Dad shook his head, “and for the third time, a year and a half later, a little elf baby is born. That is what breeding is.”
“Ewww,” Rhamiel said, a little less disgusted than the last few times the concept had been explained. “I get it; it’s just that you fleshy beings reproducing is disgusting. How have you all not died out just from the pure disgust of the process?”
Dad smiled, looking at Joselin and Mom’s faraway silhouettes as they huddled around an impromptu fire pit and cookfire. They ate meat on wooden stakes, and no one seemed happy. Werewolf meat must not have tasted good.
Taste aside, Rhamiel was glad for the bonus effect they seemed to get from eating this meat.
“I don’t know. If you put it like, I guess it is gross,” he nodded, looking at his wife and child. Joselin gazed at them, shivering momentarily before returning to Mom and the flames. “But the rewards are worth it.”
Dad smiled and shrugged, “But speaking of rewards, what does the Breeding Chalet do?”
Rhamiel had been busy learning about how these enlightened species created children and had been justifiably distracted. Opening the Blueprint, he focused on learning about it, and a description popped up.
Rhamiel told Dad what the Prompt said, and he nodded in acknowledgment. “Huh, that will be useful later. Once we have basic infrastructure up and running, there is no point in worrying about a growing population when we are still worrying about walls, right?”
Rhamiel agreed, “Right!”
“So, how are you divvying up your points? You mentioned you leveled three times?” Dad asked curiously.
Excitedly, the Core said, “I was thinking of putting three points in Core Mana Recovery, three points in Core Strength, A point in Core Structure, Core Presence, and Core Mana Supply. My other Attributes for Core Strength and Core Mana Recovery have been neglected, and they are needed for some reason, right?”
Dad nodded, “That’s not a bad idea. It’s always worth investing points wherever you can. The System can gatekeep perks and skills if some of your Attributes are insufficient. I would not have gotten the Power Shot Skill if my Strength Attribute was not high enough.”
Shrugging, Dad added, “I don’t know if that would still apply to you, being a Core with different Attributes, but I feel it worth investing a little here and there. What Attribute gives you more Drones?”
“Core Strength,” Rhamiel answered. “Even If I had put all the points in there, it would not have allowed me to summon more Drones, hence my choice.”
“Really? Why?” Dad asked curiously.
“That Attribute increases with a decimal point. A single Attribute point equals one-tenth of a full Core Strength point,” Rhamiel griped. “I feel cheated.”
Whistling, Dad agreed, “Yup, what does Core Strength do?”
It took a moment, but Rhamiel coughed into a non-existent fist to keep Dad’s attention, pulling up the description of its Core Strength Attribute and dictating it for Dad. “Core Strength states how potent a single unit or point of mana is.”
Blinking, Dad said, “thats it?”
“Yup.”
“That’s… interesting,” Dad said thoughtfully. “Usually, if a Perk or Skills description is simple, it is straightforward. We can probably take your Attribute description at face value. This might mean… no, another way to phrase that statement would be ‘A single point of Mana becomes more potent. That may mean that a single point of Mana is now worth two for you. Maybe?”
“Maybe?” Rhamiel said, unsure. “I haven’t paid attention to that. I know that it only gave me more Drones when I reached whole numbers.”
Dad remained quiet for long moments. “Do you want to consult Joselin or just want to do it? She is your System Guide; getting her opinion would probably be best.”
Rhamiel turned his perspective to look at Joselin and agreed. Her conversation with Mom had stagnated; she stared into the flames, mindlessly chewing on the werewolf meat and putting the next piece in as she swallowed. Connecting to her Communication Crystal, the item does that strange warbling ring once he tries to communicate.
It took her a moment to pick up the device and put it to her ear. “Yes, Rhamiel.”
“I would like to level up. Can we talk?” The Core asked.
“Yeah, how would you like to?”
“Can you go to Dad? I have gotten his opinion, but I wanted to hear your opinion before I applied my points and the Tier two upgrade.” Rhamiel explained, excited to share.
Joselin furrowed her eyebrows. “You already talked to my Dad about this?” She said as she rose from the loose log she and Mom were sitting on.
“Yeah, we just started talking after discussing Breeding,” Rhamiel told her. “He thinks my idea is a good one.”
