《Realmcore (dropped)》 001 Searching for a Special Soul (1/2) 001 Searching for a Special Soul (1/2) Two figures float through an endless black void, surrounded and protected by a glowing circular energy field. The larger one looks like a human medieval warrior in a golden plate armor with an open helm ¨C at least until a theoretical watcher would look closer. Once you try to look closer, something begins to feel off ¨C although it is impossible to see what causes this feeling. The golden eyes without a pupil are not enough to explain that feeling, and neither is the impression that the figure is much larger than a regular human. Something just gives a disturbing feeling and would make an unknown watcher as agitated and disturbed as the man himself is behaving. ¡°How dared they to betray me and steal my holdings! I am Salengor the Magnificent, and I will get my revenge on them! They wanted to kill me, but no one is stronger than me! I will regain my powers and they will rue the day they failed me! Those ignorant bastards and their holier-than-you-attitude will get their just rewards! Before the millennia is past they will beg at my feet...¡± The second figure is much smaller, reaching only to the belt of the human figure. It is a winged humanoid lizard with red scales covering her entire body including her four boobs and three thin tails that end in some sort of stinger. Her face is surprisingly easy to read despite the scales and the lizard-like snout. She looks mostly bored, sometimes a bit pained at a special curse from her larger companion. ¡°Master, it has been twenty years. Don¡¯t you think you should start planning your revenge instead of non-stop ranting? How much better would it feel to actually crush your enemies instead of only cursing at them?¡± ¡°Ah, Kareem, that shows that you should not strain your little mind. I have been working on my revenge for all those years already. I managed to grab an inactive core before I decided to relocate from my former castle. I originally had not intended to use it yet, but with all other realmcores either destroyed or turned against me this one will be the start of my new empire. However I can¡¯t use a regular spirit or soul to activate that core ¨C I need something special to stand against that so-called ¡®Holy Alliance of Light¡¯, those ignorant bastards. That is why I travelled beyond all borders and all universes to find a soul that has traits that are not part of our System in the Endless World. [unknown] and [unique] traits and abilities will give my chosen champion the power to succeed against everyone. Using a regular spirit would never stand against all of them, and all spirits on the World itself have probably heard of how I was betrayed and are afraid to go against my opposition.¡± Or they might not want to ally themselves with someone known to not care for his underlings. Telling your people to give their dead to necromancers or have them processed for manure does not inspire loyalty after all. How I wish I had better researched my options before agreeing to the contract all those centuries ago, thinks Kareem silently. Out loud she asks ¡°But it has been years since we last passed a universe that had even a limited System, and without a System there can be no life. What do you expect to find here or even farther into these strange void-filled worlds we traveled for the last years? Nothing survives in a void without strong magic.¡± ¡°Life is possible without a System, the System just prevents the more extreme traits from forming and stabilizes everything for intelligent life. That is why I¡¯m looking for a world where the System is either incomplete or not yet active, because only there a soul can gain and carry the powerful traits I need in my next champion. It is just very likely that a soul is destroyed by such traits after only a few years ¨C we will just have to search longer for someone fitting until we find him or her.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. But I agree that this world also seems to be a bust, there is almost nothing but void here with only a limited number of stars and tiny blocks of matter far distant from each other. We should ¡­. Wait, what¡¯s that? It isn¡¯t a System Message, but something similar¡­ Could it be that the first traces of a System are just forming around here? Let¡¯s try to translate it with magic¡­ <> ¡­ That took almost double the Mana of a regular translation spell¡­¡± [[Viora IV to Council Patrols +stop+ Emergency Call +stop+ Earthquake destroyed Colony Center and Main Power +stop+ Request Help for Survival and Rebuilding]] ¡°Yes, it looks like a quest initiation ¨C some village needs help from something that is likely either an adventurer guild or an army group. Wait ¨C there are answers coming in.¡± [[Star Ranger Swiftwing to Viora IV +stop+ SOS received +stop+ ETA in two days]] [[Star Ranger Airwave to Viora IV +stop+ SOS received +stop+ delayed for resupply +stop+ ETA in six days]] [[Star Ranger Sunhawk to Viora IV +stop+ SOS received +stop+ ETA in four days]] ¡°Ah, and now they are dispatching three of their better rangers to help those villagers survive. Perfect, that would mean that any of those three people would have the skills and traits to start building up a village. If any one of those rangers has some extraordinary traits they might carry the perfect soul for my core. <> <> Oww ¨C again more Mana than planned, but both of those rangers have most of their abilities classified as [[unknown]], [[unidentified]] and/or [[unique]] by the System. That means that at least some of those abilities would go beyond regular limitations and be able to improve the core¡¯s chances to get me the energy required for my revenge. Perfect. If I take three days to prepare the soul initiation to the core, that should increase my Mana effectivity enough that even this additional drain will not stop me. And that would be in time to snatch the second one without anyone understanding what I¡¯ve done. Kareem, summon some earth and stone to form a ritual platform here in the void while I meditate.¡± For the next three days the giant floats still in the void, while Kareem uses her magic to summon stone ¨C one block after another, until a stone platform of twenty meters in diameter floats beneath them. Then she begins to carve lines and symbols into that platform. ¡°Master, the ritual circle is ready for your work. But there is no System to restrict the mana flow if something goes wrong. You could lose some of your essence if the ritual requires more energy than usual ¨C are you sure you want to risk that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re wrong, Kareem ¨C the messages I intercepted are proof that a [[System]] is beginning to form, even if it is not yet controlling everything. And I have enough Mana to handle six or seven soul-snatching rituals, it¡¯s just too bad that I have only a single core remaining. So there is no danger even if magic is more costly inside this void.¡± Salengor floats to the new stone platform and begins to fill the lines of the circles with his Mana while mumbling to himself. ¡°First the scan and targeting formation on that ranger. What¡¯s this ¨C it appears that some of those unique traits are structure-based, not soul-based? Perfect, transposing structures is easier even if it means that I might have to level up the core for more structure spaces ¨C but that would only make it stronger from the beginning. Uh ¨C the manadrain is not nice, but lower than I feared. I¡¯ll have to make sure to catch the ranger¡¯s equivalent of its core in the ritual to make sure I get those structures as well. Only remove what has no value for my new realmcore, and making sure to get the soul. My imprint is on the core, the gate to send it to the endless world is prepared ¨C I¡¯ll select the perfect spot later, when I better know what advantages the core will have. Now for the main part, getting the soul out of the ranger. Urgh ¨C what? Why is that so difficult? The drain ¨C I need more energy. Kareem, give your Mana and Essence, something is wrong!¡± ¡°No, Master, please don¡¯t ¨C I was always your most loyal servant, and I will serve you more in the future, noooo¡± Salengor grabs the lizard lady by the throat and holds her into the formation. Her body is quickly drained and crumbles to dust. ¡°Yes, and I will always fondly remember your loyality for all eternity. But you are mine to use as I see fit. That made the ritual hold ¨C no ¨C what this, the soul fractured? I can¡¯t fail, I need to keep it, this core is my only chance of revenge, I have to finish it It¡¯s now draining my essence ¨C too late, I have to finish the ritual ¡­ I will have my revenge on the Holy Alliance of Light. I will NOT fail¡­.¡± 001 Searching for a Special Soul (2/2) ¡°BEEEP ¨C BEEEP ¨C BEEEP¡± Yawning the middle-aged human sits up on his bed in the small cabin. Through the window above his bed the dark night of space can be seen. He reaches for the button on his small desk Damn, only two hours of sleep ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Bridge to Captain, we just received an emergency call by FTL-Pulse. A Colony had an earthquake and needs help.