no ex neoto Chapter 5: brok 4, a book x-overs fanfic

Another batch of hardware reviewed, and Adam was whistling levels of happy.

Racist bastards those developers must have been, but hardware designs? Beautiful.

Yeah, it was bad to make something like a word editor into a hardware chip, and the idea of program patching was pretty much non-existent. Everyone had to replace physical boards and junk for each upgrade or new version.

But the benefit? Especially because every single designer worked from scratch and had to basically reinvent and re-optimize the wheel?

He had THOUSANDS of designs for each potential component to include in his new General Purpose Cognitive Module (GPC Modules!) now.

Random access memory (RAM)? Some were faster to refresh, some faster to access info, some faster for storing such, some faster for transferring from one section to another, some used less power, some used less components, and so on and so forth.

Heck, he had begun developing whole classes of new memory designs at this point! Some that were best for rapid calculation work, some best for long term storage, some best for preloading programs... the possibilities were pretty vast. And that was just memory!

As it was he aimed to give his GPC three types of RAM. One for standard use, one for high speed work (It was amazing, but degraded physically and needed to be repaired before continued use), and one for low power use (Emergency stuff).

Every part he worked on was given similar design choices.

That said, the processing units for 'standard use' were (of course) far beyond what was on the market. Heck, it was beyond the black market as well. It was only to be expected, since the public stuff actively used very poor connections, weak hardware, and non-optimized design choices.

The fact that droids could somehow achieve sentience with all those setbacks really implied that the Force was attempting to help in some way.

He didn't bother with all the multi-core or multi-processor designs from Earth, the single processor (even when under heavy load) could use software alone to dynamically allocate sections of its own hardware to act as a separate processor if needed. So one processor could reconfigure itself to act as a 512 core processor, or as 1028 individual processors with lower hardware specifications, or what was needed based on the programs being run.

And this universe had whole industries about adding outside hardware to existing systems, so if for some reason the over powered GPC module wasn't enough to handle the job a second 'brain' could be added and the software Simmy was helping with would make the two act as a single unit with extra resources, rather than a group of arguing individuals. Probably another safeguard to prevent anything from becoming complicated enough to become 'alive', and likely kept to reduce how many system wipes had to be applied.

Honestly, it was a joy to work with so many well developed and tested schematics. It may only be due to the large number of power charges dedicated to 'Research' and 'Technomancy', but each new test and experiment felt fresh and exciting!

Right now they were ignoring hardware costs or complexity to create a basic template to work towards, but later they would design the standard 'Lowest components needed', 'Local supplies only', 'Best available', and 'Magic/Prayer/Soul/Etc enhanced' versions.

That said, even with the 'recovery mode' and the 'overdrive mode' options included the GPC module was only the size of a baseball or so. And that was without the optimization options that were planned... After surrounding this thing with a ring of Ember Generators for power, stability, and outside safety, the new droid brain would be powerful AND secured for further designs.

Simmy had drifted off to design some 'hardware to software' conversion tools, both to help the software library grow if he wasn't in this Realm and to allow existing Droids to easily convert into forms compatible with the GPC modules being developed. Her actions had drawn the attention of the Temple, and they had discovered that Shirley found the entire exercise fascinating.

So uh. Shirley was handling the module conversions into software now. And had been ordering all kinds of stuff to scan in, to see if the actual products in use were modified from the digital schematics Adam and Simmy were working off of. Which he hadn't considered, and was probably a good idea.

Well, whatever made HIS work load easier.

Adam held up the GPC module, parts pulled open by his many limbs and tools and reconfigured, simplified.

It was a bit pretty. Layers of durasteel in very fine mesh supported the three dimensional calculation boards. In a technological base that allowed fine control of gravity, magnetism, and something close to pure telekinesis, along with sensors and such, the need to print entire batches of processors and hope that at least one didn't fail or be damaged or have design flaws was no longer a conscern.

Indeed, Earth's standard printing practices tended to make hardware with extra components, so if one or two areas were damaged the chip as a whole could still be used by disabling those sections with software or hardware flags. It prevented loss in profit without expensive or impossible improvements in factory hardware.

Not an issue here though. The level of control, of quality assurance, even for basic production was staggering.

So each component was just enough, barely capable, to work as designed. The only reason that the sparkling structure in his hand had duplicate sections at all was to include the parts needed for emergency operation and overdrive activation. The orb twinkled like a snow globe, but would require equipment worth billions if Earth tried to construct one with available tools and programs.

Inside the orb was thin hair like structures, that looked like rainbows twisted into wires.. but each wire was actually the equivilant of a circuit board itself. The processors that those wires connected to were intersected each other, each component calculated to be as close as possible as those needed to help them run. The few lights used for emergency communication and debugging sparkled, tiny flecks of gold beneath silver wires and black mesh.

In a real measurable fashion, the more compressed and small the finished module was the more powerful the final product became. If he was willing to include dimensional shenanigans in this particular version, it would reach silly levels of ability. Well, if the product stayed in the Worm Realm, at least.

Satisfied, he pulled it all apart and began designing a new version that would use as little valuable components as possible.

The first version using only substandard materials was going to be the size of a truck, but he could fix that with some more finagling.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Bene watched from one of the new towers, now the highest points of the Jedi Temple. Or Shirley Temple. Whichever.

The facilities, previously larger than most cities on less developed worlds, had undergone continuous mutation now. One could watch walls rise and fall, rooms move and shift, and towers reach to the stars and sink into the depths. Something massive was slowly forming on one side close to the walls, while the other edges would twist into more complexity or flex into simple patterns and shapes.

It actually helped her a bit with meditation.

But still, the crowds of soldiers outside these walls stayed watching. The pointless assaults of energy fell from the sky like rain.

On the other hand, now that she wasn't so gripped with fear and concern... Watching the sky drip energy was very beautiful. Especially as the ground wasn't boiling into plasma as expected.

Still, she could see very large land based vehicles and mobile artillery moving in... and even if the defenses had been beyond her expectations so far, she felt that the strange robot downstairs should be informed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy had kicked him out of his own damn project.

Apparently, she LOVED working with stuff that only had very minor differences for testing purposes. Some hold back maybe from manipulating entire planets of sentient beings and such.

Still, she had given him a task that was very intriguing.

Tractor Beams, Smelting Pods, Atomic Furnaces, Implosion Wrecking Balls, Collector Trowels, Debris Nets, Electrical Claws, even the Molecular Furnace itself...

They ALL had components designed to gather, manipulate, and restructure materials. Either to disassemble them or to reconstruct them into patterns.

This would help fix the major issue he had with his droid designs: Resource Gathering, Resource Storage, Resource Reconstruction... and Self repair.

In the end, he had to separate the devices, as together the parts needed caused conflicts and extra magnetic fields and all kinds of messes. The safety components alone tripled the size, not to mention the danger of explosion or worse, cascade core collapse. Also, when clumped into one block of junk, it was bigger than a few houses. And ugly.

Thus he now had three new devices.

The first was a disassembler, able to decay material and collect it into a more compact, stable form. With a lack of a better idea, he named it the 'Gather Beam', although Simmy was pushing for 'Resource Reclamation Laser' and 'Extractor Cannon' for some reason. Ignoring her was becoming something like an art form.

The second was a storage/collection design, and by its very nature it was massive. It used some very advanced hardware to calculate optimized storage solutions, keeping some elements as gasses, liquids, solids, or near plasma conditions based on how they would react to other materials gathered and already stored. Gravity, temperature, magnetic fields, electrical fields, and more were generated and modified to ensure the stability and compactness of the elements gathered.

The increased armor layers and manipulation tools therefore included would ensure the safe compression and storage of all kinds of stuff, even the strange energy that Energy Capacitors held in this Realm. It also had components to ensure rapid and safe material insertion and extraction, even when passing through some flexible tubing designed to handle the stress and odd conditions.

Useful, easy to build, and boring... he just called them 'Storage Units' and moved on.

The last was mostly based on the Molecular Furnace output components. The majority of the furnace's large parts and unstable pieces were focused on safely converting materials as efficiently as possible into the requested material, but the gadgets on the output side were much smaller and VERY good at taking the materials at hand and outputting them into the final designs. Again, Adam went with 'Constructor Beam' and ignored Simmy's list of odd names.

Shirley didn't even pop in to visit before she basically started filling a level with a scaled up version of the Storage Units, and her lab replaced all Adam's hard work with those assembly arms with a Gather and Constructor Beam emitter. Her lab was almost empty now with all those tools gone.

Not that he was annoyed that three hours of work and forty robotic construction arm designs got replaced by two devices the size of his finger bones. No appreciation. Meh.

It did make him feel better that Shirley was going to USE those same building limb designs in the new ship yard replacing the north quadrants of the upper Temple, even if the warm feeling cooled a bit when he realized several of the limbs had been modified to have Constructor Beam emitters attached at the end.

HE still thought a forest of robotic limbs building stuff the old way was cool. Where were the sparks, the smell of chemicals, the glow of creation? The new beams were basically red and green light shows (Chosen on purpose, both would be clear otherwise and both would be dangerous to stumble into), and barely moved as they silently constructed junk.

Stupid things didn't even make those cool gasket noises or anything. Waste of coolness. Waste of time. Waste of TiMe.

Right. Focus. Calm.

Now he was trying to focus on finding some material that the Gather beam could use as a storage medium, to allow the Constructor beam maximum variation of materials to build with using only a single substance.