Joselin rolled her eyes, “oh yeah, I need to hear this,” she groaned.
She walked up to Dad, pulled her purple Crystal away from her face, and pressed a part of the Crystal. “Alright, Rhamiel, I will put you in an area speech. What is your master plan for your Attribute points?”
“Three points in Core Mana Recovery and Core Strength. Then I will put a point in Core Structure, Core Presence, and Core Mana Supply,” the Core explained quickly. “I-”
Raising a hand, Joselin shushed him and went quiet for a few moments. “That’s not a bad idea. I would suggest putting some points in some of those Attributes soon, especially Presence. I like it; I would always recommend putting points in Core Mana Recovery to increase how much Mana you naturally recover.” She paused, scowling and looking away. “If Dad agrees with the choices, then I say do it,” she said with a little huff. “Seriously, why would you need me if you have my Dad.”
“Joselin?” Rhamiel asked. “What’s wrong? You sound upset.”
“I’m not upset,” She stated. “I’m perfectly fine with you circumventing me and my one job while talking with my Dad.”
“Okay,” Rhamiel said, a little confused. He then applied the points to his profile and smiled at the sensation he experienced. The power felt good; this particular sensation was one of the few things he had ever felt besides pain.
Next, Rhamiel installed his Tier Two Upgrade on the Summon Drones Perk, upgrading it and opening it up to reveal the changes.
At Tier 0, you could summon Basic Drones that could complete tasks requiring minimal skill and no mana. Such as Tier 1 construction projects, gathering tasks, and processing. At Tier 1, you can summon the same Basic Drone as above, but now you can summon Builder Drones and Gatherer Drones. Builder Drones move faster when put on construction, deconstruction Tasks, or basic assembly tasks. Gatherer Drones move faster when placed on the gathering of natural resources like unprocessed wood, berries, or crop harvesting. At Tier 2, you can now summon Basic Drones, Builder Drones, and Gatherer Drones as above, but now you can also summon Farming Drones and Mining Drones. Farming Drones can manage Farms and Vineyards as well as other similar areas. Mining Drones can mine specific areas designated by you or your Lead Miner. If they leave your Domain, the Mana used to create them will drip away, and they will slowly fall apart. They may last outside your Domain for four hours/ point in Core Mana Supply. If struck with enough force, they can be destroyed, and they have ten durability points per point you have in Core Structure. You can summon 4 Drones/ Core Strength. At Tier Two, This Perk now Scales with the Tier of your Settlement. The maximum length of time outside your Domain and the Maximum Drone count is now multiplied by the Tier of your Settlement. Currently 0x8.> “Oh,” Rhamiel let out quietly. “Who would I say if I am in awe of something?” “What?” Both said out of sync. “When surprised or angry, I’ve heard you guys curse using one of the outer gods’ names. Who would I use if I am pleased about something?” Rhamiel explained, dropping the awe from seconds earlier. “Uh, probably Destiny or Wisdom. Sometimes it’s just personal preference and who you think would understand your feelings more,” Dad explained. “Most people just kind of learn how to curse like that.” “Then I say… Oh, Destiny, this is awesome,” Rhamiel said, returning to his tone of absolute awe. Then, before they could ask, the Core sent them a copy of the upgraded Summon Drone description. It was long, so it took them a moment to read it. “By Wisdom’s dusty old-” Joselin stopped, coughed, then continued, “spectacles. This is great. That scaling addition and the fact that the maximum drone count has doubled each time is phenomenal. I can’t wait until you get a Tier 3 upgrade so we can see if it continues!” “Farming Drones and Mining Drones,” Dad mused. “These will be useful quickly. In the morning, we need to have anyone with the Surveyor Skill going with an armed escort into those tunnels you found Rhamiel. We will have to see if they can find any more veins.” “Rhamiel, We will need you to summon as many Drones as possible. Then, you can split evenly between the wall building and the resource gathering. At least until morning,” Dad amended. “Once Hutch wakes up and eats, we will need them working on the walls where we designate. Do you know what it will take to upgrade your Settlement Tier?” Rhamiel thought, “No, I haven’t tried to check. Joselin?” She nodded, stared past Dad, and looked through her System Guide menus. “Ah ha, here it is. Huh, weird.” “What?!” Rhamiel asked in an instant panic. “Weird isn’t good, right?” “No, not that. Weird is just weird. It won’t let me see what it takes from a Tier 1 Settlement to Tier 2. We won’t be able to plan.” Dad sighed, apparently thinking along similar lines as her. “Well, that makes this harder. It did tell you the requirements to get to Tier 1, though, right?” “Well, yeah. Hold on,” Joselin said, reaching out to tap at something invisible and make sure Dad and Rhamiel could see it. * 50 or more Citizens * House all Citizens * Citizen Happiness be at least Neutral * Three different types of food growth. (Fruit, Vegetables, Animals, Etc.) * At least one mile of road going through your main settlement. * A Civil Center of any Tier.