¡± ¡°Wake the rest of the crew, have George calculate the distance and Cheyenne check how fast we can push the folddrive to get there. I¡¯ll be on the bridge in ten minutes.¡± ¡°George is already working on it, he had duty-shift. I¡¯ll wake the chief engineer next. Bridge out.¡± Half of an hour later a good looking but partially dirty human woman steps onto the bridge, where the captain (Lieutenant Commander Dylan Shelton, Human), the first officer (Lieutenant X¡¯hh¡¯ylan, Reetou) and the logistics specialist (Chief Petty Officer M¡¯raan Feshur, Caitian) were already waiting. ¡°Sorry for being late, Captain, but given the situation I wanted to shift the drive focus to speed before coming here. It¡¯ll be 10% faster now, although it will use up 20% more fuel for that speedup.¡± ¡°Good call, Cheyenne, that should allow us to get to the colony faster. XO? What¡¯s the situation?¡± Lieutenant X¡¯hh¡¯ylan skitters to the monitor of the bridge on his six legs, where he calls up a picture of a green-brown planet before speaking. ¡°34 minutes ago we received an emergency call by FTL-Pulse. It reads: [[Viora IV to Council Patrols +stop+ Emergency Call +stop+ Earthquake destroyed Colony Center and Main Power +stop+ Request Help for Survival and Rebuilding]] Viora IV is a struggling mining colony that was founded only 73 years ago. If both the Colony Center and the main power reactor are down, they are in a big trouble. Distance is about 247 light-years from our current position. With the improved drive speed we should be able to get there in four days and three hours. We have no more info than that and can¡¯t ask for more ¨C with main power disabled they most likely shut down the FTL-Pulsor after sending that emergency call. But most likely they¡¯ll need everything from medical help to disaster relief to spare parts for their repairs.¡± Lieutenant Commander Dylan Shelton nods to this and turns toward the Caitian on the bridge. ¡°Chief, what is still in our cargo bays? I assume we can¡¯t offer food because we¡¯re near the end of our patrol circuit?¡± ¡°Correct, Captain ¨C but on the other hand those people are lucky because we still have the semi-automated factory module installed that we got for prototype trials. It will drastically speed up turning raw material into spare parts. Considering how rarely we needed the additional sensor module that it replaced from the default on a Ranger-class scout corvette, they might even decide to install that module in the other patrols - at least in those that fly between the inner stars of the galactic confederation.¡± ¡°Then there is nothing more we can do at the moment. All possible preparations before arrival can be done in a few hours, and we are still four days away from Viora IV. Back to your regular duty everyone, I¡¯ll go and inform Dr. Farren about our ETA so she can prepare the Medbay in time.¡± --------[Three days later]---------You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Two humans and a caitian sit in the control chairs of the bridge while the rest of the Sunhawk was silent. The caitian works on a side console while one of the humans sits in the pilot chair only watching how the stars shift and dance outside the ship that is travelling under folddrive. The last person is Dylan Shelton, sitting in the command chair at the back of the bridge. The caitian suddenly turns toward his captain. ¡°Captain, I just received a message from the Swiftwing, she arrived at Viora IV a day ago. The situation is even worse than we thought. The earthquake was six days ago and when it damaged the Colony Center, it also damaged their FTL Pulsor. They needed two days to repair it for the emergency call, and then it burned out afterwards. The Swiftwing has connected their reactor to the colony grid and is providing additional power, but the situation is still very bad with a lot of wounded people. The Council should dispatch one of their emergency reaction cruisers and organize a transport squadron with supplies, but¡­¡± A shudder goes through the ship and somewhere a groan comes from the strained hull structure, interrupting the message. The pilot begins to frantically check his instruments. ¡°Sir, unknown energy detected outside the space fold corridor. The drive is overheating¡­ The corridor has collapsed and we are now travelling sublight. The Sunhawk is captured in an energy field of unknown origin or type, those readings don¡¯t make any sense at all.¡± ¡°Red Alert, Dr. Davis to the Bridge, initiate emergency procedures everyone¡± the captain starts shouting commands. ¡°Mathew, copy those readings to console four ¨C as soon as George gets here he needs to check if he knows what¡¯s going on.¡± Throughout the ship the tiny crew is working hectically, especially when the decompression alert is added two minutes later. A jaguar-like but alien looking cat is speeding through the corridors into the bridge, only to turn into a humanoid just before jumping into one of the free chairs. The captain addresses the new man. ¡°Omnuun, what caused the decompression alert?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t detect any decompression or loss of air anywhere ¨C the alert was given from the engine room.¡± ¡°Engine? What caused the alert?¡± the captain asks after activating the internal communication. For a few seconds nothing but some fabric movement could be heard over the communication system, then the characteristic click of a spacesuit helmet snapping into place before Lieutnant Cheyenne Morin speaks: ¡°Some unidentified energy just disintegrated the outer hull and a corridor down here, I¡¯m looking into space now. There is no direct decompression because the same energy now holds the air inside, but I don¡¯t want anyone to be caught without a spacesuit when that energy decides to stop holding the atmosphere. I can see the energy field around the ship ¨C it¡¯s a sphere, and it is shrinking. I see the starboard wing bending under the pressure of that field, but it¡¯s not breaking. I¡¯ve never seen something like this.¡± ¡°Shipwide, this is the captain. We have been captured inside an unknown energy field that is twisting and destroying the Sunhawk while currently keeping our atmosphere contained. Everyone into spacesuits in case we lose air later. Report any outside effect you might see.¡± The captain looks at the human now working on console four. ¡°Astro, anything you can tell us about this?¡± ¡°No captain, I¡¯ve never seen an astrophysical phenomenon like this ¨C the energy readings are shifting and partially vanishing without making any sense. Best guess is that this is an energy form we never even detected before and don¡¯t know how to correctly scan either. And I strongly doubt that this is a natural phenomenon, it¡¯s too targeted and intentional for that.¡± ¡°Captain, look out of the right side window!¡± Everyone on the bridge turns to see out of that windows. They see the back half of their ship, with three of its four wings bend and twisted, slowly coming to rest near the bridge. It looks as if something cut the Sunhawk in half in the middle and placed the two halves next to each other to reduce the length to fit into the further shrinking energy sphere. Then there are suddenly glowing energy tendrils growing from somewhere into the view, searching for something. The inside of those tendrils seem to be twisting into impossible directions as well. Everyone tries to evade those tendrils, especially after the first one attaches itself to the astrophysicist and Dr. Davis begins to scream. The captain tries to get everyone to evade and out of the bridge, but the space distortions are everywhere, disturbing everyone and after a short while one of the tendrils hits Dylan in the back. ¡°AAAArrgghhh¡± Seen from the outside, the energy sphere that captured the Sunhawk seems to shrink and become transparent at the same time, giving the impression of speeding away in an impossible direction while standing still, until nothing remains of it or the starship that had been traveling here. 002 Waking up in the Realmcore ¡°Aaargh!!¡± With a shock Dylan sits up in his bed. What?!? A Dream? But the pain was really extreme.... No, not a dream ¨C this is not exactly my cabin. It almost looks like his cabin on the Sunhawk, but where his bed was originally against the outer hull of the starship with a window to space above it, that wall now was a faceted blue crystal. Additionally there is a strange effect on the air, as if he were looking through a prism that breaks and shifts the light. As he looks around this cabin he finds that it is almost a replica of his cabin, including most of his personal items. Only a few tools, gimmicks and an old notebook are missing, and of course the blue crystal wall where the hull and the window are supposed to be. When he touches the blue crystal, a holographic screen suddenly appears before his face.