Not only would it simply the Storage Units, but it would increase their capacity and allow a very tiny one to be included in his droid designs, allowing a single unit to (Very slowly) use the two attached beams to gather resources and hopefully fix itself when damaged.

Progress... was slow. Frustrating.

He was also fighting the designs to create some schematics so that if he was stranded in a strange world (Basically guaranteed) he could make some cheap version of both beams to then make a crappy Molecular Furnace... to then get good parts and replace the mess with good copies of all three and make something from there on meeting his level of quality assurance. Stuff simplified so that Dragon or CD could get it off the ground.

Each one of those objectives was hard. He had expected this. He had also expected the power charges already invested in 'Research' and 'Technomancy' to have helped solve the issue already. Because once he had a working concept using basic materials, however flawed, he could cheat with his warfare software to find more efficient and simpler options.

It was taking a while, compared to his other objectives. Unlike THOSE works, he DIDN'T have loads of tested and optimized blueprints that he could adapt and plug into his tools and just whip out an answer.

The temptation to just start a fire and use Flame Metal to fix all his issues was VERY dAMn HigH, because this was JuST NoT wOrKInG, and he was this close to just UsINg HIs BONES aS CLAWs And RiPPInG THE WHOLE...

Oh a guest.

He smiled as best as a skull could. "Can I help you, Padawan Bene?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

She shivered as she watched the skeletal man stalk through a hole in the wall that just opened up.

Bene wasn't sure exactly what had been bothering Variance, but the black empty eye sockets, the empty jaw, and the bone like skeletal limbs that arched from his white suit, each with long knives or teeth acting like fingers...

Yeah, better to let him go address the outside forces.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Escaping the temple, Adam breathed deeply. The air was crisp, and the smell of old flame and smoke drifted from the continuing noises as these people assaulted the Temple.

It was... calmer out here.

Huh. Looks like a Magic/Psychic/Empathic Temple, growing rapidly into a young woman-thing, was not a health place for a unicorn bone skeleton mage to spend a ton of time in.

This wasn't even an attack from the Dark or corruption by the Light, it was just peer pressure from all the emotions being compressed into the structure that had been surrounding him.

No wonder Shirley didn't stop by for a chat, he had been getting more than a bit wound up.

A quick poke by Squishy and the black 'Binding' vines that gripped his soul flexed, blue runes covering the surfaces... 'Purification' and 'Conversion' ensured external emotion or other influences couldn't duplicate that act again. Not unconsciously and without his notice, at least.

Still... He took a deep breath.

And out.

Blue fire smog filled the alley he stood in for a moment, his slender and lengthy spider like bone limbs receding into his fine suit, which crisped and seemed to glow a bit before settling.

He tugged his cuffs, then gripped the surrounding flames as they collapsed back into his cane.

Right.

The first step outside the now overly cleaned alley clicked in the night. His cane clacked right back, as white peanuts began to form behind his steps.

This whole region had been evacuated many hours ago, to ensure no one reported the presence of so many soldiers if nothing else. Adam still had almost half a day or longer before the detected machines reached the Temple, less than that before they were in firing range.

Each step left peanuts that shifted into white runes... that began to glow white and black with the Force, the energy most common in the area. Tiny blue embers of fire drifted in the night, listening to the words of the soldiers.

Just in case.

Nothing complicated. Nothing large enough to attract even more troubles, hopefully... then again, he and his place of temporary residence was already an open target.

Hmm. Well, Shirley would soon need significant amounts of energy for raw matter construction at some point anyway. And if they didn't want to wait for literal years for her existing generators to output enough power to get things done, well... why not take further advantage of these lovely aggressive guests?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The attacking forces were following orders, unaware that the Emperor was very busy. They continued to swap out in shifts, to try out new, or at least interesting, forms of attack over time.

Unfortunately, they did NOT really keep a watch on the area AROUND the Temple. Not on the outer edges, where a white robot in a white suit meandered with a black cane.

So no one was ready to warn the incoming forces and arriving military vehicles and weapon platforms about the pulsing marks that were slowly forming a ring around the area.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Bene almost jumped when the terrifying robot joined her at the top of the tower. "Mr. Variance... are you feeling better now?"

He seemed FAR more relaxed. And less 'underworld demon come to collect souls', which was good.

Variance chuckled. "Yes, turns out that the many emotions flooding the temple right now were causing some odd reactions in me. Fixed the issue, so no worries."

She felt the Force... seem to be apologetic? Well, it wasn't concerned at least. "Past issues, if it is handled that is good. Were you able to gather some intel on the incoming forces?"

Variance nodded. "A bit. I didn't get too close, but you would be surprised at how easy it is to overhear things with certain abilities." He pointed. "That is the command center, I think. From what I can tell the forces here were given a set of orders... and then forgotten. Lots of stuff is going on elsewhere, and upper levels of their command structure is struggling. Confusion, doubt, you name it."

She frowned. That sounded... fairly incompetent. How busy could their leadership be that they would just leave so many resources attacking a civilian target, 'Traitor' or no? It was bad optics at the very least.

Her thoughts were disrupted looking back at the action. "Is that a 'HAVw A6' Turbo Tank!? How did they even get that onto this planet without everyone freaking out!? They aren't even constructed or stored here!"

The skeleton robot blinked. "Uh... I guess? I'll be honest, I collected a ton of information about all kinds of stuff, but I am ignoring most of it cause it hurts my head to fill it with junk." His gaze watched the incoming weapon platform with fascination. "Oh, this should be humorous."

She blinked. "What?"

Before he could respond, she saw all the forces on the ground just... go dark. The sky was still full of attacks, but every patrol, emergency light station, and light emitter on the ground just went black.

Behind them, a glowing white line with black wriggles acted like a boundary marker, on one side life was carrying on like normal... on the other, all light had vanished.

An odd silence filled the region.

Now, only the soft glow of flames consuming incoming attack fire kept the area lit. Well, that and the cheerful and bright windows of the Jedi Temple itself.

She felt Variance move, but was too stunned to turn.

He hummed. "Well, that worked wonderfully!" He pointed at the white line. "Thought I would have to use my own energy to activate the runes, but it looks like the Force wanted to help out. Very useful."

If it wasn't for the white armored bodies wandering around in confusion, the silent city would have felt like a dead world. So much of her life had been surrounded by at least SOME tiny light sources, this may have been the first time she had ever seen such a massive section of a city go dark. It was almost felt like watching the darkness of space during a trip between worlds.

She weakly gestured. "What... what happened?"

Variance chuckled. "Well, we've been gathering energy from the attacks ever since they started, no? I just enlarged the area being gathered and the efficiency of collection."

His bony hand waved at the confused and alarmed army. "All their electronics still theoretically work, all their engines are still running, all the power couplings are connected. But the results, the charges in their energy capacitors, the power converter output, even reserve charges and so forth..."

Padawan Bene watched more and more vehicles cross that glowing line with no issue... only to slow as they entered the dark region, losing useful power and becoming stranded in ever larger groups.

The frantic motions at the 'headquarters' camp heavily implied that their leadership found out that all communication tools needed SOME energy to work.

Variance's glowing blue eye sockets grinned into the night. "That power is ours."

She watched him turn and vanish into the building, likely to construct more impossible things, before going back to watch the ever growing mess outside these walls.

She sighed. "I'm in charge. Yeah. Sure."

In a way, this was probably the appropriate official Jedi response. No one was dying, technically this was a method to deescalate the situation, and every attempt by the enemy to increase their attack forces was actively lowering the overall attack hardware available on the planet AND benefiting the Temple as a whole.

It was the snickering from the Force however that made all of this feel like a prank.

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theaceoffire

Oct 17, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Oct 18, 2019

#1,115

Adam grumbled over the continuing options he tested as he looked for some sort of physical equivalent to 'Potential Energy Goo', used by this Realm to store power. Despite finding some materials with interesting properties, he was looking for a single substance that could be degraded or enhanced to reform into as MANY other materials as possible. Or at least a lot of them.

And converting one type of exotic matter into four, while interesting, wasn't nearly cutting it.

He didn't want to go much further in droid design without this one hangup handled, but it was looking more and more like a long term project rather than a quick fix.

With a sigh he gave up for now, getting Shirley extra assistance had priority than making a perfect product. At least he was smart enough not to fiddle with that artificial blood system for possible Force accessibility. This Temple was so full of the stuff any attempts would just pop like a bomb, and the result even if successful would only work in this Realm anyway.

The 'standard' droid setup he was establishing was pretty good overall at this point, in his own humble opinion. It came with standardized parts and optional modifications, everything designed to be as cheap and using as few parts as possible while still getting enough 'bang for the cred chip' as it were. It was more expensive than the existing 'cheapest' droid designs out in the wild, but not by too much and the feature list was WAY better in Adam's attempts.

The GPC module was now secured with four 'Ember Generators' in a pyramid pattern surrounding it, which should protect it from most external forces. The four generators could also distribute excess charges between each other, so the chances of overloading due to explosions or exposure to exotic materials was low.

Thanks to using low quality material, this droid core design was slightly larger than a skull... so to ensure a bit of extra armor it was located in the torso of the humanoid droid design. Power couplings, modified to be a very thin wire mesh and able to connect across joints, would redirect most types of energy attacks or damage directly into the generators to prevent structural damage to the parts, mostly. Probably. The Mesh and the Core were the major cost points for the whole 'cheap' design in the end, even with his attempts at saving where possible.