> “Wow, this will take a while,” Rhamiel Chirped. Shrugging, Dad sighed, “I was hoping it would be a simple quest. Oh well, we rarely get that kind of luck. Guess what we do have?” He asked the two of them, the air silenced around them. “Joselin, what do we call experience percentages?” “Goals to achieve?” “Children, we have our goals,” Dad smiled. Rhamiel, you have your work for the evening. Walls, as fast as possible. Joselin, go finish eating, then get everyone to bed. Graham and I will take the watch tonight.” “Oh, he won’t like that,” Joselin shook her head. “Who’s going to tell him?” “Depends, who can’t be hit?” Both paused momentarily; then Dad looked down at the Communication Crystal. Joselin followed his gaze, and her mouth created a large ‘O’. “So, who’s going to ask?” Rhamiel asked confused. “This is so mean,” Rhamiel groaned quietly. He intentionally flitted his voice between the citizens he had yet to learn about. Something about their confusion when they heard him without seeing him was amusing. “Why do I have to ask him to work”? Moving towards the man, Rhamiel noted that he was purposefully alone and kept away from the rest. Either by choice or design, Rhamiel had no way to know. The man’s posture told that he wished to be alone. He sat back against the Wall and curled into himself, his hair and beard hiding his face. Ignoring his wish not to talk to Graham Tully, Rhamiel moved his perspective over to him and said, “Hello Graham!” he chirped. Graham looked up slowly, eyes sunken and dark as he looked around to see who spoke to him. “Who are you? The Core? No matter, leave me be.” “Well, uh, I can’t,” Rhamiel hedged. “Dad needs your help with the guard duty tonight, and I was asked to get you involved.” The man looked up, his eyes stiff and angry. “What did I just say?” he growled. His mouth curled into a snarl as he clenched his fists. “Leave me be, you daft and murderous thing!” “Daft? Is that like a draft? If so, I’m not a daft,” Rhamiel told him. “Either way, we still need help keeping everyone safe tonight, so can you please go and see Dad to find out what he needs.” “No,” Graham spat. “I do not save people, I do not guard people, and I do not take orders well. So stop trying!” His raised voice was getting people’s attention, and he glared at them, giving them good reason to look away. “I am also not very friendly, Core. If you want my help with anything, I suggest you back off.” Rhamiel seriously considered it. This man was not in the mood to listen to him, and he was not in the mood to find out what he would do if he kept pushing. While he did not think the man would try to break him, he also did not think he wouldn’t think about it. He kept pushing simply because the man did not say he had a problem with the job; he did not want to listen to him. “Come on, you aren’t sleeping anyway. Why don’t you see Dad for some company while you stay awake?” Rhamiel suggested, adding a slight firmness to his tone. It was a stance he was not used to and hoped he wouldn’t have to be. Grinding his teeth, Graham looked around, hoping to see something he could aim his anger towards. Seconds passed, and his expression fell, “Why me? Why is it always me?” This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Rhamiel wondered about the sudden drop but said nothing. He was about to get what he needed and could ask later when the man would be willing to talk to him more. “I don’t know. Dad asked for you specifically.” “Figures,” Graham grumped, uncurling himself. He stood slowly, groaning in discomfort as he looked around. “Damn that man. Fine, leave me alone, Core.” “Okay, but my name is not Core. My name is Rhamiel.” The man paused and stopped his stride for a long moment as if in thought. Shaking his head, Graham said, “Whatever.” Then he continued walking towards the door out of the Library. With that done, Rhamiel moved his perspective out of the Library and returned to the woods, where his Drones were pulling the lumber for the log wall. It only took a moment to summon seven Basic Drones to cut and gather lumber. It would take time since I couldn’t summon Timber Drones, Woodcutter Drones, or whatever they would be called. He would keep