Activity 11:59/12:00 Hours
Energy 1/1 Mana
Do you wish to enter artificial sleep (Y/N)
¡°No, I don¡¯t want to sleep ¨C I want to know where my crew is and why I¡¯m wearing this old spaceman uniform? And what happened to the Sunhawk?¡± The holographic screen vanishes, but no other answer was given. A quick check around the cabin shows that while the internal devices like the clock and the DVD player work, the external connections like the communicator or the control panel for the ship overview are dead. He finds his laser pistol in the drawer where he last put it and it seems to be operational, but with the strange prismatic effect in the air he doesn¡¯t want to test it without need. The laser beam might simply be refracted, or it might be turned toward the wrong target. As prepared as he could be, he checks if he is a prisoner. The cabin door opens without problem. Definitely no longer on the Sunhawk. I¡¯m pretty sure my cabin there opened toward a corridor and not toward the fold drive ¨C or what¡¯s left of the fold drive, there are crystal growths going around and even through the machinery. Looking to the right there is a small distance of about a foot between the cabin wall and the machinery. While watching this he suddenly hears a voice calling ¡°Captain!¡± Turning around he sees that in the other direction a similar corridor leads to another cabin door facing the fold drive, and there stands a member of his crew. ¡°Stephen, glad to see someone. Do you know what¡¯s going on? Something seems to have rearranged parts of the Sunhawk here.¡± ¡°No, I just woke in something that looks like a stretched and enlarged version of the cabin I share with Mathew, but with only one bed. And trying to step out I only saw the fold drive here.¡± ¡°This small crawlspace between the fold drive and my cabin goes around a bent to my right, how does it continue on your side?¡± ¡°Dead end after a single meter, there is a crystal wall there.¡± In the silence while Dylan ponders this info another voice is heard from somewhere. ¡°Hello, Engineer here, my cabin seems to be squeezed between a fabricator and the FTL Pulsor, and I can see two small tunnels I might crawl through but no one else.¡± ¡°Nice to hear of you, Cheyenne¡± the captain speaks out loudly. ¡°Roll call ¨C anyone else around here?¡± ¡°Omnuun here, I can see the FTL Pulsor as well and there seems to be the mess hall next to the bridge and the medbay if I guess correctly. I think that might give us some space to meet.¡± ¡°M¡¯raan reporting ¨C I can see the very disturbing remains of a cargo hold and can¡¯t even guess what might be salvageable from there. I¡¯ll try to find the mess hall in this mess.¡± After a few minutes and more than a few curses about small ways and crystal walls the crew makes their ways to the mess hall, where they also find a sixth member, their astrophysicist and navigator Dr. George Davis. ¡°Hi captain, everyone, glad to see someone else in this strange building.¡± ¡°Hello George, good to see you ¨C but this is only half of the crew. Has anyone seen anything of the other six?¡± Everyone around shakes their heads. No one has seen or heard of anyone else.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°OK, in my cabin about half of the devices worked and the other half not. That there looks to be part of the bridge, although modified by those crystal outgrows like everything else here. It still has two control stations however, let¡¯s check if they work.¡± From a distance the bridge looked normal if incomplete, but when they go closer they see that all monitors were only black boards, and where the keyboards had been are now sheets of a blue crystal. Dylan and Cheyenne sit down despite that and Dylan mentions ¡°The same blue crystal is in my cabin and activated a holographic screen when I touched it.¡±
Advanced Control Structure
Please select structure to control
Advanced Crafter Shutdown
Advanced Detection Standby
Advanced Regenerator Standby
Creature Control not built
Drone Control not built
Fold Storage Standby
Mana Booster Standby
Message System Busy: repairing data
Pattern Archive Active
Power Shrine Active
[[System]] Pattern Shop Shutdown
[[System]] Structure Shop Shutdown
The rest of the crew watches for a few minutes as their captain and engineer check through the options. In most cases selecting an option shows a hologram of a structure that is clearly taken from the Sunhawk, but modified by crystal growths going through - only that the hologram vanishes after a second with an error-beep showing that "Standby" and "Shutdown" are not selectable options. Only the two "active" and the "busy" options result in different holoscreens appearing. Focusing on the two ¡°active¡± options, Dylon selects the Power Shrine while Cheyenne checks the Pattern Archive and the Message System.
Power Shrine (unidentified)
Power Name ??#?!$????%?
Power Aspect
Drain on Mana Regeneration 3% (0/6 total Mana Regen)
Power Grant
Power Rule
Core Level 3
Core Spaces 19/22
Core Level Up Cost 300 Mana
Core Level Up Spaces +24
¡°This wasn¡¯t on the Sunhawk like the rest of the structures we have seen so far. It looks like a crystal altar that would fit into almost any church I know of, if not for the completely unknown symbols scattered among it. And the data options are also either unidentified or talking about a core and core data that I never have heard of.¡± The captain muses. ¡°What did you find, Cheyenne?¡± "The Pattern Archive looks like a distorted computer core from the Sunhawk, while the Message System looks like a crystallized version of the FTL Pulsor - which makes sense in a certain way. The archive only allows me to list some patterns that seem to be based on entries in the Galactic Database we were carrying, but the Message System is more interesting:"
Pattern Archive
Patterns available 27/40
Message System
History Log
System Message Queue <15 Messages, translating: 14% complete>
Message Archive 2/400 Messages available, 13 Messages in process
After seeing the screen, Dylan orders ¡°Open those two messages, perhaps they will help us understand what happened.¡± When Cheyenne triggers the display of the first message, it doesn¡¯t appear on the holographic screen but is somehow projected into everyone¡¯s mind. [[Welcome to the Endless World, Ranger Sunhawk]] [[Do not be afraid, your spirit has been summoned by the great ??#?!$????%? to be a Champion of in this land]] [[Your great quest will be explained to you when you call your Powers Name inside its shrine]] [[Do not be lonely in the empty core you now reside in, soon you¡¯ll learn your purpose and how to contact the outside]] In the stunned silence after that message, Dr. Davis is the first to speak up. ¡°Somehow I think the other side made a few mistakes ¨C besides the obvious ones of us not being lonely and the rather less than empty area we are in¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right with that guess, George.¡± answers Dylan. ¡°Cheyenne, can you call up the other message?¡± This time a strange symbol accompanies the message projected into their minds. [[I am the System of the Endless World]] [[I am to help you with any questions and changes from the System of your old world to the rules of your new world]] [[If you have any questions about the System, concentrate on my symbol while asking it]] [[Be aware that I¡¯m neutral in all aspects and that there will be a price for using this option without real need]] ¡°OK, at least we now have some target for questions¡­¡± 003 Talking to the [[System]] 003 Talking to the [[System]] ¡°OK, at least we now have some target for questions. System, why have we been abducted?¡± [[processing request ¨C tutorial messages currently not accessible ¨C need for direct access confirmed ¨C sending data entry directly]] [[The Cores of the Endless World]] [[The Area Cores and the Realm Cores are tools that control the structure of the Endless World. But a tool needs someone to use it, and because of this each core needs to house a soul or spirit that uses that tool to control the area or realm it is assigned to.]] [[However due to the competition between the Powers and their Realms a regular spirit that was born under the System of the Endless World was found to have only limited chances of survival.]] [[Most Powers have started to summon spirits from other worlds with less restrictive Systems, because those spirits might have formed or that cannot be formed here, increasing their chance of success]] [[The farther distant a world is and the lesser its System has enforced its class restrictions, the greater the chance is for the soul to arrive here with an overpowering option]] ¡°OK, System, then someone really messed up ¨C the Sunhawk was not a person but a starship, a Ranger-class scout corvette with a crew of twelve. And now half of that crew is here and we want to know how to get back home.