coop nodded, deciding that he was the weirdo for even considering galactic existential threats, truly ancient conflicts, and gray goo, when the day-to-day was already plenty to occupy their focus. In any case, he was sure that he would have plenty of time for idle thoughts during his next grind session. Obviously, even for him, his next grind session took precedence over figuring out their place in the universe. That was another topic he would have to leave for others with more expertise.
Marcus jotted down some notes to remind himself to follow up with Balor like he was making sure a shopping list included milk and bread. Coop got the impression the Viceroy believed that whatever the stonemason worked up would be diplomatic in nature and therefore wasn’t something that the Champion would be particularly involved with. That was fine with both of them.
Since everyone was more or less waiting for Coop, he nodded to himself and got moving. “What do you say we get this Purification Chip installed?” He proposed as he approached the civilization shard, breaking the calm that had claimed everyone else to focus on the next step forward.
“About time.” Camila taunted playfully before being lightly shoved by Charlie. Jones smirked at the exchange between the girls, obviously glad that Coop had ended up with worthy companions that could both advise him and keep him grounded.
Coop placed the small red disc on the ground underneath the floating red crystal, where a berm had been cut through the stone floor of the citadel, housing the shard, and stepped away. He expected a grand occurrence to initiate the new development. They hadn’t forgotten the epic reveal of the phantoms when he completed the quest to retrieve the Spectral Relic.
Nothing happened for a moment even though he had done just what Lyriel had instructed. Coop clicked his teeth, disappointed that his expectations were never met when it came to their developments, but before he lost hope, the civilization shard subtly hummed with energy, gradually escalating until it was clear that some power was at play.
“Here we go.” He breathed, feeling a little giddiness despite constantly being let down.
The red disc hovered off the ground toward the bottom tip of the shard, as if it was drawn by a magnet, buzzing with unseen energy. The disc started to rotate, slowly increasing speed until it started to gently glow, matching the shard’s ever present red aura and eventually exceeding it with its own vivid color. The disc was a blur of speed and light after just a few more seconds.
The illumination continued to escalate, along with the buzzing, until it was difficult to endure. Coop squinted and clenched his jaw, as the light and sound grew beyond uncomfortable levels, but as soon as it reached the point that Coop was avoiding looking at it directly, the light abruptly cut off and the sound stopped. Coop’s eyes took a moment to adjust from the sharp color back to the regular ambient light. He blinked a few times to speed up the process and observe what had happened.
The final result was a simple, opaque band of solid red, ringing the lower tip of the civilization shard. Coop thought it was a bit disappointing after all, but that was typical of literally every development the system provided, so why not with the pseudo-system objects as well. Another moment passed where nothing happened.
Coop shrugged. He was ready to call it. They had accessorized the shard with a cheap band of colored jewelry, and that was it. Coop thought the process was done. “Well-” He began to express his thoughts to his companions before the shard shot a red beam straight up through the carefully crafted skylight in the citadel, interrupting him with a burst of energy. He could feel heat on his skin as the new vivid red light extended into the sky, like he was standing just slightly too close to a heat lamp.
A system prompt appeared, unbidden, in the center of his vision asking for him to declare the name of the faction. Coop ignored it for a moment, but realized it demanded his immediate attention. The prompt burned? Coop went cross eyed as he read the message and had no way to minimize it or interact with it other than to do what it said.
“Argh! Marcus! What should the name be?” He asked a bit desperately, as having the message so prominently displayed in his line of sight was quickly becoming more uncomfortable. It felt like having a pair of huge eyelashes on top of his retinas while his eyes were being forced open.
“Gah! Even blinking doesn’t help.” Coop complained. He rubbed his watering eyes with his knuckles, feeling the agitation grow, while cursing the Avatar under his breath. This was clearly not a proper prompt created by the system. These exiles were definitely not as sophisticated as whoever established the system in the first place, and their hacked together tools left a lot to be desired. The system never left him feeling like it was physically present, but this prompt was rapidly becoming agony.