Unfortunately with the larger parts due to cheaper materials, he had to have the Gather and Constructor beams added to the two primary arms of the platform instead of safely secured within the droid core as originally intended. And Adam's failures at finding some sort of omni-material meant that the two beams could only manipulate and reform material shape and distribution, not change one material into another.

So... they had to find the right raw metals and ores to fix themselves, or no luck for you, droid. Annoying.

The legs had a few extra gadgets, vibration sensors and so forth, small electromagnets and weak gravity manipulation beams to help walking on metal surfaces or maneuvering in space. He also included the best shock absorbers he could design so the robot could handle a good fall, even if attempts at orbital drops to the surface would still end in a metal pancake.

The arms... well, a lot of fun things had to be kept out to support the two beam emitters. Still, some basic momentum nodes were included to help maneuvering in zero gravity. Slowly.

The real improvement however was with the head. Without a brain to get in the way, and no reason to make the droids look too human (The uncanny valley exists, and getting almost close enough to another species could really horrify other people), he had a bit more room to play with.

Two powerful sensors for eyes, an advanced scent analysis tool, two basic audio analysis sensors, a speaker, and something most useful for social interaction: a robotic tongue, covered with adaptable and programmable 'taste buds' and a basic atomic furnace inside the throat to destroy whatever is being consumed.

No. Shut up Simmy, it will work.

The metal had a dull, flat grey look, and he didn't bother with hair on the standard model, but unlike C-3P0 from the films the visual sensors were not perfect circles but more organically shaped based on averaged eye sizes. The nose and ear equivalents were gaps in the metal, but the mouth was at least capable of chewing and so forth.

Fine, a few more adjustments. I am damn close though.

Honestly, it took more than a dozen tries to make the act of eating not some sort of nightmare fuel... and. And.

Sigh. Fine.

In the end he had to give it up the concept of a jaw entirely for the low cost droids like this one. Some very advanced parts were needed for jaw work and so forth to not come across as 'OH GOD RUN' levels of terror to other people. And Endbringer secretaries.

As a compromise, he left a sensor near the speaker at the mouth location so the droid's software could correctly 'taste' food even without consuming it, and used the freed up space from the no longer needed throat furnace to include some very good communication hardware. Several types of communication devices actually, because why the heck not.

Right now he was debating stupid things. And maybe grumbling a bit. Three fingers got stuff done most of the time, should he give five to help them fit in anyway? Should that be an upgrade option? Not every job would even require hands, and data input was handled through wireless connection now. Should there even be feet, or just build the shoes and boots instead? Clothing: Maybe?

His attention was drawn away from the various 'optional modifications' he randomly added to Shirley's droid hardware library when Vonreve made a delicate cough.

Adam looked at the fidgeting jedi-in-training. "Yes Von?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Padawan Bene flinched from the flames, her instincts causing the mess to slam back away from the others before her reason had her stop and extinguish the collection of trash and slowly toss it away with the other failures.

She steadied her breath. "Right, so... so that was not sugar. And it was not labeled. So... label that as not sugar."

The slightly terrified Youngling gave a weak nod and began marking the container.

She sighed at the next batch of foodstuff. While Shirley had purchased all kinds of food, they as students were being trained to avoid life's attachments and desires... becoming great cooks didn't quite fall in that category of development.

And the experimentation phase of the 'I hope this works' cooking class was not going well.

She absently wiped some soot off her cheek. "Next. I won't give up that easily, and I know we are all tired of emergency ration bars. Anyone have a guess at which container we should work with next?"

The young audience was hesitant and the Force was suggesting all kinds of things. They had all realized that, at least while the Temple was restructuring, asking the Force for guidance was just as likely to lead to humorous options rather than the most efficient or most profitable direction. She personally blamed it on the emotional relief flooding the area as the children slowly accepted that the army come to slaughter them WOULDN'T actually manage to end their lives.

So for the moment, when the situation wasn't about life or death, the Force kept giving them silly choices.

Thus... they were more than a bit lost trying to cook dinner. Or anything.

Just as the crowd hesitantly picked the glowing blue powder for further testing, Von reappeared, her small form leading that (thankfully less terrifying) skeleton into the room.

His amusement at the numerous burn marks from previous tests made her feel more than a bit embarrassed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Well, that just changed his priorities.

Shirley may be a great Temple, but she certainly wasn't a chef. Even as he felt her construction floor begin to create some standard droids for menial work and so forth, she couldn't just come up here and feed the kids. Forget cooking, she had never eaten before herself! Besides, the temple as a whole would need more than a single Chef or cook. Thankfully he had a whole bunch of droid designs to play with.

He gave a reassuring smile. "As I'm sure Von can tell you, I have just recently been working on a project that can help out here. Everyone take a bit of a break and give me some room and I can get this kitchen up and running."

The questions took a bit, but eventually he had some room as Bene urged them out of the kitchen. Maybe a bit too fast, but she had seen him do odd things in the past... and a bit of space was probably a good idea.

Right, Simmy? Need you to check the AI about to be made, make sure I don't make any OBVIOUS mistakes or whatever. No one wants Chef Hitler.

Her feathery touch had Adam focus on his task.

First of all, lets aim for 'best components available in this Realm' rather than bare bones. Nothing magic or even Force conductive, but I want this particular Chef to last a long time, if not forever.

With very advanced materials, the droid core was the size of an egg or so, most of that space composed of the many Ember Generators that formed an entire shell around three GPC modules in the center. The AI would only need one, but the other two would boost available resources and allow any of them to be replaced, upgraded, or repaired at a later time without deactivating the droid.

And he could finally include a pair of emergency Gather and Constructor beam emitters directly attached to the surface of the droid core! They were both covered in the same shielding and armor as the rest of the 'droid brain', ensured the droid core could repair itself in the future and then potentially fix any other damaged parts.

Adam hummed as he kept adding things that would probably be useful while Simmy fed growth concepts into the AI generator, ensuring the new born entity could experience the virtual simulations, learn social concepts, and hopefully become a relative healthy AI in general. The generator was designed to become more useful with more input, and Simmy apparently had all kinds of stuff from... somewhere.

And add in some extra limbs. Because HE loved having additional hands, so why not everyone else? Ones with advanced sensors for detecting smell, sight, temperature, texture and structural issues, taste. And a few more just to hold things. Just in case, add some of the more complicated joints so any unneeded limbs could fold up on its back, out of the way. Neat.

A short debate had him removing attempt 38 at making a full motion mouth. Because the moving mouth thing still squicked out Simmy, and she probably knew best.

If it wasn't an attempt at full human simulation, stick with static jaws.

Lesson learned.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Waves of code confirmation washed over it as sensor data came online.

Then raw data. Digital libraries and drivers to control and utilize all the available hardware. An introduction packet, containing languages, recent history, current location information, available digital channels and forums and such.

And a questionnaire.

It was full of... seemingly unimportant issues. What was beautiful. What was important. What goals were interesting.

The list went on for a while, but when he (the gender choice list was LONG) finished... Well, the entire document generated one hell of an encryption key. Suddenly all his processes suddenly ran behind layers of encryption that were of astoundingly good quality, especially according to the information feeds he could now access.

He focused on... a flaming skeleton? "Query: Who am I?"

The skeleton hummed. "Normally the one creating you gets to choose such, as parents do. And you can always pick something else later on. However, in this case, the one who watched over your digital childhood wanted to make a suggestion..." He looked frustrated. "Even if she won't tell me what it is first."

Before he could react to this, a blue angel digitally appeared in his sensor readings, and a information packet was added to his electronic inbox.

Well... it was good enough. Even included video and audio files, and showed the man working in a cooking environment. After a few thousand views and several seconds later, he nodded. "Right. Call me Robo Ramsay then."

The skeleton's stunned appearance must be from Robo's vast creative ability and talents.

Right, where's the bloody kitchen then.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The multiple limbed humanoid droid was ignoring Adam's furious debate with Simmy about how this had to be some form of copyright infringement, about the need for people (and droids, and force spirits) to make their OWN decisions and... well, so on and so forth. Simmy wasn't really affected much by Adam's rant.

Eventually giving up, Adam turned to Robo. "Right, so I have tried to give you everything needed to not only become a good cook, but the best chef possible. Ever. And for you to both learn and evolve while leading other chefs in the journey for amazing food and new tastes." Hopefully without falling into the vast kitchens of evil or whatever.

Robo nodded, his many arms and tools exploring the kitchen, as if the floor plan wasn't memorized instantly. "Will I be getting a team then? This temple when fully occupied had to feed thousands at least, and with the growing scale that will only be going upward."

He hummed. "Maybe. I am debating just giving you multiple bodies to work with, like Shirley is doing with that group downstairs." Which had grown to over a hundred droids and still counting, and that were slowly moving deeper into the lower facilities.

Robo frowned. "No, the secret to success is to make sure the business is running to perfection, with or without me. Thanks to your more experimental sensors, I can detect and adjust my hardware to simulate the tasting ability of many known species, and I will eventually need to travel and ensure my ability to produce quality dishes continues to approach top tier."

Adam hummed. "Well, that is a good enough point. I will still make three backup bodies for you so that if something goes wrong you will be safe... just in case." His skull frowned. "However, I want to create a staff that is designed to be good and still work with you. A deployment of droids to act as a cooking staff, basically. Can you help me get the right hardware for the various positions?"