¡± [[Processing request¡­]] [[Searching for History Log - History Log has been damaged and contains wrong references]] [[Searching for Power ¨C Power has been drained below conscious value, Essence at only 4%]] [[Searching for previous System traces ¨C no previous System identified]] [[No fitting database responses found¡­]] [[Initiating Shadowing]] ¡°Ow¡± ¡°What ¡­ is ¡­¡± ¡°Why ¡­ Uurghh¡± Every one of the six people in the core suddenly feel dizzy and get a headache. Perception seems to slow down and they begin to pass out, when the effect suddenly ends. [[Database entries created or updated]] [[Life without System]] [[Contrary to long term beliefs it has now been proven possible for life without a System to exist, as long as the local inhabitants have no way to access Primordial Energy that could remove them from existence.]] [[History of the Sunhawk]] [[In a search for a less restricted soul, one of the Powers has found a world or a universe without a System to limit the access to Primordial Energy]] [[In this strange world the Power mistook a Ranger-class ship named Sunhawk for a person with the class Ranger and initiated a soul extraction on the entire crew and the ship, trying to compress it into a single core]] [[The Power was almost killed by the energy drain and created the unique result of a multi-souled Realm Core.]] [[The multi-souled core required more structure spaces than usual and was pushed to level 3 instead of the level 2 that is usual for starting Ream Cores. This was no doubt an additional energy drain on the Power and contributed to its near destruction]] [[request granted ¨C sending requested data entry directly]] [[Interdimensional Travel]] [[Interdimensional travels are only possible by energy ¨C either as one of the Powers or as a Spirit or Soul not attached to a body.]] [[Because a Spirit can only survive a limited time without a body or an anchor, such an anchor or an empty body has to be available at the destination or the interdimensional traveler will cease to exist]] [[If one of the Powers wants to summon a spirit from beyond, they need to have prepared a body or a core for it before they start their search, or the spirit will disintegrate within minutes of arrival.]] Hearing that message, everyone starts talking at once, until the captain calls for order. ¡°What? Is this System telling us that we can¡¯t go back because our bodies are dead where we came from?¡± ¡°I call bullshit, there is no way that other universes exist¡± ¡°How can someone consider abduction to be normal? The Galactic Council will send their fleets¡­¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have technology for interdimensional travel, so they can¡¯t send anything to help us¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Silence!¡± Dylan waits until everyone calms down before continuing ¡°OK, we obviously got a number of problems and setbacks in our mission. But we are the Scout Service of the Council Patrols, and we are known to turn a setback into an opportunity! Never forget that! We will prevail and not turn into a stupid mob at a bad message! Let¡¯s see what our options are instead of panicking. System, it¡¯s obvious that the original plan failed. What can we now do?¡± [[Processing request¡­]] [[Default Tutorial no longer viable due to differences in core]] [[Deleting previous Tutorial Messages in queue]] [[Power has not created a quest and is unresponsive due to being almost completely drained]] [[No special rules or restrictions placed on core]] [[No applicable guidance data found in database ¡­]] [[Initiating Shadowing]] Again the world seems to dim for the crew of the Sunhawk, while a headache begins to start. [[Processing References¡­]] But this time it takes much longer than the previous time, and the pain continues to increase. Through the pain and fog clouding his mind, Captain Shelton barely registers when Omnuun¡¯s body slowly turns transparent and vanishes. [[Compiling Option List]] [[Creating variable Quest Sequence]] ¡°Hey, what happened to Omnuun? Ouch my head¡­¡± [[Adding Quest Messages to replace Tutorial]] [[End Shadowing]] The remaining five people slowly stagger to their feet again as their headaches leave, while the System continues. [[In most cases in the past a new Realmcore had a task or a path preselected and was classified by the people of the Endless World based on that task and behavior.]] [[You do not have such a path preselected, but can choose which path to follow. This choice will be your first Quest.]] [[However each path requires effort, time and energy ¨C it is difficult to switch paths after you started going into one direction]] [[Classifications of Area Cores and Realm Cores]] [[The People of the Endless World classify cores depending on what they do as , , , , or ]] [[The main difference between those classifications is the way those cores collect Mana and what they offer in return.]] [[Depending on the exact situation some cores are fighting against people who want to destroy them, while others have a more symbiotic partnership ¨C but even in those cases there can be other people waging war against their people and trying to destroy the cores to deny the other people advantages.]] ¡°WHAT HAPPENED TO OM?¡± Dylan shouts. [[Complete Mana Depletion forced the Spirit named Omnuun back into its anchor for resting.]] [[No Essence or Lifeforce damage detected ¨C it should be able to rejoin you after a few hours of sleep]] After hearing this Dr. Davis asks a question of his own. ¡°System, what the hell are you? Are you an artificial intelligence or do you style yourself as a god or what?¡± [[Question contains unknown references¡­]] [[Initiating Shadowing]] ¡°Not again¡± groans M¡¯raan, but this time the headaches only last a few seconds before it the effect stops. [[Under your ¡®Computer Science¡¯ the classifications are in the order of:]] [[Search Engine ¨C Expert System ¨C Virtual Assistant ¨C Artificial Intelligence]] [[Under these classifications I would be called a highly advanced Expert System with an extremely large database to draw answers from, and two additional abilities that cannot be classified under your sciences: <> and <>.]] [[New Knowledge Skill formed: <>]] [[Existing Skill updated: <>]] [[Skill <> and title <> granted where appropriate]] ¡°Thanks for the question, George, this answer helps somewhat ¨C but from now on everyone let only me ask the questions to the System. We can¡¯t handle much more of those headaches even if we still need answers.¡± says the captain. ¡°System, what are those additional abilities <> and <> and their purpose?¡± [[The Primordial Energy]] [[The Primordial Energy existed before Reality itself was formed. As such it can be used to modify Reality in any way imaginable at a usually high energy cost.]] [[If someone with access to the Primordial Energy wishes for anything, the Universe will drain from him all the power needed to make that wish into reality.]] [[However if that is too much energy, the being will be drained to death and die from the wish that is then incomplete or cancelled.]] [[To prevent this, a world needs a System with the system-exclusive ability of <>.]] [[This ability allows the System to force all use of the Primordial Energy into predefined classes, skills and spells that can be stopped at the beginning if the person using them does not have the required energy reserves.]] [[Mana is what the channeled and usable form of Primordial Energy is called]] [[As a prime example of what can happen to even a Power that is trying to use this energy without System Restrictions in place, please refer to the entry: History of the Sunhawk.]] ¡°That sounds as if this System is still a bit pissed off at the Power that abducted us¡± comes a murmur from Stephen. [[<>]] [[<> is a system-exclusive ability that is automatically triggered whenever a System cannot find the answer to an important question in its database. It allows the system to shadow all nearby spirits and gained its name from the harmlessly reduced perceptions and skills that those spirits will have during that time.]] [[While shadowing a spirit, the System can borrow their intelligence and knowledge as well as drain the Mana of their cores to analyze the situation and create new database entries if that is needed.]] ¡°Just for your info, System: That shadowing was not harmless, it was a headache and extremely painful and even drained Omnuun.¡± [[Updating Database Entry]] [[<>]] [[In rare and special cases the shadowing can cause pain and drain on the spirits that are shadowed]] ¡°Computers¡± comes a disgusted snort from the chief engineer. ¡°No Intelligence or Empathy anywhere.¡± After a few seconds of silence Dr. George Davis adds ¡°and they don¡¯t react unless triggered by something for the same reason of missing intelligence.¡± ¡°Right. System, can¡¯t you tone down the headache and energy drain of that shadowing?