Marcus took his time, not understanding the rush, as he flipped through some more notes. Clearing his throat he started reading like they were just having a casual meeting in the Clumsy Shark, oblivious to Coop’s suffering. “The top suggestion was The Unchosen, but there was no clear majority. Some of the others included The Factionless, The Human Alliance…” He trailed off as he listed one-off suggestions and Coop struggled to focus.
“What about The Lighthouse?” Jones intuitively suggested, catching on to the underlying purpose of the faction even quicker than the rest had. The faction was a simple extension of Ghost Reef, a place where they intended to build a sanctuary, to offer refuge to those metaphorically lost at sea. It was perfect.
While the rest casually discussed the options, adding their own and not recognizing Coop’s tortured expression, Coop submitted The Lighthouse as the faction name and was rid of the prompt once and for all. The beam shooting into the sky ceased just as abruptly as it had begun, but Coop exhaled a huge sigh of relief at not having to interact with the message any further. The feeling of having grains of sand pressed against his eyeballs couldn’t have been worse.
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“Alright, it’s done.” Coop breathed, happy with the result despite the difficulties. The Lighthouse encapsulated their vision for Ghost Reef, which was to become a beacon of security for those who sought it out.
He waited for another prompt, or some sort of confirmation, but once again, nothing came. “Now what?” He asked, looking around at his companions. Charlie and Camila had taken a seat on the stone benches that lined the perimeter of the atrium section of the citadel, spectating from a distance to avoid more surprise displays. Kayla and Jones were watching Coop while Marcus continued to gaze at his notes. It seemed like no one had any answers, so Coop accessed the civilization shard to see if he had new menus.
As soon as he put his hand closer, to interact with the shard, the air rippled as a pulse was emitted in all directions from the crystal. “What the heck? Why is this so janky?” Coop grumbled. If they hadn’t already figured out that the Avatar of the System wasn’t really a goddess, they would have been able to put it together after seeing her so-called ‘gifts’ in action.
The pulse of energy flew across the interior of the fort and beyond the walls, warping their vision like they were viewing the edge of the wave through a magnifying glass. The wave continued gliding up into the air, and presumably penetrated below ground as it encompassed the entire territory of the settlement. It was a bit reminiscent of the application of the Spectral Relic when the bonus reward yielded all of the phantoms after a blast of ghostly energy encompassed the settlement, so at least that much was familiar.
After the pulse fully engulfed Ghost Reef, for a passing second, everything pixelated. The air, the clouds, the walls, and the people themselves all warped, first as large blurry blocks, then gaining more definition as the pixels became smaller and smaller before returning back to normal. If anyone was prone to conspiracy theories, Coop was sure they would be on board with the entire apocalypse being a simulation after seeing reality pixelate before their eyes.
A notification was pushed to all of the residents of Ghost Reef, including Coop. He checked the contents, expecting the grand announcement of their faction being born.
[The Lighthouse has claimed Ghost Reef]
Coop read the message twice. “That’s certainly an announcement.” He muttered to himself. Hopefully, when they established the real thing it would both be a smoother experience as well as an appropriately impressive initiation. He accessed the civilization shard, yet again, checking for new content.
This time, he wasn’t interrupted by delayed reactions, and he was able to discover that there was a new tab dedicated to the faction. He accessed it with a mental nudge and found a whole series of blank buttons with only a single one with a proper label, one that was titled ‘Members.’
“Well, alright.” He acknowledged as he made sense of the negative space in the menus. It was becoming clear that the Purification Chip really only did one thing. The Avatar hadn’t lied about what it would do, but so much was missing, it was obviously not a true faction. Instead, they had established the barebones skeleton of a faction. It was an imitation that could at least influence its territory and accomplish the only purpose of the chip.