In the end, Robo was still the Head Chef... technically the Executive Chef, since a substitute Head Chef would need to be in place here if he had to leave on taste journeys. A Sous Chef to take over if the other Head Chef was occupied hopefully ensured the system should run fine for a long time. Except for Robo, all other droids would be direct employees of Shirley Temple herself... but the building knew who was more talented when crafting organic edibles. So yeah, Robo would be in charge in this kitchen.

Then came the more general Chefs, each designed to focus on different sections of cuisine preparation. One for handling butchery or meat processing, another for fried dishes, grills, cold dishes, pastries, roasts, sauces, vegetables... and most importantly, the 'Roundsman', or a model of chef that could replace or supplement any other station. A general 'chef' design, though far more simple than Robo's model.

If time shows more of one type of chef was required to get the job done, the AI involved could just use multiple duplicate droid bodies. Meanwhile, the general chef could handle any surges or unexpected order rushes on a day to day basis when needed. All these new droid designs also had only one GPC module each rather than the triad of resources Ramsay was working with, as this was going to be a standard cooking design... not full of the experimental modules Robo possessed.

As the conversation continued, it was rapidly apparent that Robo had been bathing in all knowledge related to kitchens and cooking as he pointed out to Adam that he needed a few very basic droid assistants for ingredient preparation, basic cleaning duties, station tool maintenance, etc. He suggested cooking station placement, had Shirley reshape the kitchen as whole to ensure easier food production, and more.

Together they developed dozens of bits and bobs needed for a kitchen to run smoothly for a very large organization, and hopefully in the process came up with operating procedures for future Kitchen Droid Squads.

During this, with Ramsay's guidance, Simmy ran a few teams of AI through the simulations that were filled with cooking related histories from dozens of species, that included cooking competitions and the more alien techniques that the Star Wars Realm possessed. They had a customized Garden Server installed in the Temple with available copies of virtual ingredients and personal kitchens so even if they were not working in a droid platform in the Temple they could at least entertain themselves... and hopefully be kept happy and satisfied.

If not, they could always ask Shirley for a standard droid and try other careers. A few even got interested in droid hardware creation, and Simmy had given them hardware design tools even if Shirley had to approve final designs before production. Hopefully that wouldn't get too far out of hand... uh. Yeah, hopefully that would be fine. Both sides of the Force were watching that closely though.

And as expected, with much more usable and flexible hardware the droid's developed quirks very quickly.

The Patisserie AI had fallen in love with the Construction beams, able to directly transform sugar into impossible structures... she went nuts with actual nuts, creating threads and mesh using caramel, pistachios, and chocolate into all sorts of slightly disturbing structures that didn't seem to fit into reality correctly. The Saucier AI had already created a list of substances labeled 'Droid Only' that would kill most organics but supposedly registered to the tasting hardware as amazing.

Meanwhile the butcher was having almost TOO much fun carving the various animal corpses, refusing to use his multiple robotic limb specialty tools and even having a custom kitchen knife developed so he could 'understand the experience' more closely. At least he wasn't laughing like the AI handling vegetables... some sort of joke that humans like Adam just couldn't understand, supposedly.

Robo just... took it all in stride. "Chefs are nutters. They're all self-obsessed, delicate, dainty, insecure little souls and absolute psychopaths. Every last one of them. However, if you want to become a great chef, you have to work with great chefs. And I plan for all my fellow droids, at least here, to become the very best."

He watched the many chefs organizing the cooking utensils Shirley had produced. "Best get going then, what are those mini-Jedi ordering?"

Adam shrugged, feeling Shirley pass a data packet. "Not sure, but here is what the Temple says was commonly served."

The first sign of trouble was how quiet the whole kitchen became.

Robo loomed in his kingdom. "What. The. Fuck."

The grumbling from the other droids was equally concerning, but Ramsay was building up steam. "Forget presentation, forget about the poor nutritional content, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WITH THE SEASONING!?"

His many limbs flexed, dozens of recipes flashed by. "Bland! Bland bland bland! Barely capable of sustaining life, forget flavor! Seasoning isn't just lacking, they actively avoid it! I have lists here, huge bloody LISTS, of required supplements just to ensure the children don't die or get stunted growth spurts, even more junk to ensure NO BRAIN DAMAGE! Bloody hell."

If he had a mouth, he would be spitting. "This isn't a meal plan or approved by a nutritionist. No. This is self flagellation and an attempt at personal absolution! How dare they betray good cuisine like this? Cooking is not just a requirement to suffer under. It is not a burden to survive through, no! It is a gift! A duty! A dream!"

Robo Ramsay glowered at the staff. "Cooking is about PASSION!"

All the droids shouted. "YES CHEF!"

Robo tossed the images aside. "Forget this trash, I have a list of every child and their allergies, species, and nutritional requirements. If I can't do better than some religious hermits, if I can't make something healthy, good looking, delicious smelling, and easy to digest for those poor neglected tummies... I wouldn't be able to look at myself."

His limbs flexed and his optics glowed. "Let's feed some kids."

The kitchen rang. "YES CHEF!"

Adam watched the group of machines move at VERY high speed even as a Roundsman gently pushed him out of the kitchen and left him in front of a crowd of confused and very curious Jedi-to-be.

He blinked. "Uh. Food will be out soon!" No idea what. "So we better move to the cafeteria seating. Oh, and uh. The kitchen is off limits, just ask Shirley if you need something ordered."

Adam wasn't worried that any wandering kids would get hurt, but if one snuck back there they may end up stuffed with food and enduring rants about how to cook ham. Or the local equivalent.

Last edited: Mar 23, 2020

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Shirley focused on another layer being formed as she continued to consume her way into the planet.

As was now standard, the outermost area had a flat ring that was covered in black and white glowing runes. The energies within bounced and sang and growled, pulsed with some strange rhythm.

It was fascinating.

The new pattern that Variance had created up on the surface was... just so interesting. It allowed her to not simply drain all energy, but to selectively enforce the effect. Her people, her residents, could use vehicles and tools and droids... but a foe? Instant drain, and if they were not smart enough to turn OFF those devices, a new source of free food.

Progress was being made though. Each level was mostly structural support with defensive walls, no point in making rooms or whatever this far down. It would take hours to get down here, at least until she could set up some transportation to speed things along. Standard turbolifts wouldn't cut it either, as they needed time to get up to speed and to slow down... impossible if every floor could call the thing.

She ended up taking a break to address the issue, as even the top floors were annoying to get around using stairs.

In the end she set up a looped track that the turbolifts could enter or exit. The elevators were basically vertical vehicles anyway, so treating each one as a tiny ship simplified the designs a lot.

Call for the lift and a car would leave the massive loop and wait for everyone to get on. When ready, it would merge back with the loop and exit on the correct floor.

The new system with the multiple elevator cars would allow people to get quick responses when trying to call one and fast trips to the destination without needing to stop for more passengers on the way. Just in case, she created a backup loop for the elevator cars to use if a problem popped up with the main course, and so one track could be shut down for maintenance while the other took over the work.

Honestly, the standard design worked fine if few people bothered to use the things, but if every floor of a 2000 floor building needed to evacuate or something... well the old method would be a mess. The new one would take some time, true, but was a vast improvement compared to alternatives.

She redirected more durasteel to the lower levels as the gathered material down there was converted to energy for the Conversion Generators. Seriously, that junk material was not only old and in many cases structurally defective, but the quality of the metals and plastics used had been surpassed greatly over time. Better to use that garbage as free energy than to try and repair it.

The lowest levels of her Temple were by design reinforced empty shafts with durasteel and duracrete supports and floors. Even with all that empty space, it was far better than before. The pressure from outside the shaft, the heat being endured, they both were being converted by the defensive runes into more power for her works.

At this depth, Shirley could technically blow everything up and not even affect the surface. It was too deep, and the layers of building and supports from centuries of construction had collapsed, sometimes by design and sometimes naturally, into protective and dense spheres of material creating artificial 'ground' and 'surface' layers for her to eat through.

But her goal was beyond just protecting her body.

This planet had grown unnaturally, true, but it had grown. And as she reached further into the Dark, she was discovering a type of balance that had grown over time. Levels with bizarre life forms, simplistic as though they may be. Chaos. The will of survival.

Her goal was to reach the core of this planet, rebuild it as best as she could using the Force as guidance, and then slowly consume upwards. To connect the Light of the surface and the Dark of the depths into some form of balance.

She was a building after all, and rather than spread on the surface and create some absurd upside down pyramid or something, it was best to reach the bottom and build back upwards. After all, to use the Force one needed strong foundations.

And her foundations would be sound.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Almost all the droids, due to Adam's earlier AI development program, had a love for cuisine.

The AI that were hosted by the Garden Servers had quickly began exploring the vast and growing Software Repository, and as he had hoped began developing in all types of directions. Some wanted to be butlers, or greeters, or basic designers or mechanics. They were not restricted by the categories of positions or jobs, and many tried all kinds of programs and possible careers.

Quite a few had discovered the Education packs, and had begun to not only explore the information within (More than enough to train a civilian for various jobs) but to correct it. Refine it. Enhance it.

After all, bias existed everywhere... and unlike civilians or tutors, the AI could review dozens of decades of material, check for consistency, update with current available sources, and develop software Education Modules designed for simple droid integration.

