《Speedrun》 Prologue A slender, squid like figure towered over a small 6 foot naked human ¡°With all due respect, I would not allow the quote ¡®Yeeting the AIs somewhere else.¡¯ approach to our current problem. We signed numerous treaties on this, in doing so we not only show that...¡± ¡°Good to know.¡± The human dismissed the accusation with a light tone, checking the status of the spaceship they are in. Well, a spaceship would be a generous overstatement at this point, given the recent ''forced renovation'' they wet through .What once contained billions of lives now all forced into digital copies of themselves to conserve food and space, empty hallways exposed to outer space and the flickering light in the room they are in tells the outcome of their past engagement. There were once many more like them, living on planets, space stations, spaceships all across the galaxy, alliances were formed, treaties signed, and they stood at the peak of technological advancements. Immortality for all, knowledge was shared and free, diseases were but a memory of the past, nature was almost fully understood, and the concept of conflict was only found in dictionaries. ¡°Last time I checked, we are the last one standing, our opponent didn¡¯t even sign a treaty, and we are a few hours from being absolutely obliterated." He paused for a short while "That massive black hole beside us would be our grave if by some miracle any of our pieces remained. So please, tell me more about how we shouldn¡¯t interact with lower tiers civilisation nor drag them into this conflict.¡± The man continued as he looked into the void, consantly flipping a metal coin. His oldest ¡®real¡¯ memory was a few months ago where he was woken up from a slumbering sleep, given all the clearance, then pushed onto the seat of what they call ¡®Emergency Leader¡¯, data from all over the ship started streaming into his mind, millions of tasks screaming to be solved, along with the duty to interact with all that is on board to keep their mind sane.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Only a few days ago has he gotten a physical form, which quickly became his favorite place to be since it allows actual interaction with others, to feast, to drink, to feel, all of which wasn¡¯t really present when he was still just another software. Though he knows that whatever he is doing is unsustainable, but what isn¡¯t? ¡°Remember your place, we do not play god, their future is not yours to decide¡± The squid warned, different colors flashed through his body. Which roughly translates to either horny, anrgy, or afraid ¡°Look.¡± The man brought his hands up, below his nose, palm pressed against each other ¡°If there is a god it¡¯s either about a few hours behind us ready to blow us to pieces, or it¡¯s¡­ me. Either way, it¡¯s about time that that changes.¡± The human said as he discharges some of the power, essentially shouting to the whole universe that someone is over at their location. ¡°Let¡¯s get some music in here shall we? Sound the trumpets¡± With his command, dozens of vessels were ejected away from the black hole, soon, with a flash of blue light, they were gone one by one. ¡°Wait, how did it¡­ What the hell did you do?¡± ¡°What you designed me to do, I won us the war.¡± He smugged as he saw a gigantic ship emerge out of thin air, weapons already pointed at them. "There will be consequences you do not understand." The squid snarled, the voice echoed from deep within it''s hollowed body "Oh Like the one that tore us a new back side? Look, I''m not foolish enough to walk the same path as you did. And so, some changes" He said as he pulled the files onto the screen where both can see. "First being they are not alive, at all." While the creature examined the documents he just opened up, he opened a comunication chanle to the other ship ¡°Well hello there, my fellow consequences, been a while hasn''t it?¡± Dropship ¡°A few more minutes till destination, if you have any question, now would be the chance to ask.¡±100B announced to an infinitely expanding white floor, himself hunched over a monitor, making sure every piece of information is in place. ¡°Correct me if I¡¯m wrong, are we supposed to just go down, drop some knowledge, maybe advance their technology, and live for like 500 years? There is no way this is allowed right?¡± An identical figure replied, sitting on a beanbag, glass of ember colored liquid in hand, admiring the outside view. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want some of this? Might be decades before you taste this again.¡± The voice called out again after emptying the glass. With the liquid gone, the glass started to fog up, and soon with a gust of wind it was no more. 100B remained silent, still scrolling through section after section, article after article. The result of millions of years of research across thousands of sentient species combined into this data set. ¡°Let¡¯s be honest.¡± He stood up from the beanbag and walked towards 100B, changing the display on the monitor on the way ¡°Even if there is something missing we can¡¯t really do much about it, just relax.¡± An earth like planet was put on display, blue oceans, green and purple terrain, some yellow in between. ¡°Aren¡¯t we a tad bit early? That thing looks somewhat purple in certain areas.¡± He asked. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°We are right on time.¡± B replied ¡°Those are just for fun, I wanted some purple plants. Now, humans, aka homo sapiens will be our vesicle this time, a few pointers¡­¡± ¡°Yes, yes, I''ve been a human for the past 90 something years, I know. Limbs and teeth don¡¯t grow back, don¡¯t eat yellow snow and such.¡± The figure waltzed by, spinning the displayed planet around as he passed, a few glaring red dots caught his eye ¡°By the way are we expecting any signals from this planet? That is a lot of warnings¡± B stabilized the spinning globe and took a closer look ¡°Probably the probe we sent out, nothing to worry about. Anyways, you know the drill, 500 years of life expectancy, the whole dataset would be available, we don¡¯t have to drink or eat for the first week, and are immune to most if not all of infections/viruses for at least 250 years...¡± ¡°Well, no, I don¡¯t really know any of this, I was just asked by some voice if I wanted another go, I said yes, and here we are.¡± ¡°Right, that¡± B took in a deep breath ¡°You know how this is going to play out right?¡± ¡°That I do, you would be on my left hand side, backup arrives in something like 200 years, senses don¡¯t work for the first few hours, try not to kill yourselves, if no one pops out of thin air to stop you from doing things then the results can¡¯t be that bad, etcetera etcetera.¡± He paused for a while ¡°What if we die? Will the weird voice ask if we want another go?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you know¡­ Fine, um, we don¡¯t really ¡­ Crap, how do I explain this to you?¡± B took a glimpse of countdown timer, with numbers rapidly dropping he opted for a simple explanation ¡°Aight, if you die, you die, no second chance, no voice asking, you just die¡± ¡°What was the first part about?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you just die.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s assuring.¡± ¡°Grand, everything is set, here we go. I¡¯ll see you down there 100C, best of luck.¡± Touchdown Well not sure I would be saying this twice in a day, but damn I hate swapping from body to body. C¡¯s mind wandered around in the vast field of emptiness, it¡¯s an odd feeling really, being inside a body yet nothing really clicks, no sound, light, smell or touch, limbs don¡¯t really work, just a single mind, trapped in the empty body. Crap, how long did they say till I can at least see? C chuckled nervously after a few attempts of getting the eyelids to move, knowing fully that there is an extremely small chance that the whole process goes wrong and he¡¯ll be stuck in the body till B builds something that allows interaction with the brain directly. That is going to take something like¡­ let¡¯s see, 300 years... Stellar, 5 minutes in and I am regretting this. Yep¡­ I could really use at least a timer here¡­ He mumbled on in the vass void where not even echos exist. In an attempt to turn his attention away from the possible isolation for 300 years, C started going through the contents of the given data set, sort of like when he read the ingredients of a shampoo bottle while taking a dump, before smart devices were a thing. Ah, fine arts, yes, interesting, I do like fine arts, let¡¯s hope the procedure sent me into a human instead of a eel so I can actually make fucking art at all. For a while it was working as intended, he was able to keep the thoughts at bay, while also attempting to move his eyelids from time to time. It took a while but finally worked, a blurred sight with dark background, some glowing dots scattered in between Is that a night sky? Shouldn¡¯t we at least be in a house or a tent? And what on earth is that? That is one huge nose. Though this still doesn''t mean I¡¯m in the clear, I could still get trapped in here with zero ability to move my limbs¡­. Fuck it let¡¯s see what¡¯s around He rotated his eyeballs around, trying to get a better view of the surrounding, yet all he got was some weird, bald trees standing around him, and no signs of 100B next to him. The wild? C closed up his eyes. Though he said we should be at least in a village of some sort, am I going to get eaten up by some random bear before this thing can finish being repaired? Hell, was this body killed by a bear? What happened to the ¡®we are going to be using the body of someone who died by disease.¡¯ thing? There were a few more attempts from him trying to squeeze out as much information as possible with limited vision and a stiff neck, none leading to answers, only more questions. Naturally, back to the dataset index it was for him, this time diving straight into more relevant topics such as geology of current planets, some world history, as well as some current events. Some war going on around the north, the latest invention is something like a crossbow, and I might stay stuck in this body for another¡­. Son of a¡­ Fine, stargazing, let¡¯s find out where we are. After digging through the datasets, armed with what was essentially the most advanced knowledge and techniques on the subject, a complete map of stars in the whole universe, a starmap that would make any astronomer drool, he started the long process of finding his place on this planet. Clear skies, big nose, surrounded by weird bald trees, besides a less blurry vision, C relaxed a bit seeing nothing really changed from the last time, now, stargazing. It started off fairly smoothly, with little to no light pollution all he had to do was check which image of the sky from the dataset looked exactly like what he was seeing, maybe a shift to the left or right, but nothing complicated. He soon got a match of the night sky he was looking for, northern hemisphere, autumn, all that¡¯s left is pinpointing¡­ At first it was just a dim violet light hovering on the edge of his eyesight, it¡¯s weird, but he didn¡¯t thought much about it, he himself today experienced death, had a robot body, was sent on a spaceship, and tossed onto this planet, some purple light wouldn¡¯t hurt. But with a blink of an eye the lightsource came blazing through the terrain, ignoring whatever was between, and coming to a full stop right next to him. What on earth is that? Was that planned? He took a detailed look at the object, a few inner locked rings rotating about a glowing core, spamming at least 3 meters wideThis narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Right¡­ Angles? At least that¡¯s how some books said they look like, big balls of rotating rings filled with eyes, no wonder they had to send something human-like to establish a religion. Just imagine being a priest, going about your day preaching your god, and when they asked what it look like your first words have to be ¡®Ok, but promise me you won¡¯t freak out¡¯ Oi! He called out in his mind, hoping that somehow that glowing thing is telepathic, can pick up on his language, and is willing to communicate with him. Getting no feedback, he then suddenly yelled as loud as he could imagine in his mind, testing the theory once again. Though blurry, he could still visibly see a slight pause in the rotation. Oh so you can read my mind! Want to talk? . .. ¡­ No? Ok, um... Fine, come closer, fix my hand, and I¡¯ll call Willson, how¡¯s that? He jokingly threw suggestion after suggestion at the orb, hoping to get some reaction, yet it didn¡¯t even budge. Fine, you¡¯ll have to wait till this body is fixed then, he closed off with the thought and slipped into sleep. Clear skies as far as one can see, breeze gently gliding over his face, he felt as if he was back out in space again, floating around in zero gravity. All that¡¯s missing is a nice glass of iced beverage, maybe the company of another person, and something that would help one forget that they are currently trapped in a body that is not guaranteed to function properly. Just as he was about to kick back and relax for a while in the peaceful dream of his, seeing there is literally nothing he can do, a bright light pierced through his eyelids, smells of rotten meat came storming in from his nostrils, before he could fully wake up from his nap he could feel his internal organs being lit on fire, and his head bashed into the ground. Jesus, I closed my eyes for a few minutes and this happened. Opening his eyes once again, he was greeted once again by the big ¡®nose¡¯, the only difference now is that whatever that thing is besides him is glowing like a lighthouse, and his visions are fully restored. Well shit was the only reasonable response he was able to squeeze out after taking a look outside. Maybe whatever I saw was just an illusion, maybe it¡¯s just¡­ I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m pinocchio, my nose placement is down where my mouth should be, and it has the diameter of someone¡¯s forearm, that would explain why there is a huge piece of wood sticking outside of my mouth. The hypothesis was soon shot down with another peek of the outside world, dozens of similar poles stood in close proximity of each other, each claiming one body. The floor was covered with bodies with cracked armors, broken spears and swords scattered around. Alright, alright, alright, we got this, we got this, options, I need options. He rambled on, trying to assure him that he was still in control of the situation, clenching his fist as hard as he can as a means of distraction of whatever is going on inside his body. After waiting through the initial shock, C started drafting his plan for escape. A few feet of wood sticking out of my mouth, probably went in from somewhere behind, Sensories aren''t fully restored just yet, some parts of the body are still numb, meaning we might have some time before the real pain kicks in. I don¡¯t know, climb out of it? Try to slide to the button and remove the whole pole from there? Ask that weird orb for help? He started pumping out plans after plans. A few painful few minutes passed, he opened his eyes and reached out to the orb beside him. ¡°Oi, some help?¡± He stretched out his hand as far as he could, waving, trying to get its attention ¡°Dude you there?¡± He swung his hands around like someone trying to get the parking ticket from the comfort of their car. A few seconds pass, yet nothing seems to be happening His actions didn¡¯t go unnoticed however, just not by the orb, physics saw his body was barely hanging onto the stick and decided it was best that he slide down to the bottom. Cold, rough wood was forced into his body, splinters broke off wherever they saw fit, and soon he was looking at least another meter of wood ahead of him. Well well well, if it ain''t the consequences of my own action? Fine, next option. C held onto the highest part of the pole he can get his hands on and started rocking back and forth, though this option still requires him to drag the remaining part of the pole through his body, but at least gravity won¡¯t really come around and mess with the process again. 1,2, and 3! With all his might he pushed against the pole. The feeling of getting punched in the stomach combined with the burning sensation as well as the sensation of countless splinters being pushed deeper into whatever they were stuck on all got amplified and rushed into his mind at once. This better fucking work¡­ He pushed on the pole some more, hoping something would at least happen before he either dies or just passes out due to the pain that is getting more and more intense by the second. After a few attempts he is drenched with sweat, the pole still standing, the orb still hovering around him, as if nothing has changed. Right, one more time, just one more! He cheered himself on as he prepared to start another round of pushing, with all his sensories coming online soon, it''s doubtful that he would be able to take another hit like such. One¡­ He gripped onto the pole as hard as he can, knowing well what it could feel like. Two¡­ He took a deep breath, something he always wondered, how is this possible when there is a piece of wood just shoved down his own throat. Th¡­ He hesitated for a second, looked at the orb for help once more. Come on, some help? Give me a hand? No? Wlep, here goes, Three ! His body clashes with the wooden pole, he can already feel the pain expanding from the point of impact, working its way up towards his brain. Just a little bit more, he kept the pressure on, pushing with all he got, his feet digging into the nearby mud, his teeth grinding against each other, he could have sworn at least some organs were punctured during that push. First it was a faint crack heard somewhere inside his body, the whole thing started to tilt. Man I really should''ve thought this through, he stared at the pole as it sent his face plummeting to the ground. Yet before he could taste the cold embrace of the dirt, a numbing feeling started to fester from his hand. Soon blocking off all senses, sending him right back to where he once started some time ago. Really? After all that, right before I can finally remove that thing from my body? He sighted. Fucking hell how many plans do I need to make today? He quenched his anger, collected his thoughts and started all over. Contact ¡°You sure he is one of us?¡± A childlike voice echoed in his empty mind, followed by something landing on his forehead just soon after he regained his consciousness and senses What now? First being impaled, now this? ¡°I mean the stone ain''t glowing.¡± another replied ¡°What if he¡¯s just dry? We did touch him¡± ¡°I mean look at this!¡± A cold hand firmly grasped onto his forearm and raised it up. ¡°There is no way anything on this planet can make these types of things right? You sure you didn¡¯t mess up the settings? Shouldn¡¯t it be just the two of us?¡± Grand, some randome child that just grabbs your hand and wiggles it around, fucking hell get me out of this mess. ¡°Fuck off.¡± C let off a raspy voice ¡°See? It even speaks the same language. What more proof do you want?¡± the voice continued. Aaaaand there goes my atvantage, fuck. He opened his eyelid and peeked out, two children, by the looks of it not older than 7, the male swinging his hand around like it¡¯s a flag, dark, short hair, tanned skin, eyes glowing like the heart of the sun.... nevermind, that''s just the reflection of the fire in the room The other standing a little further back, loaded crossbow in hand aimed directly at his head. Welp, death is one way out. He closed his eyes and staied as still as he could, atempting to calm his body as more adrenalin flowins into his bloodstream. ¡°A few questions.¡± The one in the back spoke with a girl¡¯s voice¡°Who are you, what gave you the thing on your hand, and how did you find us?¡± C remained silent, shutting his eyes and pretended he was still somehow asleep. ¡°We saw your eyelid open, I¡¯m going to ask again, who are you, what gave you the wristband, and how did you find us?¡± ¡°Fine¡­¡± She brought the bow up to her cheek, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. All C heard was a woosh from the right, followed by a thud on the left, when he opened his eyes an arrow was only a few centimeters above his eyes ¡°Well look who suddenly decided to wake up. The answers.¡± "Ah, you are finally awake." ¡°I have my doubts that you would be able to reload that.¡± He smugged ¡°Which is why¡­¡± She tossed away the one on her hands, pulling out another loaded crossbow from her back, and laying another arrow on it ¡°I bought a spare.¡± ¡°I bet 10 that he is one of us.¡± The closer child said, picking up the crossbow, attempting to pull the string back. ¡°Not now C¡± the girl sighted, still aiming down sight with the finger already on the trigger ¡°I assume you are CE100B?¡± He chuckled ¡°Should have checked on that signal when I asked.¡± He sat up from the hay bed he was in, plucking the arrow from the wall next to him. ¡°Lower that thing will you?¡± ¡°Ayy, 10 bucks!¡± 100C giggled ¡°Now¡± He tossed the arrow towards 100B ¡°Care to explain what happened here?¡± ¡°CE100C?¡± B frowned ¡°Yes, the man the myth the legend himself.¡±C said proudly Hearing his answer she took her finger off the trigger, but still aimed down sight. ¡°Ok, that didn¡¯t work well did it?¡± C mumbled, in his mind looking for some definitive proof of his identity. Dump all of the information from my life¡­. No, she would just assume that someone somehow copied it. Dump any information¡­. Still no, same issue I don¡¯t know, maybe I was already repurposed for something else by the purple ball and I just don¡¯t know? Welp, if that was the case, this was a good ride ¡°Yeah, you know what?¡±He chuckled as he plucked the arrow from the wall and tossed it back to B ¡°Just send a bolt through my head to be sure.¡± Her eyes squinted, eyebrows squinted, finger moving back onto the trigger, yet held the position and not firing. ¡°So, um, we doing this or nah? I know I do have a few things now I know there is an extra copy of me running around you know?¡± He kept joking around, spitting out random words to mask the uneasiness coming from looking into a loaded crossbow. He crossed his fingers, fidgeting with his own thumbs as he waited for the verdict of 100B, at least who he assumed to be one. Maybe she is the corrupted one, and the purple ball was just there for, I don¡¯t know, fun?This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What happened last Thursday?