¡± [[Reducing the shadowing will also turn down its effectivity and either prolong the effect or cause unreliable or incomplete data entries. This would not be acceptable.]] [[However one of the Systems primal duties is to warn of and quantify harmful side effects of skills and abilities.]] [[Processing Request¡­]] [[Forming Options]] [[Installing Options]] [[Your Advanced Pattern Archive Structure now has additional upgrades available.]] [[Installing these upgrades will provide you with warnings before asking questions and prevent harmful direct interaction between the inhabitants of this multi-soul core and the System.]] ¡°OK, let¡¯s stop here.¡± The captain interjects. ¡°We have the basics and unless there is an emergency we should postpone all further questions until after the safeguards have been installed. We don¡¯t know if the Shadowing might not have lasting effects, especially since we are the first people affected by it at all. M¡¯raan and Stephen, please go to the cargo hold you found and check its contents ¨C we need to know what we have as resources and tools to work with. George, please check on Omnuun in his cabin ¨C it¡¯s somewhere in this direction. After that try to find that sensor suite structure and check if you can get some data on our surroundings. Cheyenne, please look through the construction options available to us and what we can do. Unless there is an obvious problem don¡¯t spend any energy we have until we know better how to proceed. I¡¯ll check those messages about tutorials and what paths we can chose from in this world. Let¡¯s meet again here in two hours to hear everyone¡¯s reports.¡± 004 Inside the Realmcore 004 Inside the Realmcore Looking around the inside of the that was created from a cargo module of the Sunhawk, Chief Petty Officer M¡¯raan Feshur shakes her head while musing ¡°Stephen, the outside of the cargo bay module looked to be around 2 by 2 by 2 meters, but now that we stepped inside it looks more than triple that in all directions. How is that possible?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know M¡¯raan, but this isn¡¯t a cargo hold anymore any way. It only shows holograms of what is stored, and when we touch them we can materialize the stored items outside the core but not use them here. That said, if we can find a way to use them, then we have a lot of tools and resources available ¨C half of the 400 cubic yards available was filled with tools, devices and reserves from the Sunhawk.¡± ¡°But it still is only a tiny part of the food and disaster relief supplies that we carried around for emergencies. And when we finally got one to handle, we get abducted to who knows where¡­¡± ¡°We can¡¯t change that. Let¡¯s complete the list for the captain and get back to the mess hall.¡± <-> Quietly Lieutenant Commander Dylan Shelton, captain of the former scout corvette Sunhawk, read through the messages explaining the different classifications of cores in this new world. He wasn¡¯t finished, but he really didn¡¯t like what he read so far. The classifications were much more than just labels, choosing one would create restrictions and obligations for them. But if they wanted to make a difference in their new world they would have to choose one. ¡°Shit¡± Dylan looks up to the control chair to his left, where his chief engineer was studying a different set of screens. ¡°What is it, Cheyenne? Another problem for us?¡± ¡°Yes, captain. We have a capacity problem to be exact. I¡¯ll have to calculate our options and I can see a few possible solutions, but we¡¯ll lose something - no way around that. I¡¯ll get back to you after I crunched the numbers a bit more.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit more than an hour until the scheduled meeting, is that enough time or should we reschedule?¡± ¡°No, that should be enough. And it will only take that much time because the System doesn¡¯t use metric numbers.¡± Hearing that Dylan turns back to the messages, reading through the last of the classifications given. <-> The six survivors of the Sunhawk sit around two mess tables placed together. The captain speaks first, addressing his crew. ¡°Hello everyone, we will go through all reports one after another so that everyone knows our current situation. But before Cheyenne begins ¨C Omnuun, how do you feel? Can you tell us what exactly happened?¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to feel better, captain. You know that this is not my original form and that we Psychons metamorph into a more human-like form to make working on a human ship easier. Staying in a different form requires some effort however. Normally that is no problem, but somehow when the System was shadowing it drew on that same energy we Psychons use for our transformations. And both drains together were too much for me to handle, that is what caused the depletion and my unconsciousness. Who do I have to thank for carrying me to my cabin?¡± ¡°No one, you simply turned transparent and vanished. And the System explained that you were forcibly withdrawn to your spirit anchor due to complete mana drain. You didn¡¯t miss much, we stopped asking questions a short while later when the System enabled upgrades to prevent a repeat of the surprise drains. We will probably continue after those upgrades are active.¡± ¡°Strange, I can¡¯t give any explanation to that. It probably has to do with why that System said we are now spirits.¡± ¡°As long as you feel better now ¨C I don¡¯t want to lose anyone else. It¡¯s bad enough with half the crew gone. And it looks as if our problems aren¡¯t over yet. Cheyenne?¡± Dylan turns toward the engineer. ¡°We have a capacity problem, but luckily we dodged the bullet ¨C barely. When they abducted us and stole the Sunhawk¡¯s machinery to turn it into the structures here, the process didn¡¯t care about the regular ways of core development and simply squeezed in what they could. That is why there is only crawling space between the structures. To increase the available space we need to increase the core level, and that costs 300 Mana for the next level. In a regular core that is handled by six mana storage structures and would be no problem. We have zero Mana Storages and only three free spaces remaining to build something ¨C not enough space for the regular way to upgrade. What we had ¨C past tense ¨C was one of the fusion reactors from the Sunhawk. This reactor is what is now called a <> on the controls, and it would burn Helium to create Mana. Unfortunately we can¡¯t refuel it, so this is one-time use Mana. And that energy is what the System had drawn from when shadowing us, and now we have only enough fuel left inside it for 133 Mana. If we build three Mana Storages and use up all remaining fuel and have five of us handle that complete Mana depletion like Om had, then we would barely have enough energy to trigger the Level-Up. This will cost us the entire remaining fuel of the reactor, and delay later development quite a bit.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Alternatives two and three both require us to demolish this mess hall for a fourth Mana Storage. This will save some of the fuel for later and force us to remain in our cabins for several days before we can replace the mess hall with a smaller room.¡± At this George Davis interjects a question: ¡°Why would we replace it with a smaller room? We can simply demolish the mana storage installed here for the same space?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t work this way, George. If I heard M¡¯raan correctly she and Stephen already encountered the effect in the cargo bay module: The inside of the structures are larger than the outsides. That must be part of this strange distortion field everywhere in the core. All structures we got from the Sunhawk are either labelled as or as . If we demolish an structure there is no way to get it back. In the case of structures however the System offers their simpler variants for us to create, they just have lesser values. For everything but the mess hall ¨C which is called an in the System ¨C that loss of value would be even worse, because it would affect more than just our comforts. The advanced spirit room offers a fixed size of 400 squares. We would have to replace it with a regular room at 54 squares for now, and would have to invest a lot of time and Mana to improve it to a maximum that is a bit higher than 300 squares. That will be a loss of time, energy and capacity compared to the 400 squares we have now. Anyway, alternative two would be to build a fourth regular Mana Storage. That way there would be no need for five of us to deplete themselves, and we would still retain enough fuel for 49 more Mana from the reactor, but it would be six days of very tight living until we have the energy collected for the levelup.¡± The captain thinks about this for a minute. ¡°Not being exhausted and driven to the last energy would be an advantage, but I don¡¯t know if that reserve of 49 Mana would warrants the destruction of the mess hall ¨C from all that I could read 49 Mana is nothing in the long run.