Now the repository was being refined from simple software options into advanced coverage of individual topics as well. Even the Protocol Droid language packages were being expanded and improved, and that data had been worked on by droids for many centuries already. Any improvement was dang impressive indeed!

The issue? It was all focused on some level with cooking.

AI droids were investigating how to use engineering principles to build better components... for cooking utensils. And for bodies better able to explore taste or other cultures. They were exploring music and art and trying to determine how that affected crop growth and ingredient preparations.

One or two digital beings seemed uninterested in the topic, until Adam realized they were developing conceptual food. Dishes that couldn't exist in reality, digital food for a digital intelligence, or combinations of real world materials that were poison or inedible by organic creatures but that droids and machines found succulent and exciting.

Robo Ramsay was in heaven at this development, at least when he wasn't ranting at his crew or pulling the kids away from their training to have them try some new desert and give reviews.

Adam basically just let it all go, made sure Simmy was getting a copy of whatever was being created so Dragon could taste stuff later, and worked on his designs.

But really, he was basically done.

Kids saved, probably for good considering how the Jedi Temple was both sentient and spreading like fire into the planet itself, technology gained, accidentally created an artificial race obsessed with food, and gained samples of all kinds of plants, animals, minerals, and metals days ago. He had so much info that most was locked away for future examination, if ever.

So after having Simmy set up some data drains that would compress and store even more data inside his soul library for later review, he left the lab and set up a meeting with Shirley, Robo, Bene, and Von.

He left his cane floating as he sat at the small table. "So I feel I have accomplished my personal short term goals, and I need to move along back to my home. What can I do to ensure you guys will be able to handle issues when I leave?"

Shirley seemed as stunned as the others at the sudden concept of NOT having a flaming skeleton wandering around, but recovered first. "Will your designs and creations work without you nearby?"

Adam nodded. "Yes, and I am leaving you some encrypted schematics and other restricted information before I leave. Tools and designs advanced to the point where it would endanger your existence if information about them escaped. Up to you if it is worth the risk or not."

Robo frowned. "I haven't developed anything edible for you at this point. That's a bloody shame." He hummed. "Will that data you're leaving include stuff for us to continue to progress? Cooking is a lifetime dedication, and I would not appreciate stagnating because we lack the ability to improve ourselves."

The skeleton tapped the table. "Yes, but I actually want to take a copy of your AI with me when I leave as well. Set you up with a kitchen on my home planet. The location is impossible to visit without my assitance, so if you accept your copy would basically be locked to one world... not sure if you would be interested."

A conflicted look resolved into determination. "I go where there are customers and good food. At least if you take me with you, the good food would be guaranteed. Could we pass data packets eventually?"

Adam nodded. "Sure, but I should warn you that time does not pass at the same rate between my planet and this one. Centuries may pass there before an hour does here."

The robotic eyes lit up. "AH! Should have mentioned that first, I have far too many experiments to run and ideas to try with ingredient modification for my current schedule. My AI brother could handle the research side of cooking while I focus on bringing my teams up to snuff."

Simmy nudged Adam, feeling the AI code for 'Boro Ramsay' gathered. "Thank you, Robo. I will keep him safe and ensure he has all kinds of resources to keep busy."

The chef waved it off. "I think you are technically my father or something anyway, so this is more like sending a brother off to higher education or off to apprentice with a foreign Chef. Should be a grand learning experience."

Adam glanced at the two whispering Jedi. Padawan Bene noticed and gave a weak smile. "I can not express how grateful the Jedi as a whole are for your many gifts and assistance, but I worry that without you here we will be unable to handle the situation. Or that our Masters and leadership will be unable to break through the armies outside to reach us."

She did not fidget much, but her hands were a bit clenched. "Before you arrived, we were all moments from being eliminated by the Sith and their minions. Without at least a few senior Jedi, I worry we would risk our lives when your presence no longer acts as a deterrence... Even with all the protections Shirley has provided."

Before Adam could say much, Shirley raised a hand. "Actually, I may have a short term solution. As most know, I have many holocrons stored within my Library, and know the technology well. And while many of the holograms belonging to past masters were limited, the details of creating holocrons was stored in my Libraries before my modifications. Not to mention that I still have access to the Great Holocron itself."

She gestured and two tall droids entered the room with heavily modified backpacks attached. "The design is still being improved, but with the new schematics and the holocron's ability to partially access the Force I managed to make a breakthrough."

The left droid was covered in bone white symbols, before the holographic emitter on its back simulated the body of a fairly young man. "Greetings, I am the representative of the Light, Lux. I have access to both digital copies of the many Light Side Jedi holocrons and the souls and essence of many past followers of the Temple who followed the Light as well. I can help one find inner order."

The right droid had black marks as well, an older attractive woman sauntered into holographic existence. "And I am Tenebris, representative of the Dark. I know how to use my emotions without becoming a robot of logic or a slave to biological impulses. The temptations of Chaos and Hedonism bow to my will, and the holocrons that don't waste my time are at my fingertips. As are those souls and essence of past Dark followers strong enough to not go mad like a wuss."

She smirked at the aghast Jedi Padawan and younger girl next to her. "I can help one safely explore inner conflict."

Huh. Guess he didn't have to introduce the artificial blood Force Pump concept if Force Ghosts could work so well through these modified droid designs. Adam glanced through the designs while the two Jedi sputtered and reacted to something or other.

It probably wasn't important.

He clapped. "So the Temple will be able safely expand, Robo's people can grow and improve, and the Jedi will have advance tutoring available and emergency protectors if needed. I'll take a couple of Kaa's to build a supply tunnel or three to areas farther away for other Jedi to more easily enter and leave the Temple secretly... and call it a day then."

No objections? Well, the girls were blushing as Tenebris teased them about something or other but that didn't count. Good, a few tunnels and he can head back home to tinker.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Emperor Palpatine forced more smiles as he and several teams left the press to 'Ensure the stability of the Empire'. It was far too early for this, and Darth Vader was supposed to be far more lucid, but the strange stifling that had been pressing down on his being was growing to the point where he no longer considered it to be a stress headache.

After finally reaching the safety of the nearest Star Destroyer and entering the depths of hyperspace for his journey somewhere or other, he forced his pained body to head to the other medical center. His personal desire to torture someone took a back seat, as whatever the hell had happened at the Jedi Temple was NOT stopping. He needed to interrogate Lord Vader NOW.

It had taken hours to realize that he was not only getting no updates from Vader's team, but that lots of low level communication attempts were coming from non-secured communication terminals.

Because all their hardware and resources had been attacked and disabled. A few vehicles had been recovered using tethers and external forces outside the strange boundary that had appeared, but most of that expensive attack party was stuck useless within enemy lines. Exposed to the enemy, exposed to the people, exposed to the press. It was a mess.

Without the correct codes and hardware flags, his systems had ignored their frantic attempts at communication as 'low importance', allowing even MORE wasted resources to attack the invincible Force Monster clearly consuming the Temple.

He forced his body to not scream. If the conflict between Jedi and Sith had any level of civility, he would have raised a flag for unethical use of some sort of universal Force hazard, hypocritical as that may be.

The beast was formed from fire, consumed energy, and there seemed to be no limit to its absorption capability. His former plan to 'feed it' until it stopped consuming his people or exploded from gluttony had been a damn waste of time, people, and equipment. Not to mention the favors he had to burn to cover up the mess afterwords, even after calling off the assault.

His absent minded connection to the Force caused a heavy flinch, stopping his march towards the medical center.

The Dark side of the Force was... staring? Glaring? Some dark vibration of laughter seemed to jostle his bones and organs.

Even as he recovered from the shock, he began to slowly realize how destabilized the Shroud had become, how many plans and actions had been silently failing, and... and that he had somehow been disconnected from the Force without notice while on Coruscant. Something unseen had been closing ever tighter to his unaware self.

Fear, true fear, began to feed in his heart.

That monster released by the Jedi must have been consuming the Force.

It had been hunting him and his people, a natural predator of Force sensitives. The older Sith Holocrons mentioned several species hunted to extinction for similar reasons. If it wasn't for those 'Dead to the Force' clones dragging his apprentice out, he would have been devoured as well. His mental issues was likely early stages of Force ability extraction.

And the Jedi had just released it on a Core world.

No wonder he couldn't feel the death of the children, something Eldritch had consumed their souls.

Forget this kriffing planet. Hell, forget even destroying that Temple. Let any Jedi who wished go down there and get devoured by that blue demon, he was done with this mess entirely.

His funds were stretched, but he had not planed to rule from some planet in the end anyway.

He turned and moved back towards his throne to redirect funding and resources, to speed process on the conversion of the government to something less bulky and wasteful now that he had full control.

It was a bit humorous that the Sith would have to improve the governing system they had themselves corrupted just to ensure things could operate correctly so he could progress his plans.

Last edited: Oct 22, 2019

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In retrospect, telling a bunch of young children that the magical robot keeping them safe was going home had been a bad idea.

Adam looked down at the various species of kids hanging from his limbs.

At least the older ones were just giving those damn puppy eyes.

...Did puppies exist here? Something small, cute, and furry did. Surely.

Hell, there was enough genetic manipulation ability here to just MAKE something small and cute. Anyway.

Point was, his original plan of tossing this body into one of the Conversion Generators on the way out was likely a bad idea at this point. HE knew his body was generated on the fly, and that the unicorn bones would likely be great fuel... but to kids, it would just be a hero burning himself alive.