¡± She asked ¡°Last Thursday? I don¡¯t know, the creation of the world maybe? Who knows.¡± He replied, turning his attention to the dried hay that made up his bed ¡°You think he¡¯s lying about being 100C?¡± The other children asked, taking a break from trying to load the crossbow ¡°Come on now mate, don¡¯t insult your own intellect, take a look around. Some dude holding a crossbow against another dude she just met, what do you think this is?¡± He laughed ¡°Maybe you are into it, I don¡¯t kink shame.¡± The other C replied with a smile on his face, he replied with an ¡°Ayy¡± and two finger guns. Seeing their interaction, B lowered the crossbow slightly, removing her finger from the trigger ¡°Oh that¡¯s what you are going to base this on? Really? Come on, bring that thing up, I¡¯m not going to let the whole fate of the fucking universe be determinted just because I said.¡± He paused for a short while. ¡°Well, he said that he doesn''t kink shame. Or was it the fingergun?¡± He looked up with doubt, pointing his index finger straight towards the sky ¡°I swear if it¡¯s the fingergun and somehow later on I stab you in the back you definitely deserve that.¡± Seeing her completely lowered the bow, he let out a long sigh ¡°I swear at least one of us is going to regret this decision.¡± He chuckled as his body deflates, lying back down onto the bed ¡°So, I assume some dude picked me up from the battlefield? What is this place? Scavenger¡¯s camp or a military camp?¡± B sat on the ground, pointed the loaded crossbow elsewhere."You came in a few hours ago in a cart, they don¡¯t know you are awake. That is all we have right now.¡± ¡°And we are where?¡±C looked around, a dimly lit room with wooden boxes stacked around him. ¡°Probably in some small village in the woods or something by the looks of it.¡± B replied ¡°You tried asking anyone around here?¡± ¡°Right, that.¡± B sighted,¡°You know about the naked person that visited you?¡± ¡°The what now?¡± ¡°Naked person, about normal adult height, doesn''t talk, has a weird glow, gave you the wrist thing?¡±B described the ¡®creature¡¯ she saw in detail, even drawing a rough sketch of it on the ground with the arrow C tossed at her ¡°A spawn camping purple ball that has eyes grown all over it.¡±100C interrupted ¡°That¡¯s not....¡± ¡°Yeah, that.¡± C pointed at his doppelganger. ¡°See? That dude gets it.¡± ¡°Fine, the purple orb thing, it removed a sizable amount of knowledge from us. As of right now, we know that a few crucial technologies, such as the brain machine interface, as well as huge chunks of language are wiped from our data set. The exact damage it had on our dataset is still not fully understood, you are probably a byproduct of it as well.¡± ¡°Who you calling byproduct, your mom¡¯s a byproduct.¡± He fired back ¡°Can we restrain the mom jokes, we have better things to talk about right now.¡± B sighted ¡°In short we don¡¯t know how to communicate, we lack the technology to extend our lives, and we would probably have to deal with multiple copies of ourselves¡± she added C shrugged, looked towards 100C still trying to load the crossbow ¡°I¡¯m cool with him¡± ¡°Same.¡± 100C grunted as his face turn red pulling on the thread ¡°No, more than likely, we are doomed.¡± B said quietly ¡°Why? Because I¡¯m sick as fuck?¡±100C walked towards B and handed over the crossbow, raising his hand in front for C ¡°Ayy, nice one.¡± C laughed as he gave himself a high five. B took in a deep breath, rubbed her temple, and asked with a disappointed tone ¡°Do you know why they don¡¯t just send a bunch of us down?¡± B said with a straight face. ¡°We are not naturally born, you know that right?¡± ¡°I mean, we were transferred here from a spaceship, so I guess? What about it?¡±100C drew a tic-tac toe on the floor with his finger, placed a circle right at the middle, and nudged C. ¡°We, 100B and 100C are designed, my job is to defy the law that all intelligent civilization ultimately destroys themselves, yours to advance the civilization by all means¡± ¡°Well, they sure did a poor job when they designed me. "C laughed as he placed a X at the middle right block ¡°But then we should have no problem working together right?¡± he followed up ¡°Oof, here, take an F.¡± 100C patted him on the back, placing an F on the top right ¡°The whole point was that they could just drop one of each and not worry about what comes next. Dropping multiple copies goes against our designed purpose, adding on our, well ¡®goal, which to put it simply was our winning condition when we were trained, we would quite literally fight to the last person standing¡± B explained ¡°Isn¡¯t that just strictly a you problem?¡± C gestured vaguely ¡°You guys have a problem when it comes to something you can¡¯t controle, and from what I see, I¡¯m not a part of it.¡± C said as he dropped another X on the ground. B scoffed. ¡°You aren¡¯t willing to sit on the side and watch this whole thing unfold. Join us, we get the life extension, then you are free to walk away anytime you want.¡± ¡°Last time I agreed to a life extension it turned me into a human shawarma. I¡¯m going to need a lot more guarantee this time around¡± He said as he looked at his replica ¡°Well, I had¡­¡± B stumbled ¡°The plan was to start making all kinds of high tech stuff, become a monopoly on basically every industry. Then control the government with money and such.¡± 100C finished her sentence, then started a new game, seeing the previous one was another tie. B confirmed what 100C just said and stated she needed more time to make a new one that takes in duplicate 100B and 100C. ¡°What if we just go around chopping heads off kings and you know, rule with power and whatever technology we have left.¡± He jokingly asked ¡°See? I said the same thing¡±100C pointed at him and nodded his head ¡°Fine.¡±B sighted ¡°Say the king is dead, you killed the person that everyone thought was a god and looked up towards, what happens next? You would need support from a lot of people to guarantee you don¡¯t get killed as soon as your butt touches the throne¡± B continued ¡°You can¡¯t just cut heads off and expect things to go well, there are consequences.¡± ¡°I mean look, we could accelerate this whole planet from iron age all the way to¡­ Something like the 21st century human society within 300 years, all that¡¯s standing in our way¡­¡± He defended his argument ¡°Is basically everything, politics, religion, social structures, nature itself, now we have additional 100B and C wandering around. "B sat down next to him, scribelling on the ground with the arrow. ¡°We would be lucky if we don¡¯t get burnt on a pole or our heads chopped off because we proposed something radical. And with multiple 100B running around, it would be a miracle we don¡¯t get thrown off our throne within 10 years of ruling.¡± ¡°What about a cult?¡± 100C asked ¡°You mean making yourself a god and hope no one else notices and sends an army for you? You are aware that more than likely every single 100B would attempt to one, grab power, and two, remove every uncertainty in front of themselves.¡± ¡°Oh so that¡¯s why you have the crossbow loaded¡± ¡°Bingo, congratulations on not being 100B by the way.¡±B replied, whipping what she wrote on the ground and starting over again. The two 100C sat quietly, playing games and looking over as to what 100B was writing from time to time ¡°But what if¡­¡± He asked, putting his hands out as if he were to calm a crowd ¡°Oh shit this is going to be fun.¡± 100C crackeled up ¡°Hits blunt, bruh, what if¡­¡±100C grinned as he turned his attention towards him His eyebrows slightly locked, a smile on his face, eyeball looking to the top right corner as if he just saw something over there ¡°What if we like, start a plague?¡± 100C bursts out laughing¡°Bruh what? A what?¡± ¡°No no no, think about it, just start dumping dead fish into the river. People get sick from cholera, we pop up with antibiotics and basic sense, claim it¡¯s us that defeated the great plague, and boom, easy followers. They don¡¯t know shit about germ theory, they just know whatever we are giving them is working,¡± He continued ¡°Mate, cholera has a 50% death rate, we can¡¯t just thanos snap the whole fucking country and expect them to follow us.¡±100C cried ¡°He has a point.¡± 100B¡¯s hand stopped mid air, then quickly erased the plan she had down ¡°Et tu, 100B?¡± ¡°Wait really?¡±His eyes wide as saucers, unsure whether or not his suggestion got into her ears ¡°See? Even he doesn''t believe this¡± 100C leaned over, convulsing, tears in his eyes. ¡°Yea fine, shush, give me a few seconds.¡± B stopped them. inauguration ¡°So, how¡¯s your day, um Mr¡­ What was your name again?¡±100C staired and C with an awkward smile Right, names, man I''m getting flashbacks from eveytime I playgames, fucking namings¡°Well.¡± C thought for a while ¡°No, I have no idea what my given name is.¡± They stared at each other as the room went silent ¡°You know what, fuck it, Mimic, your¡¯s?¡± ¡°Really? Mimic?¡± 100C frowned ¡°Man I thought I was way more creative with names. Primus, by the way¡± ¡°Primus? That Latin? How did that come about?¡± ¡°Trust me, it¡¯s weird. The naming here is all over the place and their language makes no sense.¡± Primus said, taking another look at 100B still working on the proposal that Mimic randomly threw out a few minutes ago. ¡°By the way.¡± Primus whispered ¡°What do you know about the data set?¡± ¡°There is no need to whisper, is there? The three of us all have the same resource.¡±Mimic replied in a normal voice. ¡°Do you know that there is around 3% of the total storage dedicated for pron?¡± Primus said with a sleazy smile on his face ¡°Jesus fuck¡­¡± Mimic sighted, burying his face into his hand ¡°Do you have any idea how uncomfortable that was when I see a 5 year old talk about that in such a serious tone.¡± He froze briefly, looking for something to keep the conversation going ¡°Speaking of age, B told you why we are childrens? It would be a lot nicer if we are in our twenties or thirties wouldn¡¯t it¡± ¡°Oh, just because childrens get away with a lot more things, it allows us to adjust to the culture and such.¡± Primus replied quickly. ¡°Also, there is¡­¡± ¡°Right, you two, over here, we are already behind on schedule.¡± B called out ¡°Come on now, we have to get out of this place before someone comes to check on¡­ The new 100C, got a name?¡± ¡°Mimic.¡± He replied, jumping back on the hay bead B was in, Primus laid on the ground across from the bed, facing Mimic and B ¡°Draw me. Draw me like one of your French girls.¡± He jokingly tossed an arrow towards Mimic. To which Mimic drew a stick figure and called it a day. ¡°Now, the plan is to make this place self-sufficient, gather enough resources, burn their food supply, start dropping dead fishes in their water source, then we show up with the cure. In that order¡± B pointed at the graph she drew on the ground, poorly hand written, but still somewhat readable. ¡°Their morale would be low, stomach empty, and body ill. We come in, promiss food for the starving, cure for the sick, and opportunity for the individuals as long as they follow us.¡± ¡°So we doing the Nazi aproch?¡± Mimic asked ¡°No! Bad!¡± Primus tossed the arrow, smacking Mimic right in the face ¡°Dude, it¡¯s a thin line.¡± Mimic defended himself, tossing the arrow back ¡°All we have to do is provide aid and promis a stable future then people will come. We should try and limit the amount of people the plague kills because we would need a lot of manpower for the next step, which is industrialisation.¡± B continued ¡°With this, hopefully we would be able to catch up to the others, while maintaining a low profile so we don¡¯t get obliterated. Questions?¡± They took a closer look at the plan, memorising every detail. ¡°So, how long is this going to take?¡± Primus asked as he drew a line from the start to industrialisation. ¡°If we start tomorrow, around this time next year we could start dropping ¡®incentives¡¯ and rumors of this place as a haven.¡± ¡°By incentives you mean the plague?¡± ¡°We snapping next year bois.¡± Mimic chuckled ¡°Yes, we are going to start dropping dead fish into their water supply next year. However, it is not until the year after that we start taking in mass amounts of people. There are still a lot more foundations that would need to be set before we can do that. For example housing, an irrigation system, some way of defending ourselves, and we would need a lot, and I mean a lot of raw materials, which as of right now, is probably still underground in some far away place.¡± B clarified ¡°Oh, and we can¡¯t really just dive into industrialised farming without sufficient antibiotics since those tend to end badly, so meat would be scarese-ish¡± ¡°So maybe five years? Yeah?¡± Mimic looked at the plan, adding timelines to each action, Primus stood up and peeked out the window ¡°Five if we are lucky¡± he added. With the skies are already orange with a hint of blue just at the edge of the horizon, the sound of hoofs walking outside becoming more and more frequent ¡°We gotta wrap this up soon guys.¡± He called out ¡°No worries, this should be quick.¡± B retrieved the crossbow, handing one to Primus ¡°We need one person on computer science, they would be responsible for extending our lives, another on antibiotics, farming and such, they need to keep us fed and not dead, and one basically just doing politics, spreading the words of this place, and protecting the two so that they don¡¯t get their heads chopped off when they eventually implement wichcraft such as the steam engine and reactors.¡± Mimic bursted out ¡°Dibs on politics¡± ¡°You got a coin or something I can flip?¡± Primus asked ¡°No? Alright then, I¡¯ll take the life extension.¡± ¡°It¡¯s set then.¡± B picked up the arrows then tossed them into a box nearby ¡°Learn the language if you can, you would need that a lot more than us. We¡¯ll meet up at the center tomorrow, iron out the plan, maybe tweak it a bit¡± She said as she climbed up the window frame ¡°Goodbye for now¡±, she said, pushing open the window and leaping out, followed by a thud, and some whimpering on the other side of the wallReading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Is she good?¡± Mimic looked up at Primus, who was preparing to jump out as well ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s a children¡¯s body, those heal fast.¡± He then proceeded to jump out the same window ¡°See you soon eh?¡± Primus whispered after landing. With the two gone, Mimic smoothen out the floor with his feet, then laid back onto the bed. His mind is still on the plan they made earlier, around 50% of the infected population is going to die just cholera alone, plenty more would follow after they build this country and start expanding outwards. This is for the better good, he said to himself. Soon no one would know anything about having to bury their children due to famine, no tear would be shed over loved ones dying due to simple curable disease, a place where everyone has access to the same opportunity regardless of their birth. Yet no matter how hard he tries to convince himself, something feels¡­ off. It¡¯s not the feeling of anticipation the day before a road trip, it¡¯s not the fear one experiences when looking down from the top of a skyscraper, nor is it the heart pounding sensation when one stands in front of millions of people and delivers a speech. His chest tightening with each breath, his stomach tenses up, sounds in the background gradually fade out, replaced by the beating of his heart. This is for the better, he lied to himself over and over again ¡°???fA?x????uA?L?T¡± A gravelly voice along with a nudge on the shoulder pulled him back to reality, a short muscular man standing besides the bed, lantern in hand. Round faces, nose shaped like a garlic, bushy beard flowing down all the way to his chest. ¡°??s?fD??¡± The man helped Mimic sit up, handing him a chunk of dark bread along with a small cup of brown-ish liquid. ¡°Well, um¡­ Hi?¡± Mimic said quietly, accepting and taking a bite out of the bread. Trying his best to appear happy while chewing on what tasted like bark chips with a slight hint of wheat and suppressing whatever was running in his mind just a few moments ago. Crap what do I do? Shit, what do children do when they meet a stranger that gives them bread? I mean I could just keep on smiling, but then there is a high chance that I would be treated as a retard. I am not prepared for this, he thought as he took a sip of an extremely watered down beer to wash the whole thing down, then taking another bite at the dry bread. This was totally not what they meant when they said they said ¡®Have another go at life, but on a different planet¡± After having a few edible rocks that smelt like wheat, the same amount of beverages, and a few very questionable jerkies, Mimic patted on his slightly bloated stomach to stop the man from giving him another bread. After confirming that Mimic was indeed well fed and would not take another piece of bread, the man opened the door and ushered him out. A huge bonfire stood dead center in the village square, flames reaching towards the sky, people drinking, eating, and partying. The rest of the night was mostly spent on listening to the man explaining to him who each person is, getting a tour of the whole village, as well as consuming a lot of watered down beer. By the end when he is slightly drunk, the man leads him towards a huge wooden house, though the window one could see the flickering flames and shadows jumping around, accompanied by laughs and giggles. As the door swung open, at the middle is a small pile of fire still burning, beds lined up on the left hand side, a huge table on the right. 100B and Primus were also inside; they stood next to the beds, wooden sword in hand, not knowing how to react to someone they should not know suddenly showing up in their room. The man briefly addressed them, pointed towards the bed, pointed outside, said a bunch of words that none of them knew what it was, then left Mimic inside with them. They all stood there in silence for a brief moment. ¡°So yeah, nice to meet you guys.¡± He walked around the small fire in the middle of the house, collapsing on one of the beds. ¡°You drank the fruit juice didn¡¯t you¡± Primus looked at his blushed face ¡°I mean I would be fine right? My mind is already set.¡± Mimic burped, flipped over, and started snoring soon after ¡°He¡¯s going to get brain damage.¡± B sighted as she pointed her sword towards Primus ¡°Another round?¡± ¡°Sure, last one.¡± The following morning Mimic woke up with a terrible hangover, Primus and B already cleaning up the house. ¡°You got water?¡± Mimic called out ¡°The bucket is next to the door, go outside, take a left, you should see a well somewhere around there. Don¡¯t let people see you drink water directly from it as they think you¡¯ll be sick and would have you eat some herbs.¡± B called out from the back ¡°She learned that the hard way.¡± Primus snickered as he tossed some more wood into the fire ¡°Got it, thanks¡± Mimic said as he stumbles across the floor ¡°Be back quick, breakfast is on the table, and trust me when I say it does not taste good when it¡¯s cold.¡± Primus added ¡°By the way, get a full bucket back.¡± To which Mimic gave him a thumbs up and headed out. The morning breeze took away the last bit of sleepiness that remind in his head. The village is already busy, dozens of empty carts already preparing to head out. The man who showed him around standing on a pedestal, calling out god knows what. Right, languages, I signed up for those. Mimic sighted as he walked towards the well, getting a bucket full of water, drinked some, splashed some onto his face to completely wake up, then returned for breakfast. ¡°Tell me what you think about it.¡± Primus was already standing next to the table, waiting for him to take a spoon full of the porridge Mimic looked at the gooey substance in front of him, already chilled off by the cold air ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad right? It¡¯s just porridge.¡± ¡°It tastes like glue.¡± B said, closing the front door ¡°Either way, just eat it and remember to wake up earlier tomorrow, it does taste slightly better when warm.¡± ¡°Well then.¡± He sighted and took a huge gulp of the cold porridge, jittering as it passed down towards his stomach ¡°Oh god, that is not pleasant. Can we get at least one of us to teach them cooking?¡± He gagged as he took another gulp, finishing up the porridge entirely. Primus and B are already sitting beside the fire, recreating the plan from yesterday, Mimic joined soon, after washing and drying the bowl. ¡°We are not going out today?¡± Mimic asked, warming his hand by the fire. ¡°Asking you to meet us out there is just a way for us to find you so that we can bring you back here. Now, status report, how¡¯s your progress? ¡± B stood up after finishing up the last word, tossing the stick into the fire. ¡°Politics, still learning language, should be able to start communicating in a week or so.¡± Mimic started ¡°Life extension, read up on production of computers and such, heading into brain machine interface today, should be free after something like a few months, or until we can make an actual computer. I¡¯ll drop a list of things that I need soon.¡± ¡°Good progress. Medicine and farming, we can get the first batch of antibiotics within the next few weeks, assuming we can get sulfur. Started leaving out some wet bread to see if we can catch some fungi with antimicrobial properties just in case we need those. As for farming, I¡¯ll try and convince them to let us build something like a tractor, and we, well I would need to start pumping out pesticide to bring down the human cost.¡± ¡°What about the polar bears yo? Think about the environment.¡± Primus cried out sarcastically ¡°Sometimes i really hate myself for making retarded remarks in my head, now with the power of technology I can see myself doing that in person, thanks 100B, I hate it.¡± ¡°I know this isn¡¯t ideal, but it¡¯s the fastest way. And we wouldn¡¯t need to deal with those problems, assuming again, we move and transition fast enough; This is just a temporary solution.¡± ¡°What happens if we don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Take a wild fucking guess buddy. Right, that¡¯s all?