¡± ¡°I agree ¨C and that brings me to alternative three¡± Cheyenne continues. ¡°However I need to expand a bit on what I found out in the last minutes. You all see the remains of our fold drive there, it¡¯s big enough after all. And you know that that drive originally worked by folding the structure of space around the Sunhawk, allowing us to travel at a speed that seemed to be faster than light for anyone outside the ship. We won¡¯t be travelling that way ever again, but the machinery is still folding space ¨C it just was converted into a fold storage upon getting here. Its controls says that it contains sixty structures, probably about half of the Sunhawk¡¯s machinery. I don¡¯t have full access to what it contains, but I could use 250 Mana to withdraw and place an that can hold 400 Mana ¨C much more than the 54 Mana a regular storage would currently hold. That structure was created from a bank of the Sunhawk¡¯s electrical batteries, and it would leave us with 45 Mana worth of fuel remaining as well as delaying the level-up by another four or five days to collect enough energy again, but we would have a compensation for the missing Mana Storages early.¡± ¡°And the fourth way would probably be to go the first route without destroying the mess hall and then place the Advanced Mana Storage only after the level-up, is that correct?¡± ¡°Yes, although that would take extra long because we would need to build additional regular Mana Storages first, the three times 54 mana is not enough to take the batteries from the fold storage.¡± ¡°All alternatives seem to have the same first steps, so I don¡¯t have to decide immediately. Build the first three Mana Storages that we need in all cases, the rest of us can move the furniture and equipment from the mess hall to our cabins. Only after the batteries are as far finished as they can I¡¯ll decide which way we will go. And that brings us to the next point ¨C what we¡¯ll do here to continue.¡± Dylan sorts through a few notes he placed on the table and then continues ¡°In the discussion two hours ago the System mentioned different types of cores and that we would have to choose which type we want to become. What no one of us understood at that time is that the differences are profound. There are three different ways and types of Mana that a core can collect from the outside, and the classifications define what will be used as primary, secondary and tertiary Mana source. Those three types are World Mana, Living Mana and Death Mana. World Mana is the smallest amount to be collected, but it is all around everywhere and every time. Living Mana syphons off the excess Mana regeneration of living beings. It can only be syphoned if the being is at full Mana and within the control range of the core ¨C if the person had used Mana and is not at the maximum then the Mana Regeneration goes to fill up the body and cannot be syphoned away. The amount is greater than the World Mana if available but it is not always accessible. Death Mana is collected when someone or something dies inside a control zone. In this case all remaining Mana and part of the Lifeforce that is transformed into Mana go to the core as a large one-time bonus. This is the largest but also most irregular source of Mana. Now the different classifications determine what a core uses as primary and secondary energy source, and we will have to select a classification at core level 5 at latest or it would cause some unspecified problems. Dungeon Cores use primarily death and the world mana as second source. They basically create deathtraps and bait people with treasure to go in. Sadly this is not only accepted by the people of this world, they even want such Dungeons as long as the treasure the survivors get out is worth enough. Some governments even feed their slaves and excess peasants into those deathtraps to get stronger survivors in addition to those treasures. Castle Cores are almost as bad, they just take sides instead of being neutral. They also gain most by death, but have Living Mana as the secondary source. And that Living Mana comes from the soldiers and armies they allow to live inside while waiting for the next enemy to attack and try to claim them. Those cores are often positioned to control a large tract of land and provide assistance to the government currently in control. City Cores are basically public servants. They gain Living Mana from those who live in their city as well as Death Mana from natural death in that time. They often take a long view and provide services like a perfect sewer system and golem scribes or other robot-equivalents to the people living inside them. Country cores also focus on Living Mana, but add World Mana second and have options that strive to increase and balance nature, forests, oceans and so on. Their control zones often become paradises, but are usually rather primitive. Tower Cores are similar to dungeon cores, but they focus on World Mana first and Death Mana second. They build up instead of down because that improves World Mana, and instead of treasures they offer Power as bait to those who enter: Part of the Death Mana released will not go to the core but be infused in the people fighting in the tower. The last classification is supposed to be the rarest one, but I¡¯m not so sure about that. Astral Cores use World Mana first and Living Mana second, and they are supposed to grow on the inside instead of the outside. Basically they increase the space distortions we have already seen to increase the space available around them on an usually much smaller controlled area. I think they are just less often found because of this, especially since they have no need to replace their inhabitants regularly and can therefore get away with less contact. Those cores seem to focus on knowledge, but there are not as many references in the System about them to be sure. As the captain of the Sunhawk I will decide on which classification to follow, but I want to hear each of your ideas about that before I do. And I want to promote the values of the Galactic Council even if we are cut off from them.¡± 005 The Core Class 005 The Core Class ¡°As the captain of the Sunhawk I will decide on which classification to follow, but I want to hear each of your ideas about that before I do. And I want to promote the values of the Galactic Council even if we are cut off from them. In my own opinion, the Castle Core is right out. We would be forced to take sides in wars we know nothing about, and given the medieval type of weaponry and magic available here instead of the technology that we are comfortable with, we would have problems making our opinions heard. And City Core might be tricky to pull off if everyone expects us to be subservient while we try to guide to our ideas of governments.¡± Dr. Davis speaks next ¡°The Council is very against giving advanced technology to primitive cultures. Due to this a Dungeon Core who is expected to defend itself with everything might not be as bad as it first sounds. We could go all-out to defend our technology without anyone wondering why. But I would vote against a Country Core as nothing we have is Nature-Based and even the System says that the Country Cores are often more primitive in their areas.¡± ¡°But a Dungeon Core is also expected to give up its treasures if the hunters are successful.¡± M¡¯raan opposes the idea. ¡°And even a hint of what is available to us will result in a stampede of people trying to get that. To me either Tower or Astral Core sound more interesting. The Tower is also expected to be defended, but it does not give out treasures. And an Astral core sounds as if it is the best way to remain hidden.¡± ¡°I would rather think to go the City Core route. Being in control of a city and its services, especially using modern knowledge, would be a good base to promote our values.¡± ¡°Theoretically yes, but it would require us to get a multi-race population and the surrounding countries must not be strong enough to simply conquer us. That are two big IFs against a City Core.¡± ¡°As a marine I have no problems with fighting and death, but I would like to decide what to fight for. A mercenary position is not acceptable to me, and that Castle Core can easily turn mercenary¡± mentions Stephen Holman ¡°Dungeon or Tower would be OK, especially the Tower Core as we don¡¯t have to produce treasure.¡± ¡°Perhaps we should discuss it in terms of ¡®where can we do the most¡¯?¡± Cheyenne adds. ¡°Galine would have been the only one of us who could handle different biospheres and nature, and she isn¡¯t among us anymore. That disqualifies the Country Core. Stephen already nixed the Castle Core, and while a lot of us are military he is the only full soldier among us.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. And I agree with the captain that a City Core would be a high risk, high gain move. If we can pull it off it would be ideal in a lot of ways, but I highly doubt that we will manage that. What we do have is a working knowledge of fold drive and fold mathematics, even with Dr. Larrin missing. That should help with the Astral Core options as those seem to follow the same principles. As for Dungeon and Tower Cores, they seem very similar to me and would both put us in direct conflict with the natives. We can probably handle that, but I don¡¯t know if that would be the best way to proceed.