the Basic Drones working on the resource gathering and the one Builder Drone working on building the Wall. The logic was simple: even if the Basic Drones were harvesting more resources than the one Builder Drone could use, he could build them up for the teams to use in the morning. He was sure that Hutch would appreciate not having to gather as many or, hopefully, any resources. Next, Rhamiel created a small trickle of Mana to increase the size of his Domain, making it increase passively over time. He also confirmed the trickle of Mana going into the Architects Library, which it was. It had already spat out a Blueprint, even if it was useless right now. I’m happy to see the continuing progress around it; Rhamiel just observed his Drones work. “Rhamiel?” Joselin asked her Communication Crystal. Pulling himself away from his Drones, he turned his attention towards her, pushed a line of Mana into her Crystal, and spoke excitedly. “Hello Joselin, what’s up? Is everything okay?” “Yeah, everything is fine,” she said, a little confused. “Uh, Hutch is almost ready with the Builder Team to continue on the walls. They like the progress you made overnight, and Hutch was happy about the work.” “Wait, what?” Rhamiel asked, and then the answer hit him in the face. The morning, he had come without him even realizing. Looking around the settlement, he found nearly forty people bustling around, cooking, eating, and working. Dad was talking with a group of five Citizens, Apprentice Keane being one of them, and was giving them instructions. Rhamiel paid attention for a few seconds and confirmed that this group was going into the tunnels looking for ore. “Wow, time flies when you stop paying attention,” Rhamiel remarked, returning his attention to Joselin. “Yeah, I can see that,” Joselin said, looking at some invisible menus and nodding as she talked. “That hyperfocus and hyperfixation are extremely common in Spirit Cores. It lets them watch their projects get done without getting bored and helping them keep their sanity over years of work. Also, helping your sanity is part of my job. I wish they had put that in big, bold letters on these menus.” “Does it actually say that?” Rhamiel asked, astounded at the specific information. “Yeah, it does,” she confirmed idly. Deciding it did not matter, the Core asked, “So, how did everything go last night? Are there any more problems?” “Eh,” she shrugged. “Dad thanked you for getting Graham over to him. With the two of them, they could stop the random monsters that appeared while people slept. A couple more Werewolves and a pair of Tree Golems. According to them, nothing to worry about.” “Oh, good,” Rhamiel said awkwardly. A few moments passed in silence as Joselin continued to read something in her Menus. “How did the Wall building go last night?” “Pretty good, no problems. It did not get very far, only a few hundred feet around the settlement, but it should-” “Wait, a few hundred feet?” Joselin sputtered. “In a night?” “Yeah,” Rhamiel confirmed. “I hoped they would get farther, but I was also trying to stockpile some of the trees and bit for-” “No way,” Joselin breathed. “Can we go see?” she asked the Crystal. So Joselin walked with the Communication Crystal in hand towards where he was building the Wall. She was quickly surprised when it took her several minutes to see the Wall, mostly hidden amid some trees. But when she noticed it, she saw the entire stretch of it and was surprised by the amount of work. “Wow,” she said as she walked up to the Wall and observed it, putting a hand on it. The Wall was composed of logs planted into the ground; makeshift rope ties held each log together. Long planks of wood placed against the top of the Wall helped to hold it up against potential assault. It looked cheap and would not hold up against heavy assaults, but several hundred feet of it existed. Joselin confirmed that by looking up and down the length of the Wall. “Where are your Drones? Can I watch them work?” Joselin asked curiously. “They are that way,” Rhamiel directed. “To your right and down.” She broke into a jog, working down the length of the Wall and stopping when she heard the crash of a tree falling to the earth. Suddenly, Joselin saw a large log being lifted by a semi-invisible wisp. It carried the log all by itself and was putting it in its place, next in line down the line. Looking closer, she found a trench where the log was shoved into while the Basic Drones filled in any empty spaces with loose dirt around them. They watched for a few minutes, observing the process, and Rhamiel was happy to see the Wall go a few feet farther. The Core was even more happy when a new Prompt appeared. There are specific levels in every Core progression that are more important to their overall future than the others. These ‘milestone levels’ contain specific choices that are more specifically tailored towards themes and not more specific abilities. As a Civilization Core, you gain ‘Milestones’ at levels 10, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, and every 100 level until max.