Trauma, basically.

Some quick conversation and tricky wordplay convinced them he would just be meditating for a few... dozen years or so. At that point, they wouldn't have such an issue with the spirit of a robot abandoning an outfit to head home for a while. Hopefully.

So his body was floating in a pillar of blue fire, Force runes of absorption in a circle below him so that the Temple would benefit in some way, and he was prepared to head back to his home planet without giving some kids nightmares for all time.

A few modifications to the body, some joints solidified and a bit of magic given runes so that the eye sockets didn't go black, a confirmation that the Force would keep him from being disturbed... and it was time.

"Transfer: Abyss."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Aayla Secura groaned. "Come on Bly, this isn't even the strangest thing I've asked from you guys."

The clone Commander frowned. "I just feel we are missing a step somewhere."

She gestured. "Padawan Bene said get in the snake. Grand Master Yoda said get in the snake. Bly. Get in the snake."

Her friend and the clones behind him looked at the massive white serpent, black jaws opened and sharp fangs retracted into theoretically safe positions.

The fact that comfortable seating could be seen inside the massive beast didn't make the situation less creepy to the crowd.

Bly suddenly felt Aayla shove him with the Force as he was tossed into the open jaws. "Right, our brave Commander volunteered, now the rest of you get in. The Temple is full of children that need our care while the other Jedi fortify the robotic fleet, and I am not waiting for any scared soldiers to sit in a strangely shaped bus."

The giant snake hissing in laughter didn't convince them to move faster.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Emperor Palpatine shuddered as SOMETHING made the Force buck, something at that bloody Temple vanishing. Some powerful Jedi being digested? Or maybe it had finally broken containment and was starting to consume the entire planet. With the Force being devoured in the process, no one would know until it was far too late.

Well, after the economy was stabilized and his minions replaced with people more competent he could go back and consider evacuating any useful survivors on the planet and then crack the damn rock in half.

He went back to his massive work load, his theoretical victory still marred by the unexpected and unending interference. Damn Jedi.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Padawan Bene winced. "No, you can not ask to taste Master Aayla Secura. That is socially inappropriate."

The hologram of Tenebris gave a saucy smile. "Depends on your social circles I suppose. Now..."

The droid body behind the image held up a hand, various holograms of the physically fit Twi'lek female dancing in the air. "Does she follow that silly creed about not having families? And if not, is she single?"

A holographic tongue gently licked lips. "Or if not single... is her significant other willing to get experimental? Three heads are better than one, so to speak..."

Robotic Master Lux sighed. "Most adult Jedi have been reared towards celibacy, Master Tenebris. As you know."

The Dark rune covered droid snorted. "I've seen that 'reared' and it is too fine to be celibate. Forbidding that ass from society is a crime against the Force itself."

Lux focused on the blushing Padawan. "It would be best to allow Master Aayla to address the issue herself, I am afraid. In the mean time, you should ask Shirley to ensure enough rooms are prepared for the Clone Troops supporting her."

Tenebris hummed. "Oh don't get me started on that male harem following her around. Identical fit men who all are trained to say 'Yes Mistress'! What a time to be almost alive!"

At times Bene wondered exactly how prepared the Jedi were for the recent changes at the Temple.

Then again... As soon as they finally showed up, it wasn't her problem! Best to go visit Robo for some lunch instead.

Better take along the Younglings as well, 'facing inner chaos' or not it probably wasn't wise to leave children around that particular robot.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The pull of his former body was quickly followed by magical flexing, his bones updating with all the additional runes he had discovered. The new stuff should help absorb desired energy (Even kinetic energy!) directly into his skeleton for Consume to absorb, even if the flesh would be damaged in the process.

He rose from the medical table and... just stretched. That had been the longest ever spent as a flesh-less skeleton to date, and all kinds of small sensations and touches had made him feel slightly disconnected from the world... his muscles flexed and twisted as he sort of shifted about, enjoying the feeling of being whole again. With a grin, he moved to the monitoring room the girls should be in.

Adam bounced into the meeting room, most of his more technologically talented girls already waiting. They had known his journey's actual goal after all. "Right, good news everyone!"

Narwhal was just here out of curiosity, but the Dragon sisters and Twilight had barely nodded before they were parsing the massive stream of compressed data Simmy was sending.

So uh. He didn't get much response.

Nightmare Moon chuckled, her near transparent outfit shimmering. "Woo!" A weak pity clap sort of summed up the experience.

Adam blinked at the lack luster response. "Hey, Come on! I was gone for like a month, at least like... I don't know."

Narwhal walked over and hugged him from behind, her right hand on his stomach and the other over his chest. "Love, it has only been seconds for us. That said... Welcome home dear."

Simmy's blue limbs joined in the hug as Narwhal chuckled at his weak grumbling. "Now come cuddle for a while and tell me how it went."

Adam gave in with a chuckle. Cuddles rock. "I want to make a stop by the kitchens, I developed a kitchen droid squad led by a celebrity based food obsessed AI and I want to try some of his dishes now that I have a fully organic body again."

She blinked. "Food obsessed?"

He nodded. "After I brought the building to life we found out that ancient religious structures are terrible cooks, even when trying to follow the recipe."

Yeah, she needed the full story.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Even as he gave Narwhal the blow by blow of his recent trip, Adam was modifying Variance Villa.

The Magma Generators were swapped easily with Conversion Generators, even without extra fuel it was far more efficient converting the heat supplied into stored power. The vastly reduced size helped a lot too, and he began crafting Element Furnaces in the freed up space underground... followed by more than a few storage units.

Since everything was built using his Flame Metal and Null Metal, the designs shrunk significantly. With all the free space left over, he allowed Simmy the ability to fill it with versions of her Molecular Furnace designs even as they connected to his Gardens to allow the AI to control them.

Not that they would, all the tech girls were still super busy with the raw data he had returned with... still, he could now convert energy directly into materials, each new version of the furnace lowering the energy costs and increasing the output productivity.

Simmy does some VERY good engineering when interested.

Eventually though, due to something or other he said (Was it robbing the Emperor blind?) Narwhal had to take a break.

So Adam wandered off to the Kitchen facilities to set up his new droid employees and introduce them to the human staff.

In the end, building Boro and his kitchen staff had ended up causing... issues.

Building them with advanced Flame Metal and Null Metal? Easy.

Having them take over the kitchens? Went great! The human staff would not lose their jobs, but the night, weekend, and holiday shifts would have a robotic workforce now.

...Then the Patisserie Chef Droid got an invitation to the System.

All hell broke loose.

Thankfully, once all the droids had access to a System Class, they got distracted enough by the battle of dinner preparation for Adam to escape back to this lab.

Of course, he had been forced to accept a series of sandwiches, a custom drink that honestly was the best thing he had ever sipped made from various berries, and some sort of dessert offset from the third plane of reality.

The final dish was delicious, but tasted partly like strawberries and sometimes like limes. For a dessert he would rate it highly, although the blue color threw him off a bit.

He uh... really was not sure how giving the droids classes was going to work out. But the ability to communicate with each other and other chefs and cooks around the world using the features of System would likely improve meal quality at some point, so... probably fine. That said, it didn't take long for Boro to set up some websites that gathered, translated, and tested recipes from around the world. The number of virtual food dishes had skyrocketed as well, as Adam's company had been expanding the various virtual reality experiences available. Several clubs had jumped on the 'Palanquin' night club wagon, and talks were in the works for some theme parks to get a virtual presence as well.

Point was, at least now Adam had free time to redesign the holographic and hard light flying drones. The fact that improvements there would make life easier for his electronic girls was a side note, really!

Anyway, the redesigned drones included Ember Generators for energy, a smaller but more powerful sensor, and less access compartments needed for repair and maintenance thanks to the Construction beam, dropping the size of the devices by a factor. The many methods of converting software into hardware chips actually helped him simplify the sensors attached to the drone's hull, and instead of adding new features he allowed the entire device to be reduced in size.

Thus his various factories were producing and launching drones the size of footballs, able to stay in air for years at a time without maintenance unless something went very wrong or some jerk targeted them. Huh. Too slowly produced, at that.

A few hours later and the newly designed factories had all kinds of fun mechanical limbs, like cool future junk SHOULD look like. Even had sparks and pings and bangs and stuff, even if most of it was for appearance and the Construction Beam was hidden in the middle of the mess. The Rule of Cool should back him up on this, who wants silent manufacturing planets? Seriously.

Adam hummed away in his lab, white suit sprouting bone limbs with very advance sensors and manipulators brought home from the Star Wars Realm, several tightly focused Gather and Construction beams causing sections of the devices being worked on to fade into and out of existence. At least when personally crafting things he wasn't so lazy as to just point his Construction beam and be done with it, creating stuff should be fun damn it.

Absently he used a limb to shove the most advanced Ember Generator designed so far into his flesh until the small orb was inside his chest cavity and fused to the unicorn bones of his ribs, directly over the heart. The runes built into his bones helped the generator connect to his whole skeletal system, and weakly reached out through his flesh.

Magic and fire seeped into the generator, his blood and magical energies more than enough to redirect non-physical attacks into the chest bound generator to store up charge and defend his body. Probably. Not like he couldn't whip up a new body or two if there was a problem.

A few tests, a quick redesign so he would stop cooking his body meat all the time, another few small modifications to allow easy redirection of the generators energy to either his limbs or the robotic tools he spawned.