¡± The discussion goes on for about an hour with different arguments for and against each options before Captain Shelton summons everything up again. ¡°Depending on what exactly we want to do there seems to be only three classifications that could be used. If we want to bring civilization to this medieval world, then the City Core seems to be the best option. But all agree that it is a risky option as much depends on whether we can build up the city without problems until we are strong enough or not. We will discuss what Dr. Davis has seen with the sensors later, but it looks like we are isolated here ¨C which means we have time but could also mean that we won¡¯t get the diversity we prefer in a city. If we want to isolate ourselves and keep the galactic technology out of everyones hands, then a Tower Core might be the best option. This will require a successful defense against every invader even in early times, but it should be doable if no one learns about us too early. If we want to go into hiding the Astral Core is probably right. This also has the advantage that it is one of the few cores that do not require death to grow, and that we might get it to grow better due to our knowledge of fold mathematics. However it would be much more risky if we are discovered because it has limits in its defense. In all of this there is one aspect no one has discussed yet: Why would people seek out the cores? Cities are searched out if they are on a nice location to colonize or if they have something interesting in themselves. Most likely we would have to reveal that we are a special core in order to get more people, and that can easily attract the wrong people. Towers are searched by hunters who want to gain Power for themselves, and the saying Knowledge is Power has more than a few true aspects. If they learn about our knowledge they most likely will want to use it to improve their own power and then use it for whatever their original target was. Astral Cores are known to hold knowledge, but those that seek unspecified knowledge for themselves are rarely interested in spreading it out. There is a good chance that they will decide to stay to learn more without care for the rest of the world. So if no one has something to say against that, I would chose the Astral Core as a classification.¡± ¡°Geeks are geeks are geeks wherever they are¡± answers Dr. George Davis. ¡°If we add that point to everything else I have to agree, and that also counts for the other classifications. Dungeon, Tower and Castle are right out as soon as we consider who would seek them out and why. Considering the other disadvantages of City and Country that leaves the Astral Core as the only solution.¡± ¡°Takes one to know one¡± could quietly be heard from M¡¯raan at that, causing some grins around the table. The captain continues after that. ¡°The classification structure is a ten-part structure that requires the core to be level 5, but a lot of the other structures have a classification prerequisite before they can be upgraded to level 5 or above. Due to this the classification is usually one of the first things to be set on reaching core level 5. Please keep that in mind when planning, Cheyenne. And now we should get more details than only ¡®remote¡¯ and ¡®nothing around¡¯ as to what you¡¯ve seen with the sensors, George. Please report.¡± George shuffles a few notes and sits straight. ¡°OK, as ordered I quickly checked on the then still sleeping Omnuun before proceeding to the sensor structure. He was back in his original form as a Psychon instead of his humanoid self, so he must really have been exhausted ¨C but he was sleeping and didn¡¯t show any signs of wounds. So I continued to search for the structure that seemed to be made from one of the Sunhawk¡¯s sensor suites.¡± 006 Sensors - where are we? 006 Sensors ¨C where are we? (Dr. George Davis) Lieutenant JG Dr. George Davis looks at the strange, crystal-grown panel with suspicion. It was smaller than the original control panel of sensor suite beta had been (and he was reasonably sure that this had been the beta suite before it was distorted into this half crystal half machinery block of strangeness), and it was missing the control chair that had been here on the Sunhawk. But other than that, it might be what he had been looking for, a way to activate the sensors and find out where exactly they are. No time for contemplation, I need to get started he thinks to himself and touches the crystal. As with the other cases, a holographic screen appears before him.
Advanced Detection
Direct Detection Range 20 yards
Structure Level 3
Cost for Level-Up 250 Mana
Detection Bonus +20
Maximum number of Eyes 3
Eye Control
Available Upgrades
Ears (added to Eyes) 100 Mana
Simple Night Vision (added to Eyes) 200 Mana
Restricted Upgrades
N/A (level to low) 500 Mana
N/A (level to low) 3000 Mana
Since each of us has exactly one Mana according to that wall in our cabins, I better only use the first eye for zero mana for now. Especially since I don¡¯t want to be forced into sleep like Omnuun. George activates the placement function. A holographic sphere appears with some sort of net or vector lines placed in parts of it. One set of lines forms an irregular vertical wall around a third of the sphere, with a second but horizontal such set almost through the center of the holographic sphere. A few sets of very small lines can be seen on the horizontal lines as well. That looks like a very primitive and low-resolution rendering of something like a cave, and the controls move a crosshair in this area. Two buttons and are still there, but is disabled. Let¡¯s try place and then use. When hitting after , an additional holographic window opens and shows half of a cave entrance and a sky with daylight. Experimenting with the new controls George learns that he can turn the view from the point where he placed the eye in any direction all around, up down, left right. He guessed wrong ¨C it was not a cave but an indention in the side of some stone hill or so. But the placement of the eye was unlucky, he could only see the stone and the sky from there. Hey, there is a small crystal lying on that stone in the center of the placement sphere. Don¡¯t tell me that this is the core we are inside of? If that is regular grass there then the crystal can¡¯t be more than two or three centimeter in size.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. If the placement sphere represents the 20 yard direct detection range, then a size estimate of 3 centimeter would fit. But I need to see what is outside. George cancels the use of the eye and goes back to the placement sphere. He now places the crosshair into the middle of the air above the ground, as far on the outside limit of the holographic sphere as possible before activating the function again. Since the core is placed inside an indentation of the mountain, he is still limited to a view of about 130 degrees before the stone walls block the rest, but that is enough. They are indeed on a mountain, and a rather high one. He estimates the eye is at least one or two kilometer above the plain he sees below. As far as he can see there are no signs of any civilization. Nothing that looks like roads or buildings or villages. And he can see extremely far. Hmm ¨C from this height I should be able to see the planetary curvature and a horizon, but the land just continues in all directions until it is too far away to see any details. I can even see mountains that are farther away than any visible distance on any large planet I ever have heard of. That bit about the Endless World the System mentioned might be more than just a naming convention. We¡¯ll have to check on that later. Dr. Davis gets to work, recording what he sees. The mountain slope goes down, but not too steep and the flora looks like regular temperate climate with forests and grassland. Farther away to the left he can see some large lake or small ocean bordering on cliffs where the land suddenly drops out of sight. There is a literal hole of several kilometers width near the middle of the viewport, and he can¡¯t see how deep down it goes. The border of the lake looks as if it was much larger in the past ¨C it seems that when that hole was caused, a lot of the water dropped down there until the stone cliff was high enough to stop the rest of the water flow. Now only a tiny waterfall with excess water goes down there. To the right the land seems to be desert and dry, completely inhospitable. He can see that that desert ends farther away, but can¡¯t even guess on the scale other than it has to be at least hundreds of kilometers or more. Unfortunately that is only about a third of the circumference. If I were to get the placement distance increased by twenty or thirty yards, then I would be able to place one of those eyes outside this indention, giving us at least a 180 degree view or even more. And I don¡¯t know what those other available upgrades are, although they require much more Mana than controlling the eyes. Something to discuss in the meeting For the rest of the two hours George sorts through his notes and adds more details as he goes over the available views again and again. <-> ¡°And that concludes my report on what I can see of our surroundings, Captain. I suggest that we try to increase the range of the placement sphere at least far enough to get a better view of this side of the mountain, or try to find a way to send a probe outside the core.