> “Joselin, why is there more stuff I don’t know about?” Rhamiel asked, aiming a little ire towards her. “Seriously, what is a Milestone?” “Milestone?” Joselin asked, looking past the Wall and towards her menus. “Sorry, Rhamiel. It’s kind of hard to focus on learning all this stuff when I am constantly busy, you know?” she explained. Rhamiel took a moment to contain himself, a little annoyed but trying not to project it towards her. These last few days had been pretty hectic around here, and he stayed quiet and looked towards his Drones. Watching them work always calmed his mind. A few minutes later, Joselin called to get his attention, and Rhamiel returned to her, only to find that she had begun to walk back to the clearing. This was probably a good idea since you never knew when a monster would come out until the Wall was complete. “Rhamiel,” she called again, trying to get his attention. “Sorry, yeah, what did you find?” he asked, refocusing on her and keeping his voice coming out of the Crystal she held in her hand. “This is fantastically good for us,” Joselin said excitedly. “Milestones are not Perks or Skills; they are… kind of a combination of the two and specific towards you, your type of Core,” she tried to explain. “According to what I just read, sometimes they offer several new skills and a specific new perk. Sometimes they offer a new Perk or two and then a couple of Blueprints that work with the theme of the Milestone.” She was smiling at the Crystal in her hand as she paused, excitement in her eyes as she continued. “Even better, Milestones interconnect naturally. The System will force them to connect even if you pick two Milestones that do not work together naturally. Even rewriting perks to fit the combined theme. This could be what we need to build forward, to hopefully become more, faster.” Rhamiel found himself agreeing. If this was what she was saying, and he had no reason to think she would be wrong—she had not been wrong yet—then this would be needed. “Okay, then let’s do this. Available Milestone-” “No!” Joselin interrupted, practically shouting at Rhamiel. She turned her head away and coughed into her fist, “No, we should choose your Level 10 and spend your Attribute points first. It might affect your choice. This sounds like what happens when it’s time to upgrade our classes,” Joselin instructed him. “Doing everything else first is a wise choice, at least, according to Dad.” Holding back his excitement, Rhamiel found he couldn’t fault the logic. After a quick conversation, they agreed, and Rhamiel put one point each into Core Strength, Core Presence, and Core Mana Recovery. Core Strength and Core Mana Recovery were just good choices; he would always need more Mana, and the closer Core Strength went to the next whole number, the more Drones he could conjure. Rhamiel had to explain Core Presence to her. She had no idea his Domain Skill had increased yet, and after the explanation, she agreed that it was a good idea. The better he could detect oncoming enemies, the better they all would be. And now, Rhamiel opened up the Perk Choices, deciding to move along to this part. - Mana Generator - The power of Mana is great, infinitely facetted, and is only limited by the user and the System’s limitation. This Perk grants you several things. The Core Generator Blueprint, Core Power Cables, Three Basic Tier Mana Powered Item Blueprints, and the Basic Understanding of Mana Power Systems. - Resource Dowsing - With a concerted effort, you can designate a specific individual that you can change at any time and empower them. This empowerment allows you to use them as a magical dowsing rod, detecting up to three types of resource that get within a certain radius of the emposered. Examples of resources are iron, water, fertile soil, and wood. - FurnitureCraft - You gain several dozen item Blueprints, allowing you to craft household items useful in any household. Tables, Chairs, Cabinets, Beds, Countertops, Couches, Carpets, and so on become accessible and upgradeable with other perks.