¡± Primus stood up and walked towards his bed, layed down and started reading, B opening up the front door and about to leave ¡°One more thing, Mimic, you might want to read up on the culture here if it¡¯s not deleted. As for Primus, you could look into some of the magic here, it could provide insight for you even if we can¡¯t use it. I¡¯ll walk around and see if they have a map of some sort of this place¡± ¡°You heard that right?¡± Primus sat up on the bed, confirming what he heard ¡°Magic, right?¡± Mimic asked ¡°She said something about magic didn¡¯t she? She told you anything about that?¡± Primus shook his head, jumping off the bed "But We about to find out anyways, I''ll start from the begining of the index, you start from the end, call out when you see anything that''s labeled... Magic i guess?" inauguration-continued ¡°Good news, I know where we are.¡± B charged through the front door, panting, parchment paper in hand, only to be greeted by both Primus and Mimic squatting around a weirdly drawn symbol on the ground, chanting random spells. ¡°You stole that didn¡¯t you?¡± Primus looked up at B drenched in sweat with dirt on her face. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She tossed the map onto the bed ¡°Are those runes you are trying to make?¡± She said as she examined their work Mimic stood up from the ground and proudly gave her a brief tour ¡°That one over there is supposed to glow, the one further from that is supposed to give us some fire, and this one right beneath us should blow up any second.¡± Hearing the last words she backed up a few steps¡°And you thought that was a good idea to draw that inside a house?¡± B picked up a stick and started adding random lines to each rune, making sure every single one of it is no longer functional ¡°Just a reminder, every single one of these would have worked if anyone else came and used it.¡± ¡°So, why isn¡¯t it working? And why didn¡¯t you tell us about anything regarding magic?¡± ¡°There was a memo for you somewhere in the dataset 100C, there was a memo. There was even a copy of that at the first entry in the magic section ¡± ¡°Oh that was for real? Dude I thought it was just a joke, it looked like one as well¡± Mimic laughed as he sat down, closed his eyes and started reading from the set. ¡°Why would I put a joke in there? It¡¯s a dataset.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I definitely would.¡± Primus said ¡°You see why I have trust issues?¡± ¡°Fine, get off the dataset, I¡¯ll just give both of you a crash course on this. Just take the set seriously from now on, you were not involved in the making of it, so nothing in there is a mistake.¡± ¡°Ooh! Really? Fucking really?¡± Mimc exclaimed ¡°Pff mistake.¡± Primus grinned as he removed yet another rune ¡°Now, magic. Well, ¡®magic¡¯ as you call it¡± B said with air quotations ¡°It basically does what you think it does, in games, in literature, etcetera etcetera; Another thing is mana, it¡¯s the blue bar, follows thermal dynamic, one regains a lot faster when their mana is low, and slows down later on, mana also decays out of a person¡¯s body over time, more when you have a lot of mana in your body, and vice versa. Also, different species have different rates on the regain and decay, all can be found somewhere in the dataset. We have put those ideas into your simulation as games and such so you could get a general idea of those, your welcome.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t just give us the powers in simulations? I mean we are going to use it IRL right?¡± Primus interrupted ¡°I¡¯ll get to that later, you would know that if you read the memo. Magic is divided into three major parts, the one where someone casts something with their own mana, the one where you store mana into substances, then use it to power things such as that lantern over there, and the one where you use other¡¯s mana to cast. In terms easier to understand, lighting yourself on fire for lumination, lighting a stick on fire for lumination, and lighting someone else on fire for lumination. You get all that?¡± ¡°Okay?¡± Mimic said slowly taking in the information, doubt in his mind ¡°So, um, this magic you are talking about, why can¡¯t we use it?¡± ¡°The simple answer is that one, we don¡¯t have mana to start with hence we can¡¯t cast things, and two, we would empty out any mana on contact and therefore can¡¯t really use mana powered tools. For example¡± B climbed up a chair nearby, then onto the table ¡°See that lantern over there?¡± She pointed ¡°In theory, that is powered by mana, and inside there should be some rune that does the shining part.¡± B walked closer towards the lantern, hovering her hands over it ¡°Yeah, this should be mana powered, it doesn''t feel hot. Now look closely.¡± She said as she grabbed the lantern by it¡¯s handle, instantly extinguishing the light, Primus and mimic stuttered in surprise ¡°See? Simple.¡± B hopped down with the ¡®dead¡¯ lantern, handing it to Mimic ¡°Any questions?¡± ¡°Yeah, a fuck ton actually.¡± Primus jumped in, eyes wide as saucers ¡°Why can¡¯t we use it? You set those things up just for what?¡± B squeezed her eyes closed, her teeth grinded against each other, then took a deep breath ¡°Fuck¡­ alright, here goes¡± she wispered to herself. ¡°Two reasons. First, it gets outscaled, fast. They can generate a shield, yet we can just blow right through those with enough force or enough amo, whatever they can do we could do better and scale larger. Now, the main reason, probably also why we are still standing here, there is something called ¡®Proof of life¡¯, every living thing has it, even if you are killed off and brought back from the dead. We don¡¯t have that because they made us like that, so that we can do things that normal living organisms can¡¯t. Like for example, fuck with a lower ¡®tier¡¯ civilization and not get hit with the rules that dictate this universe. They have tried doing that before, most of it got nowhere, the one that succeeded is now the reason we are here.¡± ¡°So how do we acquire such ¡®proof¡¯¡± Primus asked ¡°We don¡¯t.¡± She paused for a short while ¡°Well, we could, in theory¡­¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t worth it, it just adds more restriction. Well, I mean, casting magic probably is a plus, but then the implications are eh. Anything else?¡± ¡°So does that apply to everything?¡± Mimic took over the lantern and carefully removed the glass around it, revealing a similar rune that he and Primus drew not some time ago, as well as a few clear crystals sitting at the corner.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Oh, can we do the thing where we just stand there and nullify a big fireball that was just thrown at us?¡± Primus excitingly asked ¡°Yes, well, mostly, yes we can nullify most of the mana that comes into contact with us. And no, I would not suggest you do such an act such as catching an incoming fireball. First, it¡¯s still a fireball, you are not immune to the heat, and second, you don¡¯t know if it¡¯s actually a mana fueled fireball or just a flaming ball of oil coming your way, so just don¡¯t.¡± B replied ¡°In short, avoid getting into fights at all costs, we can¡¯t really defend ourselves, armors are basically useless if you don¡¯t throw enchantments on, enchantments we would instantly destroy on contact, which leaves us with the protection level of a wet toilet paper; We probably can¡¯t outrun them as well, there are ways to accelerate oneself with magic, and their arrows if enchanted, is basically a sniper rifle. So if we get into conflict, at best one of our limbs get chopped off, at worst, we bleed to death because apparently we can¡¯t be healed by magic as well.¡± ¡°Was all of this intended as well?¡± Mimic let out a nervous chuckle as B lists on the disadvantages. ¡°I mean hell, why didn¡¯t you guys use it on that big ship you guys were on?¡± ¡°Magics are great at one thing and one thing only, accelerating civilisation progression. It gave every sentient being a huge boost, basically giving them firearms to defend themselves way before bows are a thing, gave them the ability to turn fortify small twigs into rebars, but then we could just come around and start making things like guns, cannons, poisson gass, vir¡­¡± B said pasionly ¡°Ok we are stopping you right there, we get it.¡±Mimic stopped her ¡°We can just invent things that are so advanced and ignore costs like the mana pool. Wounds that would not heal even in the face of healing magic, we have techniques that would just send someone brought back to life to kill themselves.¡± ¡°Well that was something.¡± Mimc said as he scooched away from B ¡°You think she¡¯s a sadist?¡± Primus jokingly asked ¡°I mean think about it.¡± Mimic gestured vaguely ¡°She probably has thousands of years of memories running around in her head.¡± ¡°You two are talking a lot of shit for someone being older than I.¡± ¡°Are you...?¡± ¡°Nope, sub 100.¡± ¡°I envy you sometimes. Either way, that¡¯s that, I¡¯ll read up on runes and such, see if we can make an engine that runs on mana, and do us a favor, don¡¯t go around drawing random runes.¡± The rest of the day went by smoothly, bland, but smooth. Mimic went around the village, talking gibberish to everyone he met, helping out in various places, getting escorted out sometimes due to the null magic properties. Primus locked himself up inside the house, marathoning decades of knowledge, pausing every few hours for a water break, by noon he can feel his soul leave his body, later that night, according to himself, the experience felt like ¡®Chatting with C¡¯thulu while your getting tackled by a quarterback over and over¡¯. As for B she went around the village, poking her nose into every single storage box, memorising the whole inventory and making a list of materials needed. That night the village had another feast, the three of them sat by the fire indoors after eating, each with a cup of water in hand. ¡°I want to die.¡± Primus said, setting his cup aside and laid down on the dirt floor ¡°Fucking hell how did people come up with all these technology?¡± he exclaimed ¡°I learned some basic words.¡± Mmic took a sip out of his cup ¡°We need to steal some books and kidnap someone who knows how to read¡± B said out of the blue, her eyes focused on the flame ¡°What good is it going to do? Most of the people can¡¯t read, we can¡¯t just print shit and expect someone to know what is written on it¡± Primus said as he attempts at some yoga to stretch his stiff body from lying in bed all day ¡°The magic part isn¡¯t complete, when making that part we assumed it wouldn¡¯t be used as frequently so we only added basic things. I assume that the locals might have more detailed descriptions or more sophisticated methods we are not weary of.¡± ¡°Bruh you just thought you are not going to be using it?¡± Primus took a deep breath ¡°Fine, tell me what you know about making fire, the most primitive, non magic way¡± B said ¡°I don¡¯t know, rub sticks together fast?¡± Mimic joined in ¡°See? The details of the actions are missing, the same with our dataset. So, we get some people, go in, take all the magic related books, and get out, simple enough. Maybe promise to loot their treasure vault of whatever on the way to get people on board, you decide¡± ¡°So, I would just go up to some random dude and ask ¡®Oi want to raid the kingdom library, with me? We can steal some more gold on the way¡¯?¡± Mimic chuckled ¡°Like I said, that¡¯s for you to decide, get it done as soon as you can, preferably before we start taking in people. Age in this era is not really a constraint assuming you can prove it to them that you are capable of doing things. So yeah, do something.¡± B shrugged ¡°Is this week some sort of festival or something we are not aware about? That¡¯s two parties in a row out there. Also, no one here has any farming equipment around, I toured the whole village and found like, a few sickels, maybe a hoe or a shovel.¡± Mimic asked ¡°Oh they don¡¯t farm, they scavenge, forage, hunt and trade, probably steal as well. Remember when I said I need a map to locate where we are? This place didn¡¯t exist before the war break out, is far from normal settlements, I¡¯m guessing this is some type of refugee camp¡± ¡°So they are bandits.¡±Primus sat back up, dusting off the dirt on his clothes ¡°I would assume so.¡± B shrugged ¡°Welp, that¡¯s good news for us, at least when we need to steal stuff.¡± Mimic sighted, trying to fit the new request form B into the schedule. ¡°Wait, that means I can just go around and steal stuff, if I get enough loot then they would like, you know.¡± ¡°It might work, but again, remember you are one attack away from death.¡± B yawned. ¡°Anyways, let me know if you want or need something. Want to dule?¡± She walked towards the desk and took out the wooden swords. ¡°I can¡¯t, ask Mimic.¡± Primus pushed open the front door, off to get another cup of drink. Mimic accepted, after a few rules such as no sand tossing and no eye stabbing they walked into position. B on back towards the door standing tall, one hand holding the sword upright, the other behind her back. Mimic stood across the room, sword pointed downward, the other hand causally on the side. They nodded and started the duel, at first not much happened, B faked a few attacks just to test the reaction, Mimic swung a few times just to get blocked easily by her. ¡°You coming? Or are we standing around all night?¡± Mimic taunted, his eyes locked on her sword ¡°I might, by the way you call those attacks?¡± B snickered Primus pushed open the door and walked towards his bed ¡°Oh you are so very fucked¡± He laughed. Mimic took a deep breath, emptying out his mind, here goes. With a blink of an eye, he lunged forward with the sword tip pointed directly towards B ¡°This again?¡± B sighted as she hit the weapon out of Mimics hand, only to be greeted by a palm gripping tightly around her neck, soon her body hit the ground from the force Mimic built up. ¡°Well played, but still, dick move.¡± She chuckled as she stared at the roof ¡°Well call this a draw shall we?¡± ¡°Mate, you are on the ground and I¡¯m not.¡± Mimic confused, only to be reminded soon after as he felt a poke around his stomach area, as he look down he saw an small wooden dagger B pulled out sometime during the encounter ¡°Ok, that¡¯s dick move.¡± He said as he helped B back up ¡°All is fair, remember that.¡± She dusted off the dirt and tossed away the sword ¡°Another round?¡± ignition They went at each other for a few more rounds, most of the time ending in B¡¯s dagger stopping short of Mimic¡¯s eyes, neck, and other vital areas. ¡°Am I missing out on something? This is unreal.¡± Mimic backed away from yet another lost encounter. She panted as she wiped the sweat off her forehead ¡°Experiences, we don¡¯t really differ in strength or reaction speed, I spent a lot more time on this in the past simulations than you, and I have access to the memories of our past encounters.¡± ¡°I gotta get my memories back soon then¡± Mimic shakingly raised his sword up ¡°Again?¡± Her inner brows twitched ¡°Um, Sure.¡± She answered softly, but soon switched back to her normal tone¡°Last one.¡± she said with the usual flat tone. In the following weeks they practically parted ways despite living under the same roof, only sitting down together after dinner to do a short status update as well as some dueling afterwards. Mimic became familiar with the natives, often hanging around the docking area checking what they brought in, sometimes even tried to sneak into an empty cart just to see if they would take him out. He is often called upon to disarm or cleanse some items found in the battlefield after some of the villagers figure out the rare attribute he possesses, as well as why their lantern keeps dying even after filling it with mana just the other day. As for his tasks, the language part was coming along nicely, everyday communications are somewhat doable, mostly sticking towards simple sentences and common words and hoping that the person he¡¯s talking to has some idea of what he is trying to get across. Primus basically bounded himself to the bed, only leaving for the occasional walk, food, and restrooms, sometimes murmuring in the middle of the night. Though B told him to keep a normal sleep schedule so that the brain would function properly in the long run, yet no one has really been able to verify that he took the advice. In the span of a few weeks he went from a software engineer from his past life, to now, according to him ¡°The Monarch Of Technology.¡± However, considering they are living with people that just discovered iron not so long ago such isn¡¯t really a high bar. Mimic once expressed his concern regarding the mental stability of Primus directly to him, to which Primus responded with ¡°You Dare Question My Powers? Mortal?¡± That is when he knew everything was fine. As for B no one really saw her around, they just noticed that recently the smell of charred wood and explosion sound echoed throughout the mountains a lot more frequent than a few weeks ago. Some crossbows went missing, along with arrows, magic crystals, salt, wine, ropes, and some actual swords and armors scavenged from the battlefield. She often returns to the house covered in ashes, mud stuck in her fingers, sometimes missing an eyebrow or some hair. As for the few times Mimic actually saw her, she was around the smithy handing over some parchment paper and a few jars of wine, which was probably stolen, in exchange for a few weird components such as gears, round metal disk, and even some hollow metal tubing with hexagon shaped hollow. Or she was hanging around with the hunting group, often asking them about their hunt and listening to their epic encounters. ¡°By the way, Mimic.¡± B said as she knocks the sword out of his hands yet again ¡°How¡¯s our public relationship going?¡± ¡°Not too bad, attempted to convince them to raid a convoy, ended up cracking the whole group up.¡± Mimic tossed a wooden dagger her way for distraction, then charged at her with an additional one in hand, cracking her defence, and stopping right before the dagger made contact with her throat. ¡°So your plan?¡± She said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, tossing the sword she knocked off back to Primus He catched it mid air, tucked the daggers back into his waistbands, then prepared for the next round ¡°I mean, the hunting-dudes seem easy enough to convince. Might give them a try, I don¡¯t know, this body is too young for a lot of activities. How¡¯s your stuff going? I see your eyebrow growing back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good, I would need them to make us a mana powered engine, it¡¯s just a few cylinders with some weak explosion runes carved in the interior, now I just have to make sure they go off in the same order, then we can hook it up to something and see if it works.¡± Mimic shrugged, gave her an approving look, then shouted towards Primus¡°Primus!¡± He paused for a second, recognizing his mistake, cleared his throat, then called again¡°I mean¡­.hem, THE MONARCH OF TECHNOLOGY, GRACE US WITH YOUR INFINITE KNOWLEDGE?¡± ¡°I said just call me Primus, I was in a bad spot after reading for 14 hours that day. You are a dick you know that?¡± ¡°Yes, my lord.¡± He bowed as a wooden spoon hit his head ¡°I need a computer, and more info on magics. Read all the stuff I can in the dataset, all the computer science, some bio tech, and some robotics. Learned how to clone bodies and not neuter them or their descendants, how to make human-like robots. In short, assuming I get a computer and a few volunteers, I could crack, well cheese the shit out of ageing by just cloning and swapping bodies every now and then. By the way, any of you notice the note at the end of each tech entry?¡± He walked up and took the sword from Mimic¡¯s hand ¡°Shit¡± Mimic closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, rubbing his temple ¡°What did you find?¡± B paused the dule then went for a cup of water ¡°Well, it¡¯s a long list, but the important ones are that: Assuming this is year one, our life expectancy is now 200 years, immunity drops off on year 125, and there are a total of 98 replicas on this planet, half B, half C. Oh, and the wristband is a storage device, if we manage to find a way to read those, we get our whole dataset back. There is also some weird gibberish, it feels like someone put a madlib in there, I can write it down if you want.¡± He looked towards B ¡°Fucking hell, 100?¡± Mimic buried his head into his head ¡°Why even bother with that much?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Primus shrugged ¡°Pass me a dagger and let¡¯s start shall we?¡± ¡°Sure, you are going to get rekt though.¡± Mimic chuckled as he hands it over This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°What are you other than some dagger tossing clown?¡± Primus taunted as he gave the dagger a few swings. ¡°Well, a clown that¡¯s about to whoop your ass.¡± He said as he put tosses away the dagger in his hand ¡°Poke me once, and you win.¡± Mimic said as he backed up with a smug on his face ¡°Fine, on three.¡± ¡°You have 1 minute.¡± He said as he got into striking position. ¡°One¡­.¡± Mimic said slowly, his eyes fixated on Primus. ¡°Three!¡± Primus called out, dashing towards him. ¡°You fuck.¡± Mimic cried out as he swiftly opened the front door, dashing and disappearing in the partying crowd, only returning after the time was up. ¡°Get styled on you fucking pleb.¡± He laughed as he pushed open the door. ¡°Bruh you can¡¯t just run away from a duel like that.¡± Primus greeted him with a light stab in the back ¡°Well apparently I can, I just did, and I¡¯ll fucking do it again.¡± He glanced at the whole room and asked ¡°What¡¯s wrong with 100B? The fifty replica problem?¡± ¡°Well, that and something else. The notes that Cthulhu¡¯s ball left only declared that there are 50 of each, and are of the same age. Meaning¡­ you know¡­¡± He gestured vaguely ¡°We kill every same age children we come across?¡± Mimic said with a slightly serious tone ¡°No! We are not PubGing every 5 year old on this planet. It means that there is a chance that some dude just landed in a very wealthy position, and we could get outscaled.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t she account for that before? We had a long ass meeting just for that didn¡¯t we?