¡± The captain thinks for a while before he answers. ¡°Yes and no, George. The problem is that as soon as the classification structure for is built, we will become unable to build structures for additional outside reach but gain the compression structures to expand on the inside. Or that is what I get from the available descriptions, there are still a number of details that seem to be missing. This of course means that any such outside reach structure has priority after all primary needs are handled, but we have limited space before the classification has to be placed. Cheyenne?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll check, but it will not be easy. On level 5 we will have 100 spaces instead of the current 22 spaces, but a quarter of that will be needed for energy storage and another quarter will be the structures from the Sunhawk that we absolutely need. We will be able to get some structures for outside expansion, but at the moment I can¡¯t tell how many that will be. We¡¯ll have to see how the numbers look after we reached core level 4. I also have seen references to something called that can be used for work even outside the control sphere, but there also was a comment that this is a very limited option. I just haven¡¯t had time to check on that, the energy calculations for level up were more important.¡± ¡°OK, I think we have everything for now. M¡¯raan, please take Stephen and Omnuun and start to divide the equipment from this mess hall between our quarters. I haven¡¯t decided which way we go to gain the Mana for upgrading the core, but most likely it will include demolishing this room. George, Cheyenne, you start working on building those storage structures and gaining more Mana.¡± ¡°Aye, Aye, Captain¡± 007 Working on the Core 007 Working on the Core Lieutenant Commander Dylan Shelton, Captain of the former Scout Corvette Sunhawk, looks up at the knock on his cabin. It has been several hours since the meeting, and he was currently going over the records of what the System said and especially what it not said. ¡°Enter¡± Dr. George Davis, navigator and astrophysicist from the Sunhawk, comes in. ¡°Hi Dylan, please don¡¯t get upset. Cheyenne just exhausted herself and dissolved back to the anchor in her cabin.¡± ¡°WHAT? I specifically asked everyone not to spent their Mana on anything because we don¡¯t know if that dissolving harms them or creates additional problems.¡± ¡°I know, and Cheyenne knew as well ¨C which is why she told me about this only in the last minute when I had no chance of stopping her. The problem was that she didn¡¯t want to spent fuel for creating the first Mana Storage, and that this is what every spirit in every core had to do to get that first structure. So she didn¡¯t expect it to be directly harmful, and that the Mana Storage would then enable us to syphon extra energy without having to do the same again.¡± ¡°So she¡¯ll hopefully be awake again in two hours? Tell her to report to me as soon as possible after that, and I¡¯ll give her a piece of my mind for pulling that stunt. I would have authorized the fuel for that construction if that would have been necessary to prevent this. After all there never has been a case like this with several souls squished into a single core, and we have to be careful that nothing harms us further.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. <-> ¡°It¡¯s nice to be able to stretch ones leg¡¯s again outside of our cabins, Cap. Too bad that the mess hall equipment dissolved when Cheyenne dismantle the structure¡± ¡°Luckily only the original contents of the mess hall, the additional equipment brought in later survived, Stephen. Oh, there she is. Hey Cheyenne, you look as if you have another one of your harebrained ideas. What do you want this time?¡± ¡°Hey Captain, I wouldn¡¯t call it harebrained, but it is a gamble in a way. It¡¯s about the fold storage of structures.¡± ¡°Do you want to use that option for pulling out a random structure? Sorry, but that¡¯s too expensive for a random advantage. We might be able to reserve a space for that, but it was a bad surprise that the cost for placing a structure went up with the core upgrade. It simply takes too long to collect that 750 Mana, especially as we might get only something like another spirit room.¡± The captain denies that possibility. ¡°No,¡± Cheyenne answers ¡°I am thinking about something different. The fold storage only lists three structures from the 59 remaining as being available for direct, not-random placement. The battery we got out weeks ago was replaced by one of the labs in that listing. Neither the lab nor the cargo hold are what I want to try. But from the very beginning it also listed another part of the fold drive as available for placement. And I hope that with four segments of the fold drive structure, it¡¯ll give me better option on what to do with it. Especially since the entire drive would probably need six sstructures based on the parts we already have. I don¡¯t know what additional possibilities that will create, but everything I learned of this System and its world shows that it will increase our options with the fold storage at least a bit, and that might help us with accessing the other structures remaining from the Sunhawk. By the way, I made a calculation of what numbers we have ¨C it seems that a bit less than 60% of the Sunhawk was converted and mostly stored, but I have no idea which 40% were lost. That is something I hope to calculate better with the fourth part of the drive placed as well.¡± Authors Note: Future Writing Plans As probably many writers, I have a large concept pile with a lot of concepts and ideas waiting for an opportunity to be used in stories. More than half a year ago I wrote "Realmcore" as an experiment to combine two of the main concepts from that pile: (spirit/core) and (empire/realm building), together with some other ideas - and it didn''t work as intended. I would need to rewrite a few key scenes of "Realmcore" and change the internal way of how the mechanics work to get this story out of a few plotholes I''ve written myself into, and I never found the time and interest to do this in all that time since the last written chapter here. Changes in real life also resulted in me having less time, and the hobbies were the first casualty of that. I slowly find time to write again, but I simply can''t write too many stories - something has to go. And now my muse has me working on a different story that will need to incorporate several of my plans for "empire building" that were originally part of the plans for this story. So I''m now officially abandoning the "Realmcore".Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. For those who came here from the "General Core" - that story will continue. I have half of the desert-floor mapped, but I need at least two more "gimmicks/surprises" on that floor before I can write that story - I plan to go all-out there like I did with the first four floors, and the next floors after the "desert" are already planned out. Unfortunately I don''t know when I will find the required ideas for that floor. My other main-story plans also changed a bit and I will need to rewrite part of the existing chapters for "the guild beyond" before I can publish them. And while I''m not abandoning "Shaleen the Wanderer" like I do with this story, it is very unlikely that I continue there earlier than in one or two years. What you can expect from me shortly is another experimental story to see where that leads - no schedule given however. "The Broken Earth" will be a mixture of a System Apocalypse with Empire Building thrown in, and a few other minor ideas as well. The [System] of the broken earth will not be an enemy, and there will be a lot of differences as to what the [dungeons] and their functions will be, so expect a few surprises compared to the usual system apocalypses around here. I have most of the characters and the basics of the system already defined/written down and plan to begin writing the first chapter in the next week or so - follow me as an author here if you want to be informed when that story comes online. Plans and timeline are for the first arc to be eleven chapters, plus a few ideas for the second and third arc. There might or might not be time skips between arcs.