> “What?” Joselin asked, looking confused. “I think all of them would be useful, but we can ignore FurnitureCraft. Woodworkers and Artisans build all the stuff mentioned in that Perk. There is no need to get you to do it.” “I agree,” Mom said, appearing behind Joselin and wrapping her in a hug. She raised her hands in self-defense, then lowered them slowly as realization dawned. “Why are you still doing that?” Joselin growled. “Seriously, you have enjoyed startling me like that since I started my Ranger Training.” Then another realization dawned, and Joselin looked down at her Crystal. “Rhamiel, why didn’t you tell me Mom was coming?” “I hadn’t noticed,” Rhamiel defended himself. “I was busy looking over the new ability choices; I think she appeared right after I started reading them before I started reading it to you.” Joselin grumped and waited while Mom hugged her and smiled happily, “yeah, this is nice,” Mom said. “But Joselin is right, Dear. FurnitureCraft could be handy, but we have people or can find people who can do it soon enough. The bigger problem is the choice between the other two, but even that choice is simple, at least, to me, it is.” “Resource Dowsing?” Joselin asked. “We do need to find metals very quickly.” “No, sweetie,” Mom shook her head. “I believe our kind and benevolent Core needs to choose Mana Generator. We can find materials on our own, especially since we have two people with the Surveyor Skill. This could lead us to say no, I better not say it. You never know if the cosmos is listening, and it would be better not to jinx it.” “What a jinx?” Rhamiel asked. “No, seriously, I want to know what you were going to say. Come on, tell me?” the Core begged. “Come on, please!” Mom smiled and looked at the Core with amusement. “Fine,” but you had better ask for details later today. I can’t stay long; I need to find Corinth. I was going to take over guard duties for a while so he and Graham could finally sleep. With you and that Perk, we could grow to heights similar to the City of Anachron.” “Mom,” Joselin whispered. “You know we don’t talk about… that place.” “What little I can tell you right now,” Mom said, half-ignoring her Daughter. “Is that… that place,” she said carefully, looking at Joselin with amusement. “Was the height of Manatech in its time, just before the Age of Decline. With this Perk, maybe you could be as powerful as they were. One day,” Mom told them. Joselin had no argument against it, so Rhamiel chose that Perk. Perks with the word ‘Core’ as part of its title may be created using only Mana Processing Skill.> Rhamiel read the Perk description out loud for both of them and Mom, in particular, looked interested. “Ooooh, that sounds fascinating. Can you tell me what material makes up those Core Power Cables?” “Mom,” Joselin interrupted. Her eyes twitched in annoyance as she said, “Dad.” Mom looked confused momentarily before her eyes widened, and she turned around. “Thanks, Sweetie. Rhamiel, we will talk later,” Mom said, hurrying off. “Finally,” Joselin said, “now let me look up the Milestone description one more time before you try and look up their-” Rhamiel took a moment while waiting for her to look up his current character sheet. Name: Rhamiel Species: Spirit Core (Civilization) Age: 1 week old Level: 10( 2.11% to level 11) Civilization Level: 0 Isolated Dwellings Number of Civilians: 39 Core Durability 111 Core Mana 111 Statistics: Core Strength 002.4 Core Structure 002 Core Presence 003 Core Mana Supply 002 Core Mana Recovery 010 Core Karma 004 Skills: Milestones; Choice Available Domain Level 2 (00.05%) none Absorb Essence Level 1 (48.823%) Mana Processing Level 1 (81.671%) Structured Mindset Level 2 (15.98%) ManaTech Mastery Level 1 (00.00%) Perks: Blueprint Manipulation Blueprint Generation Summon Drone Tier 2 Mana Generator System Guide Tier 1 Beacon of Hope Population Growth Joselin continued, “Alright, there is an interesting note here that I didn’t see before. I repeat they need to put some of these notes in bold. But it says here that when you choose your Milestone-” Then, trying to be right there with her, Rhamiel willed open the Milestone Choice Prompt and got another prompt. “You will be isolated to avoid outside interference in a personal choice. So we should probably discuss what we need before you make this choice-” Joselin said, trailing off as Rhamiel spoke. “Open Milestone Choice,” Rhamiel said, only just registering what she said before regretting his impulse. He felt his consciousness; his perspective gets pulled into his crystalline body, still sitting on the stone beside that unidentified Artifact Knife. Fear made his thoughts run wild as he found out he could not move his perspective out of the Crystal; he tried to project a yell to Joselin, only to find that he had no control of his Mana out of his body. His vision shifted to greyscale, and panic rose as the grayscale darkened. This reminded Rhamiel of when he first became a Civilization Core and how he was rendered unconscious while the System was applied to him. “If I find out you have anything to do with this, whoever you are, ALL,” Rhamiel screamed into the darkness about him. “I will make sure you regret this.”