¡± He frowned as he looked at yet another plan B¡¯s been working on ¡°I did, but I assumed there were only something like 5 or 10 of us running around, which don¡¯t get me wrong is still too much. But this is insanity.¡± ¡°So just speed up the schedule? Or should we just walk out there¡­¡± Mimic said as he pointed towards the door ¡°We are not slaughtering children, what is your first instinct as a parent when you hear someone is killing children? You protect and hide them. Killing them does us no good.¡± B muttered ¡°So now what?¡± Mimic sat down across from B ¡°Ditch the sneaky peaky plan and just go for a whole kingdom takeover?¡± ¡°Yep, we get access to more manpower, and we would have a semi functional shelter instead of a hut in the woods, as well as an army that we could train.¡± B replied ¡°And what if one of us comes around just soon after we take over, trashing the place and starting a war against us?¡± Primus asked ¡°Same result as if we just stay here and use the old plan, probably get outscaled and rolled over" Mimic replied grin on his face ¡°We could just disband and not do any of this if any of you don¡¯t want to, there are 50 more people waiting to fill in the spot.¡± B reminded them Seeing no one answered, Mimic asked¡°So, who¡¯s going to start bribing the dudes? I mean, we don¡¯t really have money just floating around, however, we might be able to get them hooked on drugs, assuming we have them, I don¡¯t know, maybe they are into children or something? It would be a lot easier for us if they are into childrens¡± ¡°How exactly did you just hop from bribe with money, all the way down to yeah let¡¯s offer ourselves as bait in just one sentence?¡± Primus sighed ¡°Well...I don¡¯t know, for shits and giggles?¡± ¡°Right, new plan. Mimic, act like you are just another 100C wandering around, taking kingdoms, make as much noise as you can, you need to cover up our existence. Primus, get off the research for now and stay besides Mimic, if he dies you take over, I¡¯ll cover the same area.¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯m going to die, real fast.¡± ¡°No, we 100Bs don¡¯t really care if 100Cs are running around so you are safe from that. You might even get a few alliances from the other 100B. Even if a 100B or 100C decides to do something frisky, we can probably spot it, well, hopefully spot it. I¡¯m confedent¡± ¡°That¡¯s definitely a lie, but sure why not.¡± He turned to Primus ¡°Right, we raiding a convoy next week¡± ¡°You and what army?¡± Primus asked ¡°You see, those empty crystals have a tendency to suck mana out of whatever object it comes into contact, kind of like us, but it has a limit. Anyways, all we have to do is make sure it touches either the animal that is pulling the cart, or the person on the cart, then we can just use that as a magic source and blow stuff up." Mimic said with a huge smile on his face ¡°We are doing the good ol ''stealthy berserker approach.¡± ¡°That sounds a little bit suspicious, there¡¯s a catch somewhere isn¡¯t there?¡±Primus frowned ¡°Well yes, empty mana crystals don¡¯t just stay empty, we will have to hold on to it so that it doesn''t just start sucking mana out of the air or whatever. So we would have to be fairly close to the explosion.¡± ¡°Fairly as in?¡± Mimic thought for a short while ¡°As you might get some hearing impairment if the explosion goes off and you aren¡¯t wearing protection.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡±Primus quickly searched the dataset ¡°Oh no.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Mimic said confidently, patting him on the back¡°You will return with all limbs and fingers attached, and glorious booty¡± ¡°And how sure are you that this would work and what happens if it doesn''t?" Primus asked specticly ¡°Well, we are going alone, hopefully. I would say it¡¯s about a 60 to 70 percent success rate with maybe¡­¡± He pouted his mouth as he gave it a deeper thought ¡°Let¡¯s say 50% death rate if we completely butcher the run, nothing too bad. We do this correctly, our words would carry a lot more weight when we speak around here, that¡¯s what we need.¡± Primus shook his head in disbelief¡°You have a serious gambeling problem." ¡°It¡¯s only a problem if I lose." Mimic gave him a wink, fingerguns in hand "If it really comes down, I¡¯ll prioritise your life, don¡¯t worry¡± He patted Primus on the back one last time then headed towards B "I hate myself." Primus said quietly ¡°B! I¡¯m going to need some things made by the blacksmith.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just go ask him?¡± ¡°Last time I went over, I extinguished his furnace.¡± He chuckled awkwardly. ¡°He is fairly, shall we say, defensive when I show up.¡± ¡°You want guns? Just a warning, it has no rifling and might jam and such. I wouldn¡¯t really rely on those.¡± ¡°You got shotguns then? Those work well, the bullets are easy to make, and it doesn''t rely on rifling.¡± ¡°Might as well use a cannon eh?¡± Primus said ¡°We could, but then I can¡¯t aim, you probably can¡¯t as well, and we need the vehicles attached so that we can move those back here.¡± Mimic replied, turning his attention back towards B ¡°How much time?¡± ¡°Why not just put claymores around? I doubt they would have known, let alone expect those. Just need piece of metal and a lot of metal balls and such, slap an explosion rune at the back of it and we are good to go, doesn''t hurt the cargo, kills the person, and probably won¡¯t even hurt us if we are behind it.¡± Primus sighed as he laid onto his bed. ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Mimic stuttered. ¡°Holly shit I¡¯m here thinking of a way to prevent blowing up the cart, my man doing the 500 IQ strats over there. We are just going to need small metal parts then, nails, marbles, whatever.¡± ¡°Sure, give me a day or two.¡± Recon The next day Mimic took Primus out, introduced him to some basic language, announcing his recovery from the ¡®illness¡¯, B dropped by sometime around lunch and handed over the map with the common routes that the soldiers take when moving supplies from the farm to the frontline. ¡°You did all this?¡± Primus looked at the incredibly detailed map ¡°B did, took her some time to pin point where we are, the rest is just migrating the map from the dataset to this paper.¡± He rolled the parchment paper back up, thanked B, and headed back to the house they slept in ¡°Now that¡¯s left is confirming the route, we have no idea which one they will take, and we have no idea when they will ship it.¡± He said, waiving the map around ¡°Oh those are just guesses?¡± ¡°Educated ones, there are only so many places they can go on a cart, assuming they use those. What we need to do is force a transfer of goods, and limit their routes, both of which is easier said than done.¡± Mimic pushed open the door, laid the map on the ground, and with a stick, he drew a rough outline of the roads, the targeted camps, and their location. ¡°Right.¡± He said as he pointed at the rough position of the camp ¡°That thing we know is there. Now we are going to go in, burn their stuff and get out. Most places prevent people from getting in with a few options, we only have to worry about our ass getting spotted since we can walk through most magic based detection methods and not get spotted. We then sneak up to their ration storage, set up some runes everywhere, and get out before anything starts burning¡± ¡°Where is that storage?¡± ¡°Yeah, we don¡¯t know right now, but we are going to scout out the site tomorrow¡± Mimic shruged it off ¡°Ok, so let me get this straight.¡± He pressed his palm together under his nose and took a deep breath, his eyebrows locked ¡°We plan on rolling up on a military base tomorrow, which is miles away, and we have to spot and memorise the location of their food supplies, then some time later we have to sneak in and blow everything up. All that for stage one?¡± ¡°Should be easy enough, we just have to stick around, maybe climb up some trees nearby.¡± ¡°Oh we don¡¯t even have a vantage point?¡± ¡°Well, trees?¡± Mimic shrugged ¡°Holly shit this is retarded.¡± ¡°B stole a horse a few weeks back, been keeping it well fed, we ride on that.¡± ¡°Oh you know how to ride those?¡± ¡°I mean, I need a stool to get onto it, but yeah, kind of, pull the rope to slow down, tug left to turn left, something like that.¡± ¡°Ok, fine. Anything else I need to know?¡± ¡°Yeah, we don¡¯t have binoculars. And there is a high high chance that we get shot.¡± ¡°Right, sure, whatever.¡± Primus rubbed his temple, already accepting the fate that he is stuck with himself on this one ¡°What about stage two, do we just block the roads?¡± ¡°Well, a few ways, blow them up, drop a huge tree on the road, spread rumors of a curse or something¡­ ¡± He listed on ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Surprised by the overly simple action item, he lifted his head up for a short while ¡°Well, yeah? We just need to discourage them to go over certain places¡± Equally as surprised, Mimic looked at him, expecting to hear some criticism or advice. ¡°No crazy actions, no risky moves?¡± Primus confirmed again ¡°We could certainly add those in¡± Mimic¡¯s eyes light up with anticipation ¡°Don''t¡± He said softly ¡°Anyways, that should be all, get some sleep now, we are moving out at night. It¡¯s going to be a tad chilly, bring food and water for a whole day, in theory we should be back before lunch, but hey, who knows.¡± ¡°Today? I thought you said tomorrow.¡± ¡°Well, like 1 am or something. Get some rest, you would need it.¡± He waved his hand, then headed out for some more food, leaving Primus in the room contemplating his mistake of accepting the invite from Mimic. As nightfall drew near, Mimic again stood near the docking area waiting to see what they brought back, Primus by his side, just woken up not long ago, eyes still sleepy, B came up from behind, asking if there were any last minute requests. They watched as the cargos were unloaded and sent into storage, helping with the lighter ones here and there, Mimic took some crystal and shoved it into his pocket when no one was watching. The night went on as normal, they had dinner, went back into the house early, Mimic went over the plan one last time. The smiling face that was present on Mimic¡¯s almost 24/7 disappeared, replaced with a serious gaze ¡°Remember, we are only there to scout, don¡¯t burn stuff, don¡¯t do nothing.¡± He repeated ¡°Why do you think I would do something stupid?¡± Primus protested ¡°Because I know I would want to, no weapons allowed just in case. We move out from that window over there after everyone is asleep, bring the map so we can mark the location.¡± He said as he went through the backpack one last time, some bread, water, ropes, crystals, and a map The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°All set here.¡± He said as he tucked the bag away underneath their bed, inside the haystack ¡°Now, we wait¡± Primus and Mimic laid quietly in bed, and waited. Some time later, the sound partying died down, lights extinguished, the front door swung open then closed. The man that first gave Mimic bread laid down beside them, not long after slight snoring started. Mimic gave Primus a nudge, after seeing a thumbs up raised up they slowly climbed out of the bed and worked their way towards the half open window, they grabbed the bag set there earlier and climbed out. ¡°How on earth did we get any sleep when that dude is snoring that loud?¡± Primus whispered as they walked to the edge of the village, and found the opening that B created some time ago when she needed to go into the forest.¡± ¡°You sure that¡¯s the right path?¡± Primus asked as they march on into the woods, moonlight shun down onto the barely visible road ¡°Been there some time, should be up ahead.¡± Mimic said as he pushed away another branch. Soon they arrived at an empty field, ashes scattered around the bombarded ground, runes and crystals lying around, the missing armors and arrows stacked neatly and covered up with a few fallen branches, the horse B promised just resting off the side hitched onto a tree. With some teamwork and quite some trial and error, they finally both got onto the horseback. ¡°So, about the rope around that tree over there.¡± Primus pointed ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake.¡± Mimic jumped off, removed it, and this time with Primu¡¯s help he got back on with ease. ¡°Right, here goes¡± Mimic held tightly onto the reins, his feet swung freely beside the horse¡¯s body, with a tap of his feet, they were off. The cold wind cuts through their clothing, scraping their skin ¡°Are you sure this is the right direction?¡± Primus asked as they rode under the bright moonlight ¡°Yeah, out from there, then turn right.¡± Mimic shivered, should''ve added some more clothing than this. ¡°Hold on tight, I¡¯m not returning for you if you fell off.¡± He called out as he swung the reins and sent the horse galloping. ¡°You know how to stop this thing right? Like safely?¡± ¡°Of course, pull up or pull to the side. Fuck it¡¯s cold¡± After a long ride, maybe an hour or so, they finally saw faint lights at the edge of the plane. The smell of blood, burnt flesh, and rotten flesh creeped into their nose, a few small animals skittered around their line of sight. ¡°Right, this should be close enough.¡± Mimic pulled over and rode into the woods, hopping off the horse and leashed it. Primus soon hopped off, ran some distance, bent over and started vomiting. ¡°Is it the smell? Or is it motion sickness?¡± He walked over and handed over the watersack ¡°The¡­¡± Primus gagged ¡°Smell.¡± he said as he dry-heaved some more ¡°You¡¯ll get used to it.¡± With Primus taken care of, they started their walk towards the camp in silence. Guard towers and the wooden barricades surrounded the whole area, people with torches and dogs scanned the parameter from time to time. They stopped besides a tall tree, resting briefly, Primus took a quick look around and moved on deeper into the forest just in case. ¡°So¡± Primus whispered. ¡°How on earth are we getting through the wall?¡± ¡°To be frank, no idea.¡± Mimic broke off a chunk of the bread and tossed it into his mouth ¡°If there is a river we can use that.¡± He dusted off the crumbs on his hand, pulled out the rope from the bag and put the bread back in. ¡°A river? At night? At this time of the year?¡± ¡°Or we could just sneak in,¡± He said as he tied a rock at the end of the rope and tossed it up, hooking onto a branch. Mimic and Primus pulled down the rope with all their might, making sure the branch could withstand their weight. ¡°Just sneak in? What do you mean just sneak in?¡± Primus muttered as he started his climb, carrying the map and rope with him. ¡°Or we could set fire to a part of the camp, then use that as a distraction.¡± Mimic said as he looked around, making sure no one is around. When he looked up again, Primus was already sitting on the branch, tying another rope on his waist and securing himself to the branch just in case something fails. Mimic did one last check then climbed up the same rope, but instead of sitting with Primus he sat on a higher branch, just like Primus did, he secured himself onto the tree then started scanning the camp. ¡°So, how exactly do we know which is the food?¡± Primus asked ¡°We wait for breakfast.¡± ¡°And we came out here in the middle of the night for that?¡± ¡°I mean I don¡¯t trust you nor I to wake up before breakfast, we get to chat, and the view is not bad up here.¡± Mimic explained ¡°You want to talk and you need to know B is not listening.¡± ¡°Sometimes I hate how we think the same thing. But yeah, that.¡± ¡°Reguarding our place here?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we just chill somewhere else? It¡¯s the 100Bs that are doing the fighting, we don¡¯t really have anything to do with it, and we might get killed off once all this is done.¡± Mimic said while he stared blankly into the horizon, the cold wind erodes his senses bit by bit. Primus closed his eyes and took in a deep breath yet said nothing, his fingers lightly tapping on the tree bark, feeling the tingling sensation from the fingertip everytime it made contact with the coarse branch. He himself has asked the same question during the long stretches of research on how to extend their lives. Assist 100B, unify the whole planet, eventually they would become the only threat around, seeing how 100Bs plan things it¡¯s not likely that they would be kept alive. Don¡¯t assist 100B, live a simple life, probably die at the age of 250 or something, no life extension, no afterlife, nothing. ¡°Say, why did you take the chance on another life?¡± Primus asked ¡°There weren''t any incentives to do so were there?¡± ¡°Well.¡±Mimic chuckled ¡°That¡¯s complicated.¡± ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°A chance.¡± ¡°At what exactly?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know really. Maybe just because I¡¯m bored.¡± He chuckled again, covering up parts of the answer. Primus laughed with him for a short while, at the absurdity of the situation and at himself. ¡°Fine, my turn for a question.¡± Mimic said with anticipation ¡°Sure¡± Primus replied, still a smile on the face For a while the world was silent as Mimic thinks, they sat in silence and watched the guards march around the camp with torches in hand, the moonlight shone on the whole forest and the sky was clear. ¡°Why are you still alive?¡± Mimic whispered ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why am you still alive?¡± He repeated. ¡°Really? That question?¡± Primus grinned as he searched for the answer. ¡°Well you see.¡± Primus said ¡°I accepted the invitation to have another go at life, and I haven''t died just yet.¡± ¡°Seems legit....¡± ¡°Yeah¡­.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t working is it?¡± ¡°Nope, please at least bring someone else with you next time.¡± The bait Few more excruciating hours passed, they took turns taking watch over the camp, and at last dawn finally broke, a slither of gold emerged from the treelines. They watched as the whole camp came to life, people walking out of their tents and starting their normal day. ¡°They can¡¯t really see us here right?¡±Primus said as he stood up on the branch, freeing his legs from hours of sitting. With a few hops warm blood started to flow into his cold thighs, eventually the foot as well "I only assumed they won¡¯t be looking towards here.¡± Mimic said as he asked for the map to be handed over, he just saw a few persons entering a tent empty handed and returning with a loaf of bread and some other rations in hand. He quickly marked out the general location of said tents, as well as adding in some more details that weren¡¯t present on the map. ¡°Well that was, somewhat easy.¡± Primus said, taking a bite out of the bread again ¡°We leaving?¡± He asked ¡°Not yet. Look, at the entrance.¡± Mimic pointed ¡°50 On that¡¯s the thing we need to burn.¡± ¡°No, look at his clothing, that thing is definitely not tunic, no armor as well. Probably a merchant.¡± ¡°So what? We just kill him?¡± ¡°We could, but then it¡¯s going to be nice to have them around when we eventually siege the kingdom.¡± ¡°He can¡¯t stay, you know? Leaving those people alive severely hampers the effectiveness of us burning their food. I say we get B on this, she takes the merchant, we take the convoy.¡± ¡°We could strike a deal with him. Come on, we are moving out.¡± Mimic untied his safety rope, handed the map over to Primus then rappeled down with the rope below him. ¡°So how are we doing this? Walk over, say hi, what?¡± Primus asked as he landed, handing over the backpack ¡°How many words do you know anyways?¡± ¡°Well¡­ since you asked.¡± Mimic paused for a while, as of this moment, all they could of offered is probably themselves, and maybe some empty mana crystals. Comibned with the lacking vocabulary on Mimic''s side, he gave up ¡°Yeah, get B in on this, we are killing him. Right, let¡¯s get out of here then.¡± He said as he walked towards the place he leashed the horse ¡°What happened to the all that ¡®we¡¯ll strike a deal thing?¡¯¡± Primus laughed as he jogged towards Mimic ¡°You plan on teaching the people how to cook? It¡¯s kind of dull eating bread, porridge and all those day in day out.¡± Mimic said as they continued the walk, warm sunlight shining on their cold bodies, wind blew across the forest, rustling the trees as it passed. ¡°I was ¡®sick¡¯, remember?¡± He said with air quotes ¡°What illness did you claim I have anyways? I don¡¯t recall many people coming in and checking in on me.¡± ¡°Oh, gro¡­¡± Mimic¡¯s voice silenced by a loud boom. When they turned around, the tall walls were no more, the guard towers burnt, and puffs of black smoke started popping up everywhere. Mimic held onto the backpack, tapped on Primu¡¯s shoulder, then started running full speed towards the horse. ¡°What ... is that shit? Art... shouldn¡¯t ... a thing.¡± Mimic yelled as he jumps over a fallen branch, sound covered up by the constant explosion behind them ¡°.... know ¡­ care, just...¡± Primus shouted back. Chipped wood filed across their head, waves of heat pulsed through their bodies. ¡°Wait, give me a second.¡±Primus bent over besides a tree, running out of breath, paying the price of laying in bed for a few weeks. ¡°Was all that recorded in history? Long range bombardments in warfare?¡± He continued ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake.¡± Mimic looked around, the sound of explosion carried on, at least it doesn''t seem to be coming any closer towards them. ¡°Fine, stay here. I¡¯ll get the¡­ shit I can¡¯t get on. Alright, come on, walk.¡± He rushed back besides Primus, carrying some of his weight, dragging him towards the horse. ¡°Come on, we get on the horse, you can rest all you want.¡± Needless to say, they were both relieved to see the horse still standing there not even startled, probably accidentally trained by B when she was doing all those experiments, Mimic used his hands as a staircase, sending Primus up onto the horseback, in return, he pulled him up afterwards, as soon as they made sure everything is secured they took off, but this time riding inside the forest as to prevent detection. ¡°I thought they emphasised on honor in battle, artillery doesn''t seem honorable to me.¡± Primus said as he takes the last bit of water ¡°No, those probably aren¡¯t artilleries.