A single bonus was applied passively to any territory the faction claimed, like an aura emitted from the civilization shard. It was simply called Purified, and it claimed to accomplish what the Avatar had promised, preventing the judgment of mana. The settlement’s territory became a pocket that was separated from the rest of the world, magically, if clearly not physically. Really, settlement territory already did that, but the Purification Chip added another layer. Coop realized it was also similar to the isolated regions that created Mana Wells, like the world of mana was being carved up into different zones as mana fully activated.
The menu also revealed that their faction was alone. Coop reasoned that it was a bit like being on a private network. Only a real faction, established by the system directly, would allow them to properly connect to the wider community. In the meantime, they were basically in an isolated testing environment. That was good enough for him, and if Balor’s warnings were anything to go by, it was better that way. The stonemason stated that they weren’t ready to be exposed to the rest of the galactic community, and Coop believed him.
Coop selected the Members button and found three more sub-categories. Permanent Members, Preliminary Members, and Nonmember Affiliates. He selected the first option to view the Permanent Members.
[Founder - Coop]
“Yep. I guess that’s what I expected.” He mumbled before he looked closer as to what was the difference between the member sub-categories.
Permanent Members had a binding contract with the faction. Coop reviewed the default terms and scowled at the one-sided restrictions. He immediately made a few adjustments as he scanned the pledges, changing the commitment of membership from ‘in perpetuity extending to offspring’ to ‘voluntary,’ and the mandatory tribute from 90% to 0%.
There were about 20 other mandatory bonds that he switched to voluntary, as he realized they could regulate seemingly all aspects of a faction member’s life. If people were born into these contracts, he understood why there was little incentive to make them attractive enough that someone would choose to agree to them, but it was way too much. Coop had no interest in taking that kind of control over anyone and his changes turned the faction into something a lot more like a clan with purely optional contributions and participation. He felt a lot better with it organized in that way.
When Coop checked the next group, Preliminary Members, it was just an empty list. The sub-category was meant for people who weren’t under contract yet, but had some other agreement that would feed them into the faction. Anyone who was sponsored during an assimilation fell into this group, potentially falling under contract once their planet joined the galactic community, assuming that the assimilation went well. In the meantime, they weren’t even considered people yet, more like the unborn of permanent members. It didn’t seem like the factions banked on gaining significant numbers through the process, instead he thought the whole sponsorship scenario was entirely meant to be a territory grab for the faction itself. Claiming the locals was a side bonus at best.
The last group, the Nonmember Affiliates, was actually populated with a long list of names. They were all of the people associated with the faction in some other way, in this case, it was basically everyone who was a resident of territory claimed by the faction. The list included the contracted residents, the phantoms, and even the human and animal residents that were members of other factions.
There wasn’t much else for him to play with inside of the menus, but Camila hopped up from her seat beside Charlie and accessed the shard herself. After a few seconds, Coop got another prompt asking him if he would like to review an application for joining The Lighthouse. Thankfully, it didn’t burn. He accepted, reluctantly, already seeing something he needed to delegate. There was no way he wanted to be the one recruiting and reviewing applications for their faction. At least the notice came with an unsuspecting volunteer. He received a new visual with a series of stats and other information.
A 3-dimensional representation of Camila spun in his vision. It seemed like it was a perfectly accurate model, like he was looking at the paperdoll of a character in a video game. It displayed some details, like her level, class, and profession, physical stats including height and weight, faction affiliations, which included The Endless Empire and several others he didn’t recognize that must have been the sponsors of other residents, and her settlement residency.
Camila elbowed him, suspicious of his blank look as he wondered about the data that the system seemed to collect. Between the phantoms and their real histories to their physical forms, it seemed like it simply recorded everything that existed, whether it was active or not. It seemed like a lot.
“Well?” She waited and he accepted her application. The contract was executed and he agreed. It was Camila’s turn to stare into space with a blank look.
“Hang on, let me review this.” Camila mumbled as she started carefully analyzing the terms.
Coop stood for a while before sitting down and chatting with Charlie, making fun of lawyers until Camila eventually agreed to the contract. After a thorough review, she appeared happy with the terms that Coop had already adjusted. She became the first to join the faction.