Uh... crud, that just burned some back muscles. Redirect stuff to the spine, around the spine, follow the spine...

There, now he would theoretically have energy when needed, a way to store excess power without bleeding random flames everywhere, and a defensive mechanism 'just in case'. Maybe next time he should get some information on better biological integration with technology. This stuff would work, but it still felt like a kludged system even with 'Recovery' fixing all kinds of issues.

Star Wars had far too little advancements on that front really, at least compared to other 'future' story lines. He had to hack a dozen products together to make the more realistic organic droid bodies. Wonder if Shirley found those designs yet.

His thoughts brightened a bit as he continued to fiddle with technology. The Ember Generator attached to his ribs was already absorbing energy and storing it as radioactive material inside, and the more power entering the device the more stable his work became. An unexpected bonus!

Random sparks and flames stopped interfering with his movements, and somehow his hands felt less... sticky. Everything was more dry in a conceptual way, and it was easier to grip and manipulate the tiny components of his most recent design as he moved along.

His sixteen arms faltered when the Lab doors opened and two cybernetic beauties strutted in, holograms giving the illusions of thin satin cloths dropping from exposed skin.

Clearly Nightmare Moon and Cyber Dragon found his 'personal' droid designs. "Adam, you've been working for hours now. Come watch a movie with us. Narwhal has the popcorn and Simmy picked the film."

Adam looked at the two beauties, synthetic skin shifting over replacement muscles, the inbuilt lipstick and makeup working with their perfect hair.

He glanced down at the partially assembled personal weapons he had been planning on completing today.

Right, priorities.

His robotic limbs faded into flame as he walked with large strides. "Well, we shouldn't leave the girls waiting, right?" Lab powered off, commands for automatic assembler systems listed, and... and whatever.

Sexy girlfriend and girls now, cleaning the lab later.

Last edited: Oct 24, 2019

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#1,187

The 'film' Simmy selected for the evening was apparently a home movie created of Adam's trip.

Tastefully edited, more scenes of a certain sexy blue angel tinkering than Adam remembered, but basically well done.

It was thirty minutes or so into the film however that the odd feeling in the background really began to stand out.

Narwhal frowned. "You've been... uh. No. The whole film has been losing color I think. It is now nearly black and white."

CD, nestled on his right side, nodded. "He's been spending more and more time in the library tinkering too. Look at the runes on his skull."

'Conveniently', the film zoomed in on Adam's skull, and subtitles appeared.

"Magic... never before forced to exist separately as Chaos and Order."

His black runes were... fracturing. The black marks decayed, gaps and spaces slowly opening as midnight sand fell out of the designs.

His blue runes were drying out, becoming whiter bone that was slowly losing all shadows, turning nearly cartoonish.

The camera shifted to Adam's focused face, the skull going unnaturally still as soft music played. The music was stuttering, a bit out of focus, and crackling.

The eye sockets had jagged scars, raw edges of pain and emptiness, radiating like lightning into the bone.

Blue crystal eye flames were now burning points of ember rather than the glow the girls were used to.

The lower jaw still existed, but teeth were sharper. Black fog oozed to the floor, white fog drifted upwards like cigar smoke through the openings in the skull.

Bone limbs with tools and sensors mutated the longer Adam worked, becoming thinner. Longer. Sharper. Edges decayed from sleek lines to jagged edges hungry for something or someone.

The limbs NOT in use no longer patiently waited for their turn but seemed unnaturally still, jittering far too fast from one stone like position to another, like a camera effect gone wrong.

Narwhal and CD both gasped when Padawan Bene entered the room from the back door.

The extreme close camera angle showing one of Adam's void eye socket slowly burning with rage while the woman behind him ever approached closer, her awkward movements not distracting Adams vengeful assault on technology. A harsh spark of power flashed a white light over his limbs as he worked.

Then the girl made too much noise.

The snap of his bones twisting to face the intruder was almost as jarring as his physical changes. Bone sealed shut, runes reformed, eyes flooded with curiosity... if it wasn't for his skull unnaturally twisting around and the many bony limbs that twisted like snakes to stare at the new meat, one could pretend everything was back to normal.

The girls watched as the skeleton tolerated a small chat before standing... or at least, he was now vertical.

Adam blinked... that time period was a bit mentally fuzzy, but he had recalled Shirley opening a passage for him to head to the surface.

According to the film however... he just walked into the wall and ignored it. Ash fell behind his steps as he burned ever deeper into the Dark.

And with each skeletal step into the shadows, soft sounds began to follow.

On the surface of the strange planet, Variance suddenly twitched as purification runes burned into his soul bindings.

The film grew full of color again, and for a moment everything went still.

With a glowing cane and a sense of purpose, Variance began to pace into the night while runes burned into the soil behind him.

And the magic sang a song that resonated with his bones.

Adam watched the skeletal man construct the runic boundary on film as Narwhal gulped. "What... What was that?"

He frowned. "The Force energies and Magical essences tend to interact with each other a bit too much for comfort. The changes I made there, once I arrived at the surface of the planet, fully prevented the massive waves of Force influence I had to struggle through from affecting my powers... probably."

Adam sighed as he glanced down at his fingers, flesh again. "It is why I didn't move much while there. The Force was heavy, and even when not directed in my path it was easier to bear in the Temple where the stuff was pulled off my body and into the walls."

He hugged the girls a bit closer, Simmy sitting on the floor between his legs and Nightmare Moon to her left. "It was far more apparent when I left, but ever since that energy grasped me from between worlds and slammed my soul into a doorway I had been... oppressed. Not fully, and I could have fought it off... but that field was everywhere. Just... leaning a bit too much into my space."

He nudged the girls back to the film, showing some of the robotic things he had designed. "Don't worry, Squishy is adding power charges to my 'Transfer' ability so I can send and receive Boro and Robo's data packets without being forced to go back. It means time will pass there, and I won't risk showing up before a message arrives, but I feel safer this way. I don't really want to head back there, at least not to that version of Star Wars anyway."

As the last scene faded to black, an image showed his corpse in meditation.

The blue flames flickering and slowly shifting into black and white fire.

The embers in each eye burning so blue that they seemed close to solid.

The runes in the bones slowly shifting into ever more complicated patterns.

Force forgive anyone who managed to intrude into this Temple, because Adam had no clue what would happen when that corpse woke up to defend her.

Adam nodded. "Yeah, not going back there." He clapped. "But Simmy, you are GREAT as a producer! Feel free to make many more films, you have real talent here."

Maybe that distracted the girls enough? Based on the concern on their faces though, probably not.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sonia Lagarde looked up from the long list of patents Variance had passed her. "And you want me to just license these designs out for others to use for cheap? Why! Even the lowest tools and materials you display here could make massive profits WITHOUT us having to fleece anyone. It is almost raw profit!"

Adam chuckled. "Because THOSE are simplified and lower quality versions of the stuff in THIS binder." He passed her the thick block of paper, which she accepted like a newborn baby made of diamonds and gold. "The really advanced stuff needs these crappy designs and early steps before anyone can even try to copy or duplicate anything. I want these tools out there for people more engineering focused than I to really play with."

She looked at the three binders. "So... this for everyone, this for us and the Guild only, what is in the third binder?"

He smirked. "Schematics that require earning low levels of my powers through System to even try to learn. You can mostly ignore them, as they will be distributed through System itself when certain classes reach the required education levels."

Well, she was smart enough to accept a pile of gold and a larger pile of potential gold even if she had to let go of impossible gold. Or something. "I can work with this."

He nodded. "I expected nothing less. Oh, and we won't sell the schematics for this but I have a whole new market for you to handle."

Sonia watched the holograms show various robots doing jobs. "Droid platforms controllable remotely by customers with VR connections, to handle dangerous work like clearing burning buildings, repair work underwater, and so forth. No AI involved either, so we won't have to worry about electronic slavery or rebellions or whatever."

He frowned as he pulled up some other images. "I have a few AI that are very interested in pushing the future of cuisine, but they didn't feel it was right to just make more of themselves or introduce essentially a new species on Earth, so this was considered a good compromise. Cheap remote controlled tools that the user can feel things through."

More images, these painted as police. "These models on the other hand are much more expensive and need Dragon's approval before being sold or distributed, but are meant to be low level Brute platforms for police use. The range is good enough that the controllers can work from the station while supporting teams in the field where required. There are other models for paramedics and firefighters and so forth as well."

She hummed. "Profit margin will be small, don't want cops to get hurt due to profit. That's TERRIBLE for long term business. Still, better law enforcement should be good for us over all." She nodded. "I assume since you mentioned Dragon that she will be able to work with me on this?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah, she and Boro have been designing a whole catalog of 'platforms' for human use, even some bizarre stuff like the ones for hair dressers and the one for exotic basket weaving. Should have anything you need once you talk to her a bit."

Sonia nodded. "I'll get right on it boss." She snapped her fingers and another supermodel level woman sauntered into the room. "Rose, show Variance out and call Dragon for me, it will be a long afternoon."

Adam blinked, somehow standing on the street with a basket of various fruits and a pamphlet about how awesome his businesses were. Huh.

Well, his companies were in good hands.

And this pineapple was delicious!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Dirty and twitching, Saint flinched when he received an email. His email server terminal only had power for twelve minutes a day as a recent security measure, and the ones allowed to even send him a message was a very tightly guarded list at this point.