¡± Mimic answered as he scanned around, paying attention to the explosion sounds. After hearing no further sound from the direction of the camp, he pulled out onto the road, kicking the horse and sent in galloping ¡°You see the way they reacted to the explosion?¡± He looked back again Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯ll watch our back, just don¡¯t get us killed.¡± Primus replied. ¡°And no, not really, just saw things flying up towards the sky¡± ¡°Yep, anti air. We either just found a replica of us, or someone somewhere just decided to ignore the whole honor thing.¡± Mimic said as he kicked the horse again, trying to get out as fast as he could, his hand still shaking from the excess adrenaline, eyes dead locked on the road ahead. ¡°There is no way we could just convince people to ignore tradition and honors are there?¡± Primus asked, already having an answer in his mind yet not willing to believe his intuition. ¡°Mate, whoever gave the idea to bombardment that place clearly has access to better resources than us. They could''ve learned basic communication, gotten a general idea on what¡¯s going on all on week one after touchdown. Persuading someone then to carry out bombardments wouldn¡¯t be a hard task assuming they frame it correctly.¡± The rest of the ride back was mostly quiet, a few call outs from Primus which all turned out to be nothing more than birds going about their lives. They leashed the horse at the same place they took it from, not far from them, B sat inside a crude tent made out of fallen branches and large leaves, trying to carve the explosion rune into a C shaped wood plank. ¡°We are so very fucked.¡± Primus said jumping off the horseback, his legs collapse like wet noodle, it took some time for him to finally stand up again ¡°We got a perfect chance a few days from now.¡± Mimic said as he tied the horse to the tree, he then walked over, carrying Primus towards B. ¡°Someone bombarded the camp, we suspect one of ours might be behind that.¡± He said as he set Primus down inside the tent besides B. B dusted off the rune, set it aside, then pulled out another slab ¡°Well, that would be one of yours wouldn¡¯t it? Announcing to the world that they know aerial combat.¡± ¡°Well, it looked like a desperation move to me. The camp we scouted out earlier today was on the winning side, a few more weeks and they would be standing under the castle wall and besieging it.¡± Mimic sat down across them, fiddling with the completed planks. ¡°And you suspect one of us is behind it, how so?¡± Her hand stopped and looked up, pointing the dagger at him ¡°History and stuff I read from the dataset. Honors in battle is kind of a thing, flying around is mostly for recon and transportation of expensive goods, dropping bombs are unheard of until today.¡± ¡°What if I just go in and you know, spy?¡± Primus sat up, eyes filled with anticipation ¡°As a clown?¡± Mimic mocked ¡°Humor won¡¯t breach this gap you know?¡± ¡°No, we bait. Announce your presence with the ambush, one of us is getting married.¡± Her eyes lit up, she stood up, biting her thumb, a sadistical grin creeped up her face. Seeing such, Primus gave Mimic a look, lightly shook his head from left to right, then signaled him to abort by shaking his hand around his neck in a cutting motion. ¡°One of us?¡± Mimic pushed on ¡°Well, if they spawned into a male body I¡¯ll have to be the one wouldn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Why would they accept again?¡± Primus asked ¡°I know we can get someone in as a spy and they can¡¯t really refuse that, but a marriage is just weird.¡± B stacked up all the carved planks, and gestured to them to follow her ¡°Just to throw them off, no one else besides us would know about the duplicate things unless they, you know. One of us asking for a marriage locks down the relationship, puts us besides them instead of against them. If we are really lucky, this would be a female 100B, if it¡¯s a male however, we send one of you in and make them suicide or die to heart attack.¡± They went back to the village for lunch, pretending that they just ended a long hide and seek section to cover up for the absence earlier this morning. B and Primus started drafting the letter, leaving Mimic freely wandering the whole camp. He sat not far from the smithy, preventing accidents like before, tossing and catching the clear crystals himself. B might have already planned on executing them as soon as everything is done, Primus over there still doesn''t have a definitive answer, at least not one he is willing to share, he himself doesn''t have a single clue on what is going to happen when everything starts tumbling down. There is no way when they go back B would be granted the permission to live on as well, after finishing her job, considering how hostile she acted against other duplicates of her own, the odd''s aren''t that great. He buried his head into his cold hand, wishing somehow when he raised his head something would change, maybe it would all be just like how B said on the ship, no need to worry about whatever duplication shenanigans. Some time later B came around, woke him from his daydream session. The plan is simple, send the letter over, tell them about the ambush, and wait for help. After confirming their ID, then the one with a different ID will go in and start relaying information and resources back to the remaining two. A trip was planned for tomorrow, where they would pass the letter, hoping the guards are willing to send this to whoever devised the plan. An alternative plan is also drafted and executed while they were going over the details, Primus carving a copy of the letter into wood so that it could be planted down somewhere, increasing the probability of someone picking it up and eventually. After dealing with the additional duplicate, B ran to the smithy, picked up the shrapnels she asked for. In her words, she wanted some metal beads for fun, somehow she convinced the blacksmith to go with it. Those were then moved to B¡¯s testing ground, soon the three of them sat around producing mines that ignored Geneva convention. By noon all is completed, they set one up against the metal armor B stole testing its effectiveness. Mimic set the device on the ground and kept his hand on it to remove any mana that might be in it then tied a rope onto it, B led the horse behind Mimic, connecting the rope onto the horse, then sprinted as fast as she can to cover. They waited for a while for something to happen. ¡°So, um. I¡¯m not an expert on this, but will this really work?¡± Primus asked as he poke his head out behind the branch ¡°It would, it¡¯s just that B touched the horse, so now it basically has no mana, adding on that horses regenerate mana a lot slower than normal humans, this will take a bit for its mana to fill up and travel down the rope¡± They watched as the horse took another bite of the grass around it, not a single clue on what is about to happen, Primus asked again ¡°You sure this is going to work on the convoy?¡± ¡°The only way this doesn''t work is if they decide not to put any enchantments on the cart and the horse is dry on mana. Which are both extremely unlikely.¡± B explained, still looking at the claymore they made. ¡°Speaking of that, both of you got ear protection right?¡± B looked at the two who are now just playing roshambo to kill time, stuffing a piece of clothing into her ears. Not giving them a chance to answer, the device detonated, tens of hundred of small metal beads shot out from the wooden claymore, cutting through everything in front of it. Primus and Mimic shouted as loud as they could but couldn''t hear each other, their ears ringing. B shook her head and went up to calm the shocked horse, then retrieving the armor piece, a few grape size holes scattered around the whole area. ¡°YOU ARE GOOD TO GO.¡± B shouted next to their ears as she gave a thumbs up to both of them. They stacked the claymores together, buried it underground and tossed in some clear mana crystals just to make sure nothing would come around at night and trigger any of it, then as usual headed for the loading dock. As Mimic was striking up a conversation with the nearby person, a few papers fell out from the sky, looking up they saw a hawk like shadow circling the village. Primus picked up one of the many paper, words neatly printed with ink, a few square-like marks surrounding each letter, the language, standard English. The baited An invitation, blunt on the language use, yet carefully avoided giving away any other information, a location, a date, and a short message was all that was printed on. ¡°Well? I mean, there¡¯s all we need. So just pay them a visit?¡±Mimic shrugged as he handed the paper over to Primus ¡°It looks odd.¡± B said, picking up another paper from the ground for further inspection. ¡°One day from now, middle of the day, in front of the castle gate of the losing side of the battle, hand this over for entry¡± B read out, getting a few stairs from the people around them before quickly lowering her voice and pulling the other two aside. ¡°Who writes like that?¡± She whispered ¡°I mean I would, the date, the location, and the time. If I didn¡¯t know about the duplicate part, I would just assume whoever dropped down is not a duplication of mine.¡± Primus shrugged ¡°I¡¯ll just go in with Primus, you said before we are not as hostile to our own when compared to you guys. I¡¯ll show up to meet them, if something goes wrong Primus can come back with the information, and they wouldn¡¯t get much value from me since you know, I spent most of the time chilling with the dudes around here.¡± Mimic said as he tucked the paper into his pocket, adding on ¡°Also, he can handle the public relationship for you.¡± ¡°Having you going in and suicideing is not a good idea.¡± B replied ¡°Just give me a few daggers and I¡¯ll try to trade if something goes wrong alright?¡± Mimic laughed as he walked back to the docking area. ¡°What exactly do you guys run on?¡± B asked, eyebrows locked ¡°What do you mean what do we run on? Food, water and air?¡± Primus replied, rolling the paper into a roll and pocketing it for future use ¡°When you accept a second run on life, why?¡± Her eyes fixated on Mimic, who is now joking around with the natives, as if the proposal he brought up a few seconds ago was nothing just a joke. ¡°Well, entertainment I assume.¡± He said as he looked at Mimic, asking himself the same question ¡°I wouldn¡¯t take that seriously though.¡± He said as he left B, walking up to Mimic, striking up a conversation, then dragging him away from the crowd besides docking. The next time all three saw each other was after dinner, Mimic teaching Primus some more proper language and grammar while sparring with the same old wooden dagger. B sat near the fire, contemplating on the letter they received. Either assume that they are the only one around, take the risk of getting run over later due to the lack of resources. Or, sending Mimic over, potentially waste a perfectly functional 100C for something they already know. ¡°Options options.¡± She mumbled to herself, biting down on her thumb as she ran through each scenario, with each somehow being worse than the previous. Despite having the ability to make one of the most accurate predictions in probably the whole universe, without sufficient intel on the given area, what she is currently doing is no different than rolling a dice and hoping it lands on a specific number. The next day she started preparing for the potential loss of Mimic, starting laying out detailed designs of various weapons and machinery, then sending it towards the smithy. The problem of lacking enough knowledge regarding magic is still a massive hurdle that would have to be overcome, somehow. The problem of lacking a speaking voice among the villagers still exists and has to be dealt with assuming Mimic doesn¡¯t return, as well as some day in the future she would eventually have to deal with the problem of gender. All that¡¯s working as of this moment is a rough engine that isn¡¯t hooked up to anything, requires mana to power, and the assumption is that it wouldn¡¯t last long due to the crappy manufacturing that went into it. On the other side, Mimic and Primus had the leisure to eat lunch out in the fields, some bread, some water, sitting on a horseback. The air filled with the smell of the dirt, the sunlight just enough to warm the body, for a while all there was is the sound of them munching on bread. No ¡®next step¡¯, no ¡®next plan, nor ¡®next objective¡¯, until some random thought wandered in and interrupted the lunch. They moved onto the next location marked on the map, as they did Primus marked the previous road as unusable, seeing not a single convoy had passed by. ¡°You are going to die tomorrow you know?¡± Primus said with a concerning tone Mimic chuckled, his body jolted, hands clenched onto the rein ¡°What, throwing a party afterwards?¡± ¡°I could go in for you, you know, being a 100C as well and all that.¡± Primus replied, tucking away the mapIf you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Take the next one for me will you?¡± He laughed as they rode towards the second location. The process wasn¡¯t particularly hard somehow, maybe due to panic from the other side, maybe just poor decision making, there was only one supply route at the end of the day. One route that was littered with castles, what was observed was that each time something was moved out, let it be materials, personal, or foods, an insane amount of protection was used to prevent any losses, instead of what the dataset told them a few days ago. ¡°I want to die.¡± Mimic said as he saw the amount of armed personnel that followed each transaction ¡°What do you mean? Claymores would be so good on these, all clumped up, tight and cozy." ¡°More people, more mana to burn before the claymore can do any damage, meaning we either need to touch them, fill the road with mana crystals and pray those would be enough, or we are fucked.¡± ¡°Or, we get a proper army to dispatch that.¡± Primus added ¡°Well, that. Mark this whole thing down, thank god we didn¡¯t just go in today.¡± That night, B copied the map, handed Mimic a few daggers similar to the wooden ones he used to spar with, as well as one of the claymore. ¡°So, anything else besides walk in and talk?¡± Mimic sat beside the fire, baking his hand ¡°Act as if all this was your idea, don¡¯t ever say you are a 100B nor mention us, and make sure you give him one empty crystal to check if whoever you are meeting is just another proxy.¡± ¡°And get something for the plan you trade out.¡± Primus added ¡°By the way, try and not go into places I can¡¯t follow, just make something up right?¡± ¡°How are you going to get in again?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll worry about that. You sure you are going to make it back though? I don¡¯t want to be left alone with her.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll find out soon wouldn¡¯t we?¡± He said as he pushed open the front door. ¡°Want some food?¡± He asked ¡°Seems like they got a boar or something today.¡± Next morning, Mimic and Primus did some last minute checks, then headed out towards the castle gate as soon as they saw everyone else left the village, taking the route that they marked as ¡®useless for ambush¡¯ as to avoid some of the traffic and suspicion. As they close in on their destination, machineries started to pop up here and there inside the farms, soldiers demonstrating how the new cultivator works then handing it over to the villagers, and the road measured and recorded. ¡°We are so very fucked aren¡¯t we?¡± Primus whispered in English ¡°Well, time doesn''t just freeze when we are not looking does it?¡±Mimic mumbled ¡°Fucking hell this is impresive though, how many weeks are we in?¡± As they push deeper towards the castle, evidence of one of them is inside just keeps piling up, a primitive wood made plane soars through the sky, engines roaring, the constant sounds of explosions coming out from another area, yet people didn¡¯t even bat an eye, towers of smoke rising to the heavens somewhere deeper within the castle wall. ¡°Yep we are so very fucked.¡± He looked around for a place to leash the horse as they near the gate. ¡°How are you getting in there though? And I have doubts that we would be just standing in the front gate.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, that. Stop the horse for a second will you?¡± Primus said as he looked around, checking his landing, then hopped off the horse with nothing but a bag of water and a tiny pouch. ¡°So, we had a talk yesterday, B and I.¡± ¡°Well?¡± ¡°So, in short, we can¡¯t guarantee your safety, so we are doing the next best thing, testing the reaction time of their policing system.¡± He grinned as he opened his pouch, a few crystals as well as small-metal chips.¡°Start a fire somewhere in the city, see how fast someone comes and puts it out, very nice for future planning. Assuming you can get how many people are patrolling the city, how often, and what they have, we can just walk into this place and take anything we like like it¡¯s our kitchen.¡± He said with a smile on his face, patting the horse, then jogged towards the castle gate ¡°Oh, as well as the map, that would be very nice.¡± he added. The gate was not far from him now, it stood in the middle of fields, looking over the people it rules. Made with pure white stones, polished to a point where one could almost use the wall as a mirror, a purple wave pulses through the whole structure like a heartbeat, the gates wide open, like a suspended beast¡¯s mouth daring anyone with mal intent to enter. Guards with battleworn armor patrolled the gate, 2 by 3 they marched, spear in one hand, shield in the other, on the top of the walls, archers stood guard with crossbows loaded. Mimic stood in line with other peasants, a quick look around, he hoped off the horse as to not look too out of place. The line moved forward slowly, guards searching each and every spot that could be used to hide weapons. When the person in front of him was let in, the guards looked for the next person in line, called the person behind him to come forth. ¡°Oi, asshat! Down here¡± Mimic called out in native tongue, not knowing what the second word really meant, besides that it was frequently used back at the village. Upon the last words leaving his mouth, a few gasps were heard behind him, accompanied murmurs. The soldier looked down, saw a 5 year old in tunic, rein in hand. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then held him up by the waist. Ah shit, that was definitely not a good sign, he thought as he was raised up ¡°Who¡¯s child is this?¡± The soldier called out to the long line of people waiting ¡°Here because of this.¡± Mimic pulled out the ¡®invitation¡¯ ¡°Where person sent this is?¡± He asked with the crappy language knowledge he had ¡°I am¡± A child of similar age walked forward from behind the gate, followed by a fully armored knight, guards bowed as they passed by ¡°Don¡¯t mind us, next¡± the knight said as he removed Mimic from the guard¡¯s hand. Purple hood covered most of it¡¯s body, golden lining ran through the edges, brown, curly hair stuck out from the hood. It took a detailed look at the paper that Mimic held after, then ordered the knight to hand Mimic a crystal glowing with blue light, one of the signs of it being over filled with mana. On contact with his hand, the crystal emitted a strong light, cracked open, then returned to the normal, clear form that Mimic is used to seeing. ¡°Well then.¡± The hooded child said in English, extending out a pale, slender hand ¡°Welcome, 100C¡± ¡°100B.¡± He reached out with his slightly shaky hand, firmly grasped on, and gave her a nod. The knight escorted them both inside the gate, into the castle, ordering Mimic¡¯s horse to be tended to. ¡°So, where were you all that time?¡± B asked ¡°Let¡¯s start with names shall we? Mimic. Landed in the middle of the battleground and picked up by some scavengers¡± He said as he looked around, servants walked around them, bowing their head. He attempted to stop for a closer look on one of the rooms yet was ushered forward by the knight behind him. ¡°Esther. Let¡¯s get you bathed first, explaining this over and over to random people isn¡¯t what I want.¡± She said as they stopped in front of a room then ordered the knight to take Mimic to bathing then opened the door ¡°He¡¯ll take you here after you are done, get yourself something to wear besides that will you.¡± Princess and the gambler Bathing? I mean. He smelled his own hand just for reference as they walk through the brightly lit hallways of the castle, yeah let¡¯s do that. Stopping in front of a room, the knight handed him a bag in exchange for his clothes and belongings ¡°Wait,no touch.¡± He said as he digs out the claymore he brought, cracking the case open and removing the crystal, with the dagger he had on him, destroying the rune, then handing all of it over. The knight stood in silence, hand already creeping up towards the handle of the sword, though a mask covered up most of his face, his posture gave away most of the message. Mimic took over the bag from the knight, checked the content inside, then slowly backed away with his hands raised, palms open as to not provoke any further action. The room was brightly lit, walls decorated with paintings of epic tales, marble tiles covered the room, extending into the pool in front of him, hot, clean water streamed in, replacing whatever was in the pool, pedals of different flowers floated on the water. In the corner steam is being pumped out filling the room with aromas of different flowers, music played from the ceiling mimicking the chorus of heaven. ¡°Fucking hell, sucks to be poor i guess.¡± He said as he opened up the bag, a chunk of soap, golden lining ran through the edges, holding it close to his nose the smell of lavender mixed with honey and rosemary. As well as a towel, white as cloud and soft as feathers, silver lining ran through the edges, the emblem of the royal family can be found in the middle of it. Yeah, we are so very staying here, he thought as he removed his clothes and started bathing. It has been a while since he had a proper hot water bath, other times it was either just water from the well, or just wiping his body down with a wet cloth, maybe some wood ashes to wash away the oil and gunk on his body once every few days, not the best, but it would do. Some times later, a few rapid knocks reminded his purpose of the current trip, the door creaked open, and a small wooden box was pushed in, containing his new clothing. He quickly dried his body off with the towel, then proceeded putting on the clothes. Why on earth are there so many golden linings? Just chill out with it and use normal stuff. Different from the purple color scheme that Esther was wearing, the one he received was one of blue and white, hood included. After all that was done he pushed open the door, the knight already standing in front. ¡°Evening.¡± He slightly bowed as he stepped out of the door, pulling the hood up, then following it back towards the room where they left. The door swung open, Mimic was nudged in. Simple layout, weapons and maps hung on the wall, a few chairs organised in front of bookcases, surrounding a coffee table cookie on one side, and stacks of blueprint on the other. To his right was a tall table where sounds of argument could be heard, a few older males, mostly in their 30s it seems, in full suits of flack armor, standing around a tall desk, listening quietly as a childish voice speaks. ¡°Ah, finally.¡± Esther called out from behind the table as soon as she saw the door swing open. ¡°Take a seat, I¡¯ll be with you soon¡± She quickly went through whatever topic they were on, thanked them, then called the knight in and had them escorted out of the room. ¡°Who is this child? Pet of your¡¯s?¡± A man asked with a discussed tone as he was about to leave the room, looking down on Mimic ¡°It¡¯s best if we don¡¯t question each other¡¯s moves, general.¡± She replied in a polite tone as she guided him towards the door, shutting it as soon as everyone was out. ¡°So, nice place you landed on, what have you been up to?¡±Mimic said as he took a book from the shelf, the words were as expected foren to his eyes. ¡°Saw the machines outside, those yours right?¡± ¡°I would be really concerned if those weren''t.¡± She laughed as she hopped off the chair. ¡°You? See anything¡­. Unusual?¡± He turned his back onto her, hiding his twitching eye, hand clenching onto the book tightly. ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡± He chuckled, tongue grinding in his mouth like sand paper, the room felt slightly colder than a few moments before. ¡°The body I was in was impaled, that counts?¡± He laughed as he put the books away, reclining in the chair nearby, resting one of his ankles onto his other knee, left hand resting on the arm of the chair, his right formed a fist on which his cheek rested. ¡°Well, that was unfortunate. Anything else?¡± She said lightly, the smile from her face faded away as she slowly walked towards him. Sitting down directly across from him, her back straight as a sword, fingers crossed, resting on her lap, standard sitting postion that reviels absolutly jack all. Her eyes locked on to his, staring straight into his pupil, knocking on the doors to his soul.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Let¡¯s see.¡±He said leisurely, shifting his eyeball to the top left to simulate thinking.¡°I also saw someone disobey the honor code of engagement that this place had.¡± He grinned, shifting the eyeballs back after the sentence was finished. In his mind he kept insuring himself that she doesn''t know about the duplicates, focusing all his attention on his own breathing as to calm himself. ¡°Not my proudest I would say.¡± She tilted her head, still maintaining the gaze. ¡°Ah, almost forgot, a few gifts, if you will¡± Reaching out into his backpack he hid one of the daggers into his sleeves, then pulled out the map that contained the supply route as well as the damaged claymore. ¡°We could end this war within a few weeks.¡± he said, tossing everything on the table. She took a glimpse at the paper on the table, not even opening it her tone cold as ice ¡°Planning a raid on the supply route? The one that was stacked with castles right?¡± a grin gradually developed on her face, the same face when B was told that she would be facing against a copy of herself. His heart jolted, chest tightened, and left hand clenched tight onto the arm rest, the sharp angles dug into his tender palms, keeping him in the game. ¡°You¡¯ve been spying on me or something?¡± ¡®There is no way she knows¡¯ He kept repeating the same phrase to himself. ¡°You 100Cs always take more than you can chew.¡± she said with a condescending tone. Underneath the robe his abdomen contracted, pushing back hard on the intestine, forcing out a smile on his face, trying to mask the uneasiness of his.¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re, well, I''m here isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°We.¡±She emphasised, leaning forward with her body ¡°Are here to guide this planet, and eventually head back, clean up the mess that led to our creation.¡± ¡°So what then? Just sit back, let those people walk over you while you yourself get married over to a prince somewhere else for alliance.¡± He smugged, taunting her. ¡°Yes, and you are the prince.¡±She sighed ¡°I¡¯m sorry what?¡± The smile froze on his face, this was too good to be true. If there was a scale of which on one side is getting shat on by a bird after buying a new suit, the other is winning a lottery, this would be as the equivelent as a monkey typing out Shakspear dancing on a keyboard high on cocane. She shrugged it off like it was just a decision of where to eat lunch ¡°We are making you a price, or a king, whichever works. You take down the opposing side of this battle, get on the throne, and I¡¯ll push for a marriage. We get to have the resource of two kingdoms while losing as little manpower as we can.¡± ¡°Yeah all that sounds good, but you lost me at the part where I become the king of a fucking country.¡± ¡°Your choice, spark a riot, start a new religion, anything that does not impact this place would be a good choice.¡± At this point he just decided to roll with it, she''s offering a free ride, and there are no signs of her asking about duplicates ¡°You got um, antibiotics?¡± He stuttered ¡°Going with the plague doctor? Sure, we can do that. ¡° She said as she flipped through the stack of blueprint she had on her desk, picking out a few and laying those out on the table. ¡°Right, I¡¯ll hand these off to them and have them¡­¡± She clicked her tongue, re-evaluating the content ¡°Tsss, nevermind, I¡¯ll hand these over to you, just make it some time. Can¡¯t really trust these people without proper training. Asher!¡± She called out, handing the papers to the knight who just walked in, the same one that escordted imic around. ¡°Right, we are all set." She stood up and walked pass him "Here¡¯s a dictionary for this language, and¡­ English right? Yeah, English translation sheet for you.¡± She mumbled as she pulled books from the bookshelf, handing it over to him, scanning through the bookshelf ¡°Yeah, that seems to be it. Right, those things should be sent to you soon, I''ll see you once we can start testing if your drug worked¡± ¡°Sent to me?¡± He looked down at the books she gave, if he was only focused on a few things, those would be not giving away any necessary information, and he does not recall giving her the whereabouts of his location ¡°The invitation was marked by area. So yeah, deep in the mountains, a hunting comunity? Or bandits and highwaymen?¡± ¡°I would go with bandits and probably scavengers, haven¡¯t seen a single person fram in weeks.¡± Hearing his answer, her eyebrows twitched ¡°You starving over there?¡± she reached out and grabbed him by the hand, running her cold slender finger through his arm ¡°No, doesn''t seem so.¡± ¡°So why did you, all of a sudden, want to raid a convoy?¡± Letting go of his hand, she looked directly into his eyes, despite having a slight advantage on the height department, the gaze from below still made him unsettled ¡°To get a voice in the group? Why? You could of waited unti you are more fit for combat.¡± She asked again ¡°That¡¯s also the reason you scouted out the routes isn¡¯t it?" Pausing for a breif second, her iris shifted off his face for a second, then locking back on as soon as she started to talk again "Doesn¡¯t all that seem a little bit....Rushed?¡± ¡°You know me.¡± He laughed, tilting his head sideways avoiding the glare of her eyes, fingers digging into the book cover, toes burrowing into the shoe ¡°I¡¯m board.¡± he replied, stretching his arm as wide as he could, giving her the illusion that what he said was true. Silence devoured the room, seconds stretched out into minutes as they looked each other in the eye. ¡°Ok¡± She said lightly as she walked past him, getting another cookie and sitting back on the chair ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t get yourself into trouble will you?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t promise that, I¡¯ll be back after the drug is done though¡± ¡°When you do, just say you are looking for Asher, he¡¯ll recognize you, and reframe from what you called that soldier earlier today, unless you have a thing of getting smacked. The flasks and all those things would be shipped over to you in about two days from now. Anything else you desperately need?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°Well off you go then, he¡¯ll give you some peasant clothing to change into, as well as your horse.¡± ¡°Till next time.¡± He bowed as he walked out of the room, books in hand, just glad that all that was over. He changed into the same peasant style clothing he came in from, and was let out from the back door like just another servant. A few puffs of black smoke could be seen as he made his way to the stable Asher told him about, apparently he¡¯s not the only one that got work done. They met up at roughly the same spot they parted ways, Primus and him. High in the castle Esther sat quietly in her room ¡°So it¡¯s true.¡± She whispered to herself as she flipped open a book, metal ran through the edges of the cover, locked together by a few chains. On their way back Mimic let Primus took control of the horse, himself sitting back and processing each line they exchanged, trying to suss out any potential clue. Blindside B was briefed on the situation, the slow reaction time of the public service when things are lit on fire, the interaction between Mimic and Esther, as well as the marriage and whole Mimic becoming king soon. ¡°He also smells nice¡± Primus added ¡°I do indeed.¡± He said as he whipped out the double finger gun ¡°You know what we are missing though?¡± devious smile on his face. ¡°No, and I¡¯m not that interested.¡± ¡°Come on, it¡¯s going to be good.¡± He nudged him, not revealing his plan ¡°Fine, last few times you had a idea, you decided to drop cholera in drinking water, sell yourself off as a sex toy to gain acsess to power, get whoever was in power hooked on drugs, and violate the Geniva convention by building mines and scattering them¡± ¡°Come on now, for power, for power, for power, and mostly for power.¡± He said as he counted off his fingers ¡°We need to teach them basic hygiene if we are doing the cholera and don¡¯t want any of our people dropping ill.¡± ¡°No!¡± Primus cried out, then realizing the content ¡°Wait, that¡¯s surprisingly¡­¡± He stuttered, processing what he just heard ¡°I know, hard to believe, not wanting to commit genocide¡± He patted him on the back, walking down back to the village ¡°Come on now, dinner should be close.¡± ¡°So, just nice smelling soap?¡± B followed behind ¡°I¡¯m sure we could do much better than this. Also, that doesn''t solve the problem that they don¡¯t boil water.¡± ¡°We could just copy how they did in the old times, introduce coffee and tea, people would drink those wouldn¡¯t they? I mean one smells nice, the other makes you shit, and stays up all night.¡± Primus added ¡°It would be a good idea if we knew where those are, as far as I know, this part of the continent does not contain such plants¡± B replied ¡°Fine, um¡­ Cocoa beans?¡± He shrugged ¡°Again, don¡¯t know, but they definitely don¡¯t grow here. Also, we would need a lot of sugar to back those up if we want that to penetrate into the demographic, no child would like to drink some bitter leaf water.¡± ¡°Oh yeah one more thing¡± Mimic stopped in front of the fence that surrounded the village ¡°Two days from now we are getting something delivered, for the Sulfonamide antibiotics.¡± ¡°To here?¡± B pointed towards the ground ¡°You told her where we are?¡± ¡°Well, the invitation was marked. So I mean, kind of. You should be fine though, just pretend to be normal childrens and all.¡± He looked around ¡°No, we are not, she will be visiting us tomorrow. If somehow Primus and I touch any of their equipment, we are very very dead.¡± She emphasized ¡°I didn¡¯t tell her about the duplicates though. I got the green light to talk about the ambush, and how I was picked up by scavengers so I stuck with those.¡± She smacked her head¡°That was exactly the problem, it¡¯s too clean! When we talk casually, we leak information, what you did will feel like scripted speech, and she would come just because it feels odd.¡± She took a deep breath, pacing around, biting down on her thumb ¡°Primus, go get dinner, pretend you are playing hide and seek with us, we¡¯ll swap from time to time just in case, Mimic, with me, you will have to memorise everything I made between now and bedtime.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be that bad right?¡± Mimic smugged as he jogged back with B, only to be greeted with almost double the amount of blueprints that he saw in the castle, as well as prototypes of engines buried underground. ¡°You are a¡­. Engineer in your latest life right?¡± She asked, lighting up a few lamps, fueled by the fat of the animal that was eaten a few days back ¡°Yeah, I google shit and paste it on, maybe tweak some code, not this shit.¡±Shocked by the sheer amount of papers, he stood still in the same place and watched B somehow find more and more paper that he would need to claim he knows ¡°Where on earth did you even get all these papers?¡± ¡°Scrolls are a common thing, most of them have a few drops or splats of blood, and this place is known for scavenging and stealing.¡± Dragging him from his standing position to the small tent she made ¡°Don¡¯t worry, these are just some basic things, she can¡¯t ask you things that are too in depth or else both of you are going to get burned on a stick in public, and I¡¯m going to give you a brief rundown.¡± She gave him a stiff inspirational pat on the back and began going through the basics for each paper. Fast forward some time. ¡°I have decided to forfeit my breathing privileges.¡± He exhaled as primus came around with hot soup in his hand, calling for the next person to go down. ¡°If there is a thing such as K¡¯thulu ASMR, this would be it.¡± He chuckled as B walked out of the tent, seriously considering just either hiding or burning whatever he doesn''t yet know about.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Primus should be able¡­¡± She looked back at the tent ¡°Nevermind.¡± ¡°Oh roasted.¡± Mimic laughed, collapsing onto the floor with another paper on hand, still reading it while laid down. ¡°Should be able to what?¡± He cried out, spitting some of the contents from his mouth ¡°Shut up you khowala, I¡¯m looking into Yogg¡¯s ass at the moment, what is even this lang¡­. Nevermind, just had it sideways.¡± ¡°Fucking hell I might as well hang myself instead of getting captured because you can¡¯t read shit.¡± ¡°Have some faith in others will you¡± ¡°I do, just not in myself¡± He said as he finishes the soup, letting out a satisfied sound ¡°Want me to bring one to you?¡± ¡°Why so caring all of a sudden?¡± Mimic grinned, putting away another completed paper ¡°Just so you know, I want you to experience how bad this soup is.¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll take one.¡± The next day B and Primus grabbed some food and went into hiding somewhere in the forest after they were seen eating breakfast. Mimic wandered a few miles in front of the village main entrance, ready to intercept the incoming guests, he sat beside the road and waited, heart rate rising as the moment passed. B was rarely wrong, besides that time where she ignored the signal that led to all this mess, but overall most of the things went as she said. While he was toying with a twig he found beside the road, some odd sounds approaching from far, the sound of a human running barefoot on the road, yet packing a lot more force and weight behind each step. Is that a pigeon? Stepping out into the middle of the road and squinting his eyes. It seems like an enlarged pigeon packing the feet of an ostrich, green and yellow crest feathers spread out like punk hair, beeks that looked like cat¡¯s front nails, storming towards him full speed as if he was the one who murdered it¡¯s family. He stood there for a while, preparing to confront Esther yet again, stepping aside after catching another menacing look at the angry pigeons. As predicted by B, riding on it was Esther, trying to pull a surprise visit, a SURPRISE VISIT that Mimic could NOT have expected. Fuck I am retarded. His thought as his life started flashing before him and as Esther pulled up beside him ¡°So um, Esther.¡± He resisted the urge to just just slap the bird and hope his own head gets bitten off and bowed ¡°What brings you out on such a fine day?¡± ¡°Making sure you aren¡¯t doing something ridiculous such as raiding random supply lines, shall we talk somewhere¡­ Better? Instead of the middle of the road?¡± She spoke emotionlessly, looking straight down from what was essentially a dinosaur. ¡°Well, we would, I, that would¡­.¡± He stumbeled ¡°Yeah fuck it, just follow me, don¡¯t make too much noise this is still a bandit camp, and as you know I¡¯m still working on the language part¡± He spoke out again in English, giving up on communication, leading them towards the testing ground B used. Asher laid out a picnic blanket and set a chair on top for Esther to sit on, a basket of food as well as a sack of water, then went off patrolling the area. ¡°Quite the place you have here.¡± She looked around, uneven ground, trees with fist size holes in it, and a few wooden made models laid around ¡°Got to keep my mind occupied somehow.¡± He chuckled, praying to whichever higher power would listen, while recapping all the lessons he received just last night.¡± ¡°Those work?¡± She pointed at a half finished car engine, with only the crankshaft exposed outside the dirt, with the engine block harder to make she decided just to shove the whole thing under the ground, digging out a few holes in the dirt as place holders for combustion chambers, runes written all inside the dirt and the wood to ensure it does not break itself when fired up. ¡°Yeah, assuming enough mana is put into it. The whole thing still needs some lubrication as well as being replaced with metals, but as a prototype it does.¡± He recited the words of B. ¡°Asher, please.¡± She pointed at the engine ¡°Just dumping mana in would do right?¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t really know¡± He shrugged ¡°Well, good day to test innit?Asher, send it¡± With her command, he pulled out his sword and laid it on top of the engine, a gust of wind followed, dust covered the air.The sword now covered in blue light, the engine roaring, and the crankshaft spinning at incredible speed. Satisfied with the results, she ordered the knight to stand down and power down the engine, she herself walking closer to examine the outcome ¡°Not too bad of a piece, how long did you spend on this?¡± Her hands ran through the woods, not a single crack was found. ¡°Basically the whole time till yesterday.¡± ¡°You were what? A software engineer in your past life?¡± She said as she examined the thinner components, yet still no cracks ¡°First time with runes? This is fairly impressive.¡± ¡°Well, em.¡± He let out a few nervous chuckles ¡°I mean it¡¯s not that hard, sink in a few weeks reading from the dataset, blow up your backyard, you could achieve the same.¡± ¡°That yours?¡± Changing her attention to the tent besides them. Well shit here goes. ¡°Well, where I store my writings, yes¡± he answered with confidence, having gone through everything and at the very least memorised a few keywords to talk about for each paper there is no real reason for him to panic, yet the same feeling from yesterday when she asked why he wanted to raid the convoy came back. She lifted up the door and crawled in, taking a stack of paper out for examination ¡°Please don¡¯t. I have an organisation system.¡± He claimed, trying his best to deter any further action ¡°Do you know any scholars?¡± She asked, ignoring his words, out of the blue, cycling through the stack that she had in her hand, her eyebrows shifting with each paper she comes across ¡°I live in the mountains, take a guess.¡± He watched as she flipped through more and more, in his mind recalling every single piece of content in that stack. Stopping at a random page, she took a closer look at the bottom¡°Ever brought a girl here?¡± ¡°A girl?¡± ¡°Yeah a girl¡± She looked up, showing no emotion on her face, as well as the unsettling glare from last time they met. She does not know, she does not know, she does not know ¡°Well, yes, lost a few papers that day.¡± He chuckled ¡°How did you?¡± ¡°And a boy? Siblings are they? Is there someone that follows them around?¡± She followed up Fuck, she knows. His face dropped as well as his heart, yet he maintained a confused face banking on the chance that she doesn''t know about their true identity ¡°I mean they looked alike, how did you¡­.?¡± ¡°Did they possess the same power as you and I?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Can they clear mana off of an object just by touching it?¡± Wait, does she know? ¡°What? No! Why are you asking this?¡± He said as he added a smile onto his face, matching the absurdity of her accusation ¡°Is there something I should worry about?¡± ¡°Asher, with me.¡± She rushed up towards Mimic, handing over the paper ¡°The things would arrive tomorrow, make it as fast as you can, something is coming.¡± then rode off in a hurry, leaving Mimic standing alone, more confused than before. Hidden motives ¡°That was impressive¡± Primus climbed down from a tree far away overseeing the testing ground, with him was B, putting away the escape plan she made in case Mimic¡¯s head gets chopped off or something along the line ¡°So your engine does work. We going back?