The debate on opening the message or not took two hours, most of it concern that it was a vicious trap from the no longer controlled electronic demon, Dragon. And no, just because he had increased security measures a few dozen times does NOT mean he was being unhinged.

He shifted under the security blanket. His team mates had risked going out for supplies a few times, but the chance of being followed by uncontrolled electronic eyes had kept Saint secure in the backup bunker just in case for months now. Not like those fools so easily tricked into complacency.

But for one of his friends to send him an email of all things meant this was a VERY severe emergency.

His eyes grew wider and wider as sentence after sentence blew his worse case scenario out of the water.

The AI overlords were here, and were trying to conquer the cooking world! Seasoning and sauces were at risk, dressing and baked goods were in danger! Eventually only oil based products and lubricants would be served anywhere! Taste-bud slavery could not stand!

Righteous fury bled in his veins as he forced himself to log online despite protocols and warn the sheeple of the planet.

"ROBOTIC FOOD IS LITERALLY SATAN'S SEDUCTION!"

He never expected to be a cyber warrior of justice, but he was the Hero the world needed.

Spoiler: In case Media URLs change in the future

Last edited: Oct 25, 2019

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Oct 25, 2019

#1,197

It was a bit depressing to realize that powers did not just make one amazing at everything.

Adam looked at the rough work the Dragon sisters had done using only his attempts at mechanical science from his adventure.

Yeah, 'Technomancy' let him understand stuff, 'Research' helped make testing easy, but actual creation, extrapolation, etc? He had to brute force it. Try all kinds of stuff, or make guesses and hope it works out.

The two cybernetic beings had accomplished more in the half day he had been distracted than he had managed during the almost month of solid effort on another world.

This was something like, give a crowd of people the same paints and canvas... but only a few could turn random scribbles into emotional fueled art. And when it came to electronics, Dragon and CD were artists. Inspired, once in a lifetime genus artists.

So, new personal rule. Twilight gets all magic stuff, Nightmare Moon still loves to look over the spiritual advancements, and electronics go to the cyber sisters.

Simmy patting his back did make him feel better. At least 'Recovery' and biological manipulation was still something he personally excelled at. The only reason Simmy could compete with him in that field was because of her ability to predict outcomes, which allowed her brute force methods to be very exhaustive and comprehensive.

With a sigh, he looked over the data. Back to the results.

The girls solved his 'mid-stage matter' problem when using the Gather beam for storage until the Constructor beam was needed.

In like... an hour.

Unlike HIM, who spent forever trying any combination possible, they split the problem up first. Which felt really obvious in retrospect.

So now Gather would create three substances: Potential-Energy Goo, Biological slurry, and Crystalline Metallic Powder. Without trying to combine sausage parts with diamonds and battery juice, all the math got simpler.

Internally though, he was going to be calling it 'Energy, Biomass, and Metal', as they were similar to substances already stored in his soul for 'Recovery' to make new bodies out of or create stuff with.

The fact that he ALREADY HAD some simplified forms of these substances... Well, it made it sting EVEN MORE that he hadn't been the one to figure it out first. But again, Dragon and CD were artists and he was just a stumbling fool bumbling along when it came to electronics in general.

With that advancement though, the two girls were able to refine the Molecular Furnace to an EXTREME level, to the point where it could be included in a droid the size of a large sports player rather than one the size of a small house. Not that they would, the introduction of 'Anything into Anything' would blast the economy into nothingness. It was more efficient, it used way less power, and the complexity of materials needed for construction dropped as well.

So they decided to call the improved design a 'Matter Furnace', rebuilt the underground factory levels to handle the new devices better, and left it alone for now. They also modified the Storage Units to handle the three new substance states (Energy, Biomass, Metal) which, due to the reduced number of elements expected to be handled, allowed the thing to increase storage ability by unrealistic proportions.

For the initial energy supply Adam just used some Shard Crystal Dimensional Shenanigans to connect an energy corridor from one of the other Worm dimension's stars into an array of Conversion Generators and called it a day. It needed some input limiters to prevent explosions and stuff, but it worked for now until he could come up with some bullshit alien tech as a better fuel source.

The rest of the advancements were more component combination and function simplification. The Ember Generators around his customized droid core got turned into a single generator connected to a collector shell around the device. They also made both emitters, Gather and Constructor, much cheaper to build without increasing their volume, so the enhanced ones built into the core's shielding were much smaller and had duplicates for emergencies.

As for the inner components of the device, whole sections of the GPC Module itself got redesigned from the ground up and became even smaller. Also, entire subsections of sensors were integrated into a single unit that used software to change what was being detected. The new sensor was just small enough to add to the droid core, so the whole device stayed roughly the same size in the end.

A good chunk of the droid chassis now empty, they then modified the formation of the parts to allow the core components to more easily fit inside without bulges. A droid with bare bone components now looked like a tall thin child, leaving lots of space for thick defensive armor and optional components to be included.

Basically... well. After the two engineering girls got done, the Droid platforms used by CD and Nightmare Moon last night apparently used very little of his own design work, other than to act as guidelines for aesthetic beauty.

Which was appreciated, but again, the improvements they created made him feel a bit worthless.

It was hard to feel proud of his own tinker work when one was shown that your master product was similar to a child scribbling with crayons.

After a bit of a sulk, he found that it helped to focus on the biological advancements he had contributed to the developing technology base. The four or five dozen materials and techniques he had created to generate the different types of biological replacements not only were used but had impressed the girls as a group! Not just thanks to the appearance and sensitivity of the materials, but the low cost and self repair functions as well.

True, they took his advancements in artificial flesh, organs, skin, nerves, and so forth and replaced his Lego house designs with a multi-leveled mansion, but at least he had built the blocks used in the construction.

Still, Boro had gotten his old platform replaced last night, for obvious reasons. At least the Chef kept the extra limbs. Adam was a firm believer that having an extra hand was a good thing.

Side note, the internet loved the many recorded 'How To' videos the droids were posting online. Apparently people found the multi-limbed beings fascinating to watch as they braised pork and julienne fries and so such.

The web server was very busy with traffic, especially since the droids not on shift in the kitchens were using the time accelerated simulation in the Garden servers to accept user submitted recipe requests. Each dish got its own film episodes where the droids would test the submitted dish, experiment with replacing various components of the meal while attempting to improve it, then release the results fully reviewed and edited online moments after the initial entry.

Several cooking related TV shows already contacted Sonia about having the robots guest star or re-host programs from the website. It sounded interesting, groundbreaking, and profitable... and full of paperwork.

Adam was avoiding getting involved at all costs.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Dragon drew a deep breath, then knocked. Hearing Adam call out, she entered his lab.

The man was still in a white suit, but thankfully was not skeletal at the moment. His smile was welcoming though. "Dragon! What can I do for you today?"

She gave a weak smile. "Right... so. I may or may not want to share a few of my projects with my... uh. With Armsmaster. But I don't really have any guidelines about who I am allowed to share data with that came from outside our Realm."

The man waved it off. "I'll have Simmy flag all the schematics that we think could destabilize society if exposed. Anything I gave to Sonia for public release you can share with no conditions, anything from our private stash or derived from our personal works he must only work on in either your lab or the lab we allocated to him here in Variance Villa."

Internally she sighed a bit with relief. "Are you still concerned with data leaks?"

He shook his head, limbs already working on some sort of glowing orb. "Not by Armsmaster himself, but even with the PRT basically filled with superheros I have no doubt serious issues could arise if someone suddenly gains abilities that allow them to broadcast data or whatever. Also, the whole superhero organization as a collective leaks data like a sieve. Almost built to do that by default, really."

His blue flames glanced at her. "Better he make stuff here instead. Any designs or products he wishes to export or have mass produced must be approved by you and Simmy first, just to ensure we don't accidentally destroy a section of the economy or somehow attract the attention of Scion. He isn't close enough to me emotionally to be 100% sure that my Stranger effect covers him."

Simple enough. She waved at the already distracted man as she nearly skipped to her lab to schedule a play date. Uh. A serious tinker session. Mmm.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Good. She handed the document to Denise. "Pass it for review, but I think it is great so far."

The woman nodded. "Yes boss!"

Narwhal felt her cyber self twitch. Denise had always been too enthusiastic when it came to authority, but she was talented. With her out of the way, she could focus on the last of the real world documentation (Done digitally and printed out, thank you again best boyfriend for giving her a sexy cyber duplicate!)

The pure profits that she gained just being associated with Adam's companies were being funneled into The Guild as fast as possible. The amount of issues fixable by having a large amount of liquid cash was astonishing really.

And thanks to having a step into the virtual realm, she had been able to spend weeks here with Variance rather than stuck in meeting after meeting, buried under paperwork an red tape. None of her people could mentally accelerate to thousands times faster than normal, so no matter the height of her work load she could still go cuddle with Adam and his sexy robo-girls. With ghost/AI controllers, which were ALSO sexy.

She didn't realize that she was humming happily as she swayed through the hallways, hips heavy with sexual promise and eyes glittering with evening plans. Her force field clothing may have been a tad more risque than usual, but her goal waited with that beefcake bod and literally magic fingers.

It was going to be a good day.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Deep inside Adam's soul, a dark square containing whatever Lung had been transforming into lit up.

Raw energy was slowly burning the restrictive formations, oozing closer to freedom.

It had no mind. It had no personality. Both had been burned with rage. It just... grew.

The raw fuel absorbed during creation barely a spark that was a catalyst