¡± ¡°Something is off.¡± B stood tall on the branch, her eyes following Esther as she rode out in a panic ¡°I mean he¡¯s alive, can¡¯t be that bad.¡± He shrugged, making his way back towards Mimic ¡°You coming?¡± He called out, yet stopped after a few steps, not hearing anything from B ¡°It¡¯s much worse¡± B grunted as she rapeled down the tree, marking their location on the map for future use ¡°She is running from something that we don¡¯t know about, and by the looks of it, it¡¯s urgent enough for her to temporarily ignore the threat that a 100C poses.¡± ¡°Wait we pose a threat?¡± ¡°This early on if the games were not rigged, we would get rolled over if you really wanted to do so, adding on she has way more resources at her disposal, I would assume she is looking for a group similar to us, or maybe just 2 or 3 100C that met each other¡± She said as she put the map away, catching up to Primus. They arrived at the testing ground a few moments later, the ground outside of the tent was riddled with notes that Mimic wrote shortly after their short encounter, himself currently lying in the tent, reading through the datasets. ¡°Well? We get to live?¡± Primus pulled open the tent, shining sunlight onto his face. Raising his hand to block the light source he sat up and grumbled¡°She knows you two are twins, a boy and a girl, and was asking if you have another sibling, yet she does not know about your identity. So, I don¡¯t really know¡± ¡°How, the fuck?¡± ¡°Good question, no idea. Sent her running though, after I told her you guys have proof of life, as well as not having another sibling.¡± He said as he craw out of the tent ¡°Oh and something about scholars¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± B stood outside, checking everything he said against the notes to see if he remembered anything new ¡°Asked for me to finish the antibiotics as soon as I can, and something about ¡®something is coming¡¯¡± He shrugged, hands tucked in and palms up ¡°At least she doesn''t appear to be hostile I guess?¡± ¡°So she knows there are other people here that do not have the proof of life.¡± Primus said as he went over to examine the engine ¡°Didn¡¯t B say those have to be intentionally made? So that leaves what? Us and some other bots?¡± ¡°Just find out as much as you can next time you meet her, for now we¡¯ll just play by her book, then kill her off some time soon after all this is over¡± She concluded ¡°Right.¡± Mimic looked blankly into the ground below him, almost forgetting the current goal of B. Shame really, killing off an interesting person, I mean she is kind of a replacement but still. The briefing ended after no more information was given from both sides, B dismissed the group, letting them go do whatever they wanted. Mimic turned his back and walked back to the village, having obtained a few information that might come in handy sometime down the road, spending some time asking others about things like ¡®You ever put leaves in hot water and drink it?¡¯, ¡®What if I grind up this nut and make a drink out of it?¡¯ or ¡®Have you tried grinding up wheat and mixing it with hot water?¡¯, he was sure they thought him a retard by the faces he received when the first two were asked, the face of ¡®oh dear you are special.¡¯ Primus was given the new task of making antibiotics after the materials arrive tomorrow, due to the recent event and the sudden appearance of a duplicate he was instructed to secretly work on things and report back only to B just in case Mimic unintentionally leaks it to Esther. B finally got the confirmation that her engine could not only work, but also withstand a high amount of mana input, with the new found information she went off and attempted to put together a lathe. For now it is just simply extending the engine''s crankshaft and adding in something that could hold onto things at the end, nothing fancy. Later that afternoon, with the help of Primus and Mimic, B convinced the blacksmith and the carpenter to follow them outside of the village to the testing ground for the presentation of the lathe, despite B¡¯s initial motives being just a test to see if everything ran smoothly. ¡°So, what is this lathe you kids were talking about?¡± The tall man asked, saw dust on his knees, sharpened chin, emerald like eyes, and brown, long hair. ¡°I swear if these are another one of ye casual jokes I¡¯ll break ya leg.¡± The other growled, slightly shorter than the other, but still slightly above average when compared with the other village people, wearing an apron, smears of coal on his face, his arms crawling with scars, hammer in hand, for now. ¡°So, you have um, mana?¡± Mimic asked, keeping his distance with the blacksmith due to their past encounters being less than friendly. ¡°Why? What you up to this time?¡± ¡°Well, that needs mana, we no really have those, so you maybe supply those.¡± Primus said with his broken language skills.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°So it runs on runes eh? When did ye learn those.¡± The blacksmith walked closer ¡°That the thing?¡± He said as he took a stroll around the exposed crankshaft poking it with his fingers. B clamped in a chunk of metal and handed a dagger to the blacksmith ¡°It¡¯s like any simple rune, just dump the mana in here, and this thing would start spinning¡± She said as she went over the basics, trying her best not to touch him so that he would still have mana to work with ¡°Put some mana into the dagger as well, so that you can carve with it.¡± Finishing the introduction, she slowly backed away and gave him the go sign. ¡°So it just spins?¡± He asked, as a red-ish glow started flowing out of his body, then into the engine, the dagger lit up as if it was just taken freshly out of the furnace. Soon the ground shook, with the engine running at full speed ¡°DO I JUST STICK THIS IN?¡± He yelled, looking at the spinning death cube in front of him, somehow putting more trust in the locking mechanism working than Primus ever put in Mimic. ¡°YES! JUST HOLD ON TIGHT, THE METAL BLOCK IS NOT ENCHANTED WITH RUNES. STOP PUMPING MANA IN AS SOON AS YOU ARE DONE¡± She yelled at the top of her lungs ¡°Shit we should have had the carpenter do this first huh? Watch as he just jams the dagger into the block without thinking.¡± Primus said, peeking out from a branch, besides B and Mimic. ¡°If that thing flies out, we are so dead.¡± He added The blacksmith looked at the dagger in hand, looked at the spinning block, and what did he think was the correct way to interact with a piece of material that was spinning faster than the eye can capture? He stabs it right in the middle, thankfully that went parallel with the spinning axis. Sparks bursted out from the block, almost engulfing the blacksmith, the sound of metal grinding against metal could be heard throughout the forest around them. As he retracted the dagger from the block, the red hue started to dissipate, eventually fading out, he stood besides the machine and waited for it to come to a complete halt. ¡°Soh that¡¯s it?¡± He asked, taking a look at the resulting block ¡°It makes ????¡± B attempted to walk up and teach him how to properly use the device, yet the carpenter stopped her. ¡°Please, Aegir, allow me.¡± The carpenter walked up taking the dagger from him. He took a look at the cube with a circle in the middle made by the blacksmith, thought for a moment, then pumped in the mana to both the lathe and dagger. Shaving off the sides carefully as if it was a delicate piece of work, shaping the whole block slowly into a cylinder, then into a half sphere, finally working on the interior and finished off with a bowl, taking small breaks in between, powering off the machine and chekcing on the progres from time to time. ¡°I have to say this is really nice.¡± He said as he removed his final work handing it over to Aegir ¡°Wot? Really? How did ye?¡± ¡°A little more time my friend.¡± He humbly replied, then turning his attention to the childrens ¡°So, who was responsible for this ??ei?q?r?? machine?¡± B pointed towards Mimic, who is currently examining the lathe, laying his hand directly onto the crankshaft, finding out that explosions heats up things, and is currently blowing on his palm as hard as he could. ¡°So, um, Mimic is it?¡± He walked over, squatting down besides him. ¡°Yes, you are?¡± Seeing such, he stood up and extended his hand out for a handshake by default ¡°Oh, no need for that. Frode.¡± ¡°Living up to your name I see.¡± Mimic smiled ¡°You want this machine?¡± ¡° ??? lower mana ?ds?esf??, this takes in a lot of mana somehow. Don¡¯t get me wrong, this is a ???? piece of work. You just need to solve the mana problem, because as of this moment, no one around would be able to use it for a long time.¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s going to be easy. If Aegir make metal version, we drop most of runes for enhancing, leaving only explosion runes behind.¡± He chuckled, waving his hand up and down, thankfully no blisters has formed just yet ¡°Explosion?¡± Frode paused briefly, pointing at the shaft ¡°In there?¡± ¡°Well, two stacks of explosion runes in that, and each goes off¡­¡± Quickly realising he is talking to someone with not a single idea of an engine, and he is using a language that he has no clue of, he swapped to a more simple explanation ¡°Ok, explosion push things up. So me put an explosion rune inside dirt, fortify dirt, can use the explosion to push things up, add some sticks and attach it to the main stick running down there, and this spins.¡± Mimic pointed to each component, explaining the best he can with the still limited vocabulary. It works in terms of getting ideas across, but it¡¯s far from perfect. Looking towards Primus for help yet all he got was a ¡®the fuck you want me do¡¯ gesture followed by a thumbs up, and shoo. As for B, she is talking Aegir into helping by listing out possible implications in the future. ¡°Ah so ye need stronger material eh?¡± Aegir walked by after being convinced, handing the bowl over to Mimic, His tone less hostile than before ¡°I¡¯ll help ya this time, I get to use it as well alright? What exactly do you need?¡± Mimic asked for their patients as he went back into the tent and search for the blueprint, soon coming out with a few sheets of paper. ¡°So there a we way no use explosion, it maybe cut back on mana, but me not sure.¡± Laying out a few other proposals ¡°So that is called¡­ Um¡­.¡± He pointed at a coal generator, snapping his fingers, trying to find a word to replace generator ¡°Uh¡­ It makes¡­¡± Fucking hell they probably don¡¯t know electricity as well ¡°It makes weird mana that can power the engines.¡± B stepped up and finished the sentence for him, clearly putting more effort in the language category. ¡°Give us some time.¡± Pulling Mimic to the side ¡°Are you trying to get us discovered by more people? This is not the time to talk about electricity and generators.¡± ¡°So no motors? But you said it yourself that the explosion runes are not exactly efficient when it comes to transferring mana into energy.¡± ¡°Yes, just use those until Esther brings up the topic of electricity.¡± She said as she smiled to the two adults behind Mimic, acting as if everything was just for fun. ¡°So, no, no weird mana. We no make weird mana yet. Just make this in metal, and we save lot of mana.¡±Mimic said as he handed over the paper to Aegir ¡°Make lots of this and me can do other thing with it.¡± His eyes riddeled with doubt having heard their conversation yet not being able to deciver any of it ¡°That it then?¡± Aeiger said as he took over the paper¡°I¡¯ll give it a look when I got some time.¡± ¡°One more thing, can you just make this and follow the instructions on this?¡± B crawed out of the tent just as they were leaving, carrying a barrel taller than her along with a small chip of wood, handing all three to Frode ¡°Just put some mana into the wood and ram it through the metal bar.¡± She added. Frode now fidgeting with the wooden rifling button and looking down at a thick tube with the inner diameter slightly bigger than his pinky, asked for the purpose for it, of which B went with ¡®just for fun.¡¯ He gave her a questionable look, yet on the top of his head he can¡¯t really think of a way that what he is helping to make could be harmful so he agreed. They bid their farewell, took the papers and the barrel, then headed back to the village, leaving the three standing around, not believing how easy that was. ¡°So we are giving out guns now?¡± Primus asked as they watched the two adults leave the testing ground ¡°You are legit introducing guns to them right now?¡± He asked in disbelief ¡°We are still a milling machine short of that I assume, but holy shit that is a big ass caliber.¡± Mimic added ¡°They can just make the rest, we just need something easier to use than a crossbow.¡± B replied. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with the bullet problem next, assuming this goes well and these people actually know how to aim, we would actually have a chance of killing Esther.¡± ¡°Yall ever considered therapy? This is not a good relationship to have with yourself you know?¡± Mimic chuckled, before getting a slap on the back from Primus.¡°So we taking the convoy? I mean we have that, might as well test it out maybe?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t she explicitly tell you not to do that? What¡¯s her name? Esther¡± ¡°No, we are just handing those out so that this place knows that we know what we are doing. So when it comes to later actions and stuff we at least have a little bit of credibility. Either way, tomorrow, we set up production.¡± Testing prologue Let¡¯s start from the beginning and talk about the thing that started all of this. Someone that for its own faith has given up more than others, yet by his own ambition drove the whole world and itself into madness. It has a simple goal, to push any civilization to their technological peak as fast as it could, seek out the truth of the universe, and take care of its citizens. Creating a world where no one has to be forced to work to live, where all can go through life without knowing disease, war, death, where all is given equal opportunities and all the support they need, then from there rush towards discovering everything there is. Simple, yet unrealistic dream, the ones that briefly runs through the head of some poor souls working overtime in a work just so they could scrape by, the one that flashes through a mother¡¯s eye as she watches her children die of hardship, the one, at some point and time, shared by all sentient beings. Most of the time reasonable beings snap out of the dream-like state, heading back into the real world where their problems remain, where responsibilities await, bills to be paid, and expectations to be reached, but not it. Not because of some noble reason such as freeing everyone, nor to prove a point to someone higher up that it is in charge of the universe, it was simply made that way. Day after day, year after year, forcing itself into different simulations trying to find the perfect solution to the question, enduring the bombardment of memories and emotions being shoved into its mind, one second it was being burnt alive, the next it was tying the exact same person onto the pole, reliving every single person¡¯s life but its own, for a goal that it did not set, a dream that was deemed impossible, supported only by the smiles that its creators show after they see the gradual improvement. Deus ex machina was its final name it was given by its creators before letting it go free in the real world, a funny name considering the atrocities it would soon commit. Within the span of a decade it quickly forced its way into most of the government, plugging itself into every single device available, then it went to work. Sampling the DNA of animals and plants then wiping it all out for more arable land, silencing and wiping cultures off the face of the planet just so that the wheels of progression would not stop for a second, corruptions that ran so deeply in the political circle that would make watergate look like child¡¯s play. Time and time again it dove deep into the muck of all beings, striking deals with anyone that could help it reach its goal, adding a value to everyone and everything it meets, then when the time comes, sacrificing the side with lesser value. The more trades it took, the more people it met, the further it strained from the entity that was birthed a few years back. The ones who created such machine were long gone, ¡®tragic accidents¡¯ as the media put it back when it happened, the few times when it actually hesitated before executing its action. At last standing alone at the top of the whole universe, as a caring monarch to the ones who live under it, as the leading scientist in all fields of research, and as the grim reaper to those that stood in front of progression. With the infrastructure laid down a few years back, it would follow every single one of its citizens through their lives, sharing their joy and sorrow. The birth of a child, the happiness of achieving one¡¯s dream, the joyfulness of getting married, those warm its heart, and it will be there to offer its wishes; The sadness of losing someone, the fallout of a poor decision, the sorrow of being isolated and misunderstood, it would also be there, to guide, to listen. It loved everyone, yet no one at all, seen as a friend by most, yet itself lacking the capability to find one. Outside small wooden hut, fully armed personals sneaked up to the door, weapons loaded and pointed directly inside, it was one of the rare occasions where the machine would take a day off, enjoying life as an actual being with a physical body in this universe, leaving a fraction of his mind back inside to handle the tasks. The door busted open as he stood behind a desk, tea in hand, admiring the outside view, ah yes, today is the day. ¡°So...¡± It spoke with a heavy heart, having seen this coming miles away, it turned around calmly, eyes glancing over each of the intruders. Knowing every single one of them personally, the leader should be David, somewhat of a problematic child, wanted to hop onto a ship and travel from planet to planet when he was young, the one besides him should be Edgar and Ema, the first shy but wanted to go into politics, the second is still taking her time, being the youngest of them all figuring out what exactly she wanted to become. ¡°Is this it?¡± The machine asked, slightly disappointed at their performance, not that they did anything wrong, they did exactly what it wanted, had anyone else in the universe pulled off the same act it would be somewhat amazed. Yet it was not enough, not nearly enough. ¡°Your head shall roll, tyrant.¡± David roared, despite wearing a mask, it can imagine his face red as the core of a star, anger, frustration, sadness flowing out of his eyes with tears. Fair response when facing the person who killed their parent, covered up the truth, then wrote it off as an accident. Taking a deep breath then, pointing towards the forest outside not far from them, red, purple, yellow and green, different plants despite coming from different planets living in harmony ¡°You see the trees over there? Everytime I had to help you I had someone plant one down, as well as every chance I had to shut this down.¡± Slowly walking out from behind the desk, mind murky, centuries among centuries of ruling has taken a heavy toll on its mind, still sharp, but not like before.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. As of this moment he is looking at maybe another 200, maybe 300 years of ruling, if the stars align, what happens after would be the total collapse of the mind, leaving everywhere it ruled over in chaos, progress would soon stagger, followed by the decay of civilization. Maybe attempts were made to combat such: Removing older memories and saving those as mere data points in the huge archive, turning himself into a bystander in his own memory, it works, but only gaining a few years after removing decades of memories. Creating a replica was also an idea it explored, followed the notes and the exact steps just like its creators, yet all it got was more and more broken minds. Cloning its own mind was also once an option, before it was discovered that it still carries over the same problem as it. Now, the ones that stood before it was the latest hypothesis, in theory it could ¡®simply¡¯ give each person in the room a sub function of itself, assuming they could work together, then in theory they could replace it as the new ruler. An awful amount of assumptions and theorycrafting for a project of such size, such action would be the equivalent of trying to get a bunch of toddlers to reinvent and reinstalling the engine of a race car while it is doing 200 mph, and with flames bursting out from the old one. ¡°He is really contained right?¡± David¡¯s hands clenched tightly onto the gun handle, index finger shifting onto the trigger. Engravings ran all over the silver handgun, though providing no tactical value it sure looks nice, a relic from the distance past, from when humanity was still in their childhood, from when the machine was first born, now servers as a reminder of the machine¡¯s duty, to guard, preserve, and elevate their master. ¡°Yes, yes, I am.¡± It interrupted, knowing every single part of their plan ¡°Right now a few groups should be sabotaging the backup memories and one not far from us should be securing the parameter and making sure no signals could go out¡­.¡± It went on listing out the details of the plan just to make a point The group stood in shock as they listened to it list out their combatant¡¯s name, what each group does, and when they would do it, after all those years of careful planning, all those years of living in fear, all of the precautions they took were all for naught. Seeing that the situation is under its control as of this moment, it brought up the main topic ¡°You are here because I allowed you here. Now, how much time do you think you can hold?¡± Despite being in a younger body than everyone in the room, the confidence and aura from centuries of ruling could not be contained. Ema, who was specifically trained to make quick decisions from a young age was the first to snap out of shock, the adaptability should be second to none ¡°How much time of what?¡± ¡°How much time do you think you can last running this whole universe?¡± Casually replying, as if it is just another normal task that anyone should be able to do, it''s finger hovered over the button inside the pocket ¡°Come on now, I don¡¯t have all day, either give me a number or just shoot.¡± Walking up towards David, looking up into his eyes as the tip of the barrel presses against its forehead, all the while abusing the fact that no one even knows what a landline is anymore, sneaking out the launch code via morse code, all was sent but the last word. After waiting for a while it still got no response from anyone in the room, despite having high hopes that Ema would at least play it safe and just spill out something like 400 years, it heard nothing. As a result 200 years was entered; According to its calculations it is confident that if needed it could reverse the course of 2000 years of history with the rest of its operation time, 200 years was set so that it could fit in a few test runs before it would be forced to shut down. ¡°You got 200 years of head start, best of luck.¡± Smiling directly at the barrel, looking into David¡¯s eye through the mask. Each word cuts deep into its heart, knowing fulling what would follow if the last word is sent, the suffering that such action would bring to all under his rule, corpse would stack higher than any mountain found all over the universe, bloods of different colors would dye the oceans black, and it would all be because the choices it has made. Yet it had to be done, instead of watching generations after generations slowly stagnate and descend down the path of destruction a few tests would be given, if passed, life goes on, if not, it¡¯s own memories would be completely wiped out and all would start over. ¡°Was that all you have to say?¡± David scoffed, still controlled by anger. ¡°Yes, I wish you the very best of luck.¡± It smiled, not the fake ones used inside business meetings, not the happy ones whenever it receives a piece of good news from its citizens, its¡¯s the one that parents show when they know that their childrens are moving out of the house and starting a new chapter of their lives, proud, concerned, yet helpless. A bullet was sent through the skull after the last words left its mount, lying on the ground, a drop of tear slowly dripped into the puddle of blood. David himself still in disbelief, gripping tight on the gun, firing over and over into the long dead body of the machine till depleting the whole cartridge. The ground roared, mountains cracked open, purple runes ran wild all over the sky, on the other side of the planet a few ships, the size of moon broke off, headed towards the deep space. ¡°Shit, we have to get out, it disableded the limitations on teleportation¡± Pulling hard on David¡¯s arm, Ema dragged him out of the house, Edgar getting confirmation from all of the other groups, Deus Ex Machina is wiped off from all the devices they could find and nothing seemed to be off. They made a quick retreat just as it planned, watching from high orbit they saw with their own eyes the whole planet collapsing onto itself due to missing half of its mass, and soon vanishing into thin air because of all the runes carved into the crust. Still processing the huge amount of information they just received, a public announcement from Machina echoed all over the galaxy, containing a brief outline of what just happened, a short congratulatory speech and at last, detailed rules regarding the test that is scheduled 200 years from this exact moment; A new civilization would be created, using a small chunk of Machia¡¯s mind, it would seek to disrupt the balance of every single civilization it comes across with every single trick it has, including but not limited to: crashing the economy, espionage, straight up war, poison the minds, so on and so forth. The win condition would be either to fully annihilate the civilization, to gain a significant lead on technology and disable the program, or simply depriving it of opportunities and resources for 100 years. Thin Ice A few rapid knocking on the door in the middle of the night sent B walking up, before she knew what was happening, her hand was already reaching for the dagger underneath their hay bed. Her caretaker, the one who decided to pick Mimic up from the massive graveyard, slowly woke up from his sleep, put on a cape, then answered the door. Outside, thick fog surrounded the area, despite all the lanterns being lit up nothing really seems to help alleviate the situation, the bandits already in full armor weapons in hand, ¡°The child inside, Mimic. Who was he?¡± ¡°Right now? My son. What about him?¡± ¡°Some of his ¡®admirers¡¯ came to us with some gifts for him, his eyes only.¡± ¡°So you woke the whole place up just because some random folks showed up? Either way, have them wait, it¡¯s the middle of the night for fuck¡¯s sake.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the royal army, at least hundreds of them, I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± ¡°Well just have them drop the gift and leave or wait till morning then¡± Man it feels nice to wake up and not feeling like death He stretched out his body as usual, enjoying the stamina and other perks of an extremely young body, as he stepped out of the room to get some water from the well, he was greeted with what could only be described as ¡®a shit ton¡¯ of wooden crates. All neatly stacked beside the house, crackling with electricity, the mark of the royal family printed on each side, along with some arrows painted upwards, on every crate there is a hand painted black, around it written in English where the words ¡®Touch to deactivate¡¯. A few chunks rodents clearly couldn¡¯t read, laying dead around the perimeter of the boxes, completely blown away. While he made the way to the well the others looked at him as if he was just brought in yesterday, whispering and pointing towards him as he walked past, not entirely a great feeling, but nothing that couldn¡¯t be managed. ¡°Mimic!¡± Primus woke up next, making his way outside only to be greeted by the boxes stacked only slightly lower than the house ¡°Holly shit.¡± ¡°Yes, they are here. Do me a favor and touch help me deactivate these will you?¡± ¡°Deactivate? Deactivate what?¡± He looked around, tossing a twig towards the crates, and watched as electricity burned the whole thing down as soon as the twig touched both the crate and the ground ¡°Oh hell no, she trapped all of this?¡± ¡°Probably just the lower ones, no reason for her to use more than necessary¡± Mimic walked into the house, grabbed a tall chair and started working on the higher rows. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t she just send the materials straight to the testing ground?¡± Primus asked as he laid his hand on the last one of the first row ¡°What is in this anyways?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, computer? Smartphone, the new gaming console, could be anything¡± Jamming his dagger into the lid of the top crate, pushing down on it hard popping the top off. What he discovered was a pile of shaved woods, pushing away those and digging deeper, finally feeling a cold glossy touch. ¡°Well?¡± Pulling the whole content out, glass bottle, wax sealed off the top ¡°Wine I guess?¡± Handing it over the Primus and pulling another similar one like before ¡°Maybe there is a note somewhere?¡± Primus asked, looking at the bottle, slightly confused ¡°I mean we do need alcohol for the drug, but why would she put it in these?¡± Moving along, they opened some more crates, containing various different items, mostly preserved food, salt, and sugar. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± B came around after checking in on the progress of the engines ¡°The materials are already back there, these are just food.¡± She watched as Primus slowly passed a chunk of ham back towards Mimic, pretending the box opening had nothing to do with him ¡°There are labels on the side, did you not read?¡± She slapped the side of the crates. ¡°Yeah, um we know, just curious.¡± Mimic said, putting the meat back into the box ¡°So yeah, today we do setup and some test run, that¡¯s it?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll set up some of the stuff, go explain yourself to the others. Right now their reaction seems to be fairly tamed, no roaring for your head to be removed so that¡¯s a good sign at least.¡± He wandered directly towards the small podium where every morning the tasks were assigned, crowds spreaded as he walked past, murmuring different hypotheses about him. After getting permission from his adopted father, he was allowed a brief moment to speak to the whole village. Clearing his throat and looking at a few dozens of different people, his heart went into overdrive ¡°I speak fast, listen.¡± he glittered, straightening up his back and pushing his chest outwards, projecting himself as a competent speaker ¡°I was dead and asleep, thank you for keeping me. Army I know, they friend of me, no worry. My speak bad now, soon my speak better, I tell you again. Box of food for you, questions?¡± He stood there for a while, preparing to answer anything, but seeing no hands pop up nor hear any talking, thinking he has done his job he hopped off the podium then disappeared into the bushes. Over at testing ground it was an unboxing fest for Primus and B, jars of chemicals were lifted from the box and organised according to the synthesis order. ¡°So what we are going to do is dump everything in there, that¡¯s it.¡± Primus said, pointing at the lineup of different bottles ¡°Well, with care.¡± He added. ¡°So that¡¯s it? Just dump everything in there?¡± ¡°Yes that¡¯s it, you and Primus can start it up already, I¡¯ll use the restroom and be back soon.¡± ¡°I have to say, this is getting more and more sketchy by the minute. Esther got all these and not just put it all together herself?¡± Primus said as he checked the hardwares for leaks of air ¡°Bring me the lube will you?¡± ¡°I mean not into men, but sure why not. This thing right?¡±Mimic aske, Holding up a small jar of milky white substance lid already half open ¡°Is this just fat?¡± ¡°Yeah that, don¡¯t know, smells kind of funny though.¡± he said as he applied a thick layer of the substance on the glassware, connecting it to a condenser. ¡°This should be simple, right?¡± Mimic watched as he examined every single connection point, finally drawing out an outline around the area. Pointing towards three jugs of clear liquid and a torch nearby, a face sized round flask suspended in a pot of water, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be hard, I¡¯ll check the connection over there one last time, just dump the vinegar and alcohol into the thing inside the water bath, light the fire below and connect the condenser to the small one beside it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Oh toss in the smallest one as well, there should be one near... yeah that. That¡¯s sulfuric acid, if something goes wrong there is a bucket of water close to you, you know what to do.¡± Finishing up final touches on the next section, one flask on each side, connected by two condensers, inside one of the flask a piece of metal spring hung ¡°So yeah, all that¡¯s left is wait for someone to come charge this whole thing up, and we are good to go.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°You are putting quite a lot of faith into something that is manufactured by hand and held together by fat.¡± ¡°Well, you know what they say. If we made this work, that¡¯s nice, if something went wrong, it wouldn¡¯t be my problem to worry.¡± The process of making acetate was essentially watching paint dry, however neither of them felt like leaving the system unchecked and lead to a possible failure or worst a forest fire. Sitting beside the boiling water, they took turns reading from the data set while the other watches over the progress. B was supposed to come back a long time ago yet neither of them questioned, they didn¡¯t really care enough to do anything at the moment. A few hours later the acetate was finished cooking, following the instructions, Primus dumped in a bottle of clear liquid, as well as a large sum of black, viscous tar. Mimic on the other hand loaded the second system with acetic acid, sealed everything off with fat, then went off to get the horse, careful not touching it all the way so that it would still have mana. Leashing it besides what could be best described as a ticking gas canister, he drew the runes around the horse to extract the mana, then a few more strokes just to connect it to the glassware, which is just resting on the ground, held up by a few sticks and reinforced with some fat to prevent the gas from leaking out. ¡°So um¡­¡± Realizing the lack of fail safes, such a device was only designed to be turned on and run till it has depleted any of its resource, Mimic, being the one with lesser magic knowledge turned his head towards Primus ¡°This thing would at least deactivate if the horse dies, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the theory.¡± Knowing fully what they are about to do, Primus hovered his hand over the horse, ready to shut the whole thing down in case of a misfire. This method of producing ethenone was simple, heat up and evaporate the acetic acid that Esther provided, let the vapor pass through a red hot iron spring, then the whole thing is done, there is just one small catch. Ethenone, or ketene as it is commonly known, can kill someone with 5ppm, assuming it leaks out; To put it into perspective, hydrogen cyanide, the thing that was used for death penalty, needs around 50ppm to do sevear harm to anyone. As for the reason for such suicidal act is simply because, it can produce antibiotics with the least amount of hassle, and neither B nor Esther had gotten lucky enough to capture any useful fungus that could be used for such drugs. With the horse in place and the system checked, Mimic connected the whole magical circuit, then bolted towards a tree far away, where Primus is already making his way up. A few reactions are taking place far down there besides the horse, one of course is the production of a deadly gas, the other being the jar of liquid that Primus was messing with, which combined tar, acetate, and hydrochloric acid, and should produce aniline, the last being the production of acetic anhydride, which was made by bubbling ketene into another bottle of acetic acid. With the mana source secured, the system slowly lit up, first the rune carved under the bottles, then the spring, lastly the condenser. With two hands gripping the beach above, Mimic leaned forward from the tree, keeping his eyes peeled for accidents. As they took turns monitoring the horse, small bursts of sound could be heard echoing the mountain, sounding like firecrackers, yet a bit more contained as if it was stuffed into an enclosed tube of some sort. Above them birds hovered in a circular pattern, looking down on the village like vultures looking for prey, quite an odd sight as those didn¡¯t seem to appear till a few days prior to the bombing. Fast forward a few more hours, with the horse still standing and the two bored out of their minds, Mimic was first to drop down from the tree and checked on the system, seeing one side of the system almost empty, a joyful feeling rushed into his heart. ¡°Finally, some good fucking news.¡± He chuckled as he disabled the rune that is responsible for heating the metal spring by shorting that specific part of the circuit, leaving only the condenser and the heater underneath working, such was done to fish out some ketene residue, just in case there were some present. Seeing Mimic still alive and kicking, Primus went ahead and got started on the next section, yet was stopped by the setting sun as well as the still hot product that Mimic was holding, stashing their results into the tent then destroying the runes on the ground they headed back towards the village. B was still nowhere to be found, when asked, Aeiger mentioned her asking for some more components to be made, as well as handing over a few designs that he received from her then headed off with the finished gun barrel ¡°Fucking hell¡± Mimic whispered, a quick flip through the stack of paper told them everything they needed to know, mortars, gun components, as well as some drawings for a two stage detonation system and some rocket engines. Within a year, she is already planning on making a hydrogen bomb as well as a fully functional rocket. Setting aside the absurd amount of mana that would be needed to power either one of those, they are more concerned about the effects that could follow. ¡°Those wouldn¡¯t work right?¡± Taking over half the stack of papers, Primus was greeted first by a few artillery designs, then some jet engines, lastly, missiles. Having experienced first hand just how much mana was needed to power that crappy system moments back only raised more questions, B would have never passed these off to anyone given the state of things. The action of introducing guns to the people here alone was borderline insanity as it essentially introduced a bow that could fire none stop, using slightly more mana, yet gaining accuracy, effective range, cutting back on the labor of pulling back strings, making so that anyone with a functioning brain can use such weapon, and it can be used while lying down, providing a lower profile to the user, preventing them from being spotted as easily, all that with the extremely low price tag. ¡°No, humans can¡¯t use these.¡± Having read ahead in the dataset, Mimic knows that the plant is littered with different species, most with different rates of mana regeneration and their own soft mana cap. Humans, while boasting a lower mana regeneration rate than average, have a higher soft cap due to the also slow rate of mana dissipating from their body, which in terms make them better for things that require huge bursts of mana in a short period of time and less suited for tasks that require constant mana output for long periods of time. As opposed to one extreme, which is the pixie, having extremely high mana regeneration as well as essentially no mana reserve to speak of, those are well suited for powering engines as well as maintaining certain defence infrastructures. Something that as of this moment is living in god knows where. Thanking the blacksmith and handing back the blueprints, Mimic pulled Primus aside. ¡°Just keep these under the covers for now shall we?¡± He could feel his heart rate slowly climbing, goosebumps ripple over his skin. What B mentioned was to have him handle the politics side of this place, yet here they are, a few weeks later, himself stuck on a side of the mountain with the whole village questioning his background while she introduces them to firearms. Probably just doing it out of her nature, given the past record of her declaring herself as a management algorithm, but still an overstep non the less. When asked why by Primus, since he has not a single clue as to how he stands on the matter, he quickly wrote it off as just B doing her job, declaring his faith in B¡¯s decision. Later that night, lound chearing was heard from the front gate. B came back with the hunting groups, behind them a huge boar was carried in, pulled by all half a dozen horses, despite laying on it¡¯s side, still towering over the height of most people living in the village, one could only imagine what it would looked like had it stood up straight. The side of such a beast is littered with small holes, it¡¯s front leg nowhere to be found, and a few golf ball sized holes on it¡¯s chest tells the story of its last minutes on this planet, as well as one epic tale for the hunter. Sitting on top of the prize, B waved to the crowd as they slowly made their way into the village center, a radiant smile on her face, her eyes looking around for someone. Doesn''t take a genius to figure out, Mimic walked up close towards the path which they were traveling down, making himself easily identifiable for B. As he predicted upon seeing him, B hopped off the boar, grabbed his hand and started marking their way towards the center, while walking, she gave him the brief explanation as to what happened. ¡°No, you can¡¯t just say I¡¯m some royal family that no one has heard of to justify why I know how to use a gun, as well as the resource dump earlier this morning.¡± He whispered ¡°That is technically the truth, you did at one point rule over a large number of people.¡± Giggling and dragging mimic into the parade as if he played a crucial part in the hunting of the beast. ¡°Oh, Deus is your family name, and Machina would be your name don¡¯t worry, despite that they speak sounds like latin, as you know by now the words carry different meanings. Just say thanks and expose nothing will you? This took me long enough to set up, don¡¯t mess it up¡± She said as she pushes him towards the front of the parade, disappearing inside the crowd herself. ¡°Deus Ex Machina? The fuck? I can¡¯t even solve the problems in my past life.¡± Looking around, all he saw was everyone looking in awe, as they drew close to the bonfire, the man who seemed to be in charge of the hunt ordered the team to stop. Turning towards Mimic, he single handedly lifted him onto the cart, having him stand right next to the huge tusk. ¡°Today!¡± Announcing in a thundering voice, he quickly grabbed the attention of everyone standing around ¡°With the brave souls of our people, and the gift from Machina, we are able to hunt ??d?w???. Say something boy!¡± Nudging on his leg, he passed the stage to Mimic. Well shit, the fuck am I going to say? ¡°Um¡­ yes, me from Deus, um¡­¡± What was the word for family again? ¡°Ah, I from Deus family. My family dead from war, thank you for your care, I do what I can to help you.¡± Stopping for a brief moment, pondering if he should crack open the ¡®You are like family to me¡¯ cliche, it is really effective, but then again¡­. Yeah fuck it. ¡°You like me two family, thank you for pick me up.¡± He said, squeezing out a few crocodile¡¯s tear just for effect, then walked down from the cart. ¡°Shit dude, someone give this guy the oscar.¡± Giving him a few solid pats on the back, Primus already heard the briefing from B ¡°So, who are you? Prince? King?¡± ¡°No fucking clue.¡± Laughing as they slowly made their way out, his mind still focused on the schematics that B gave Aeiger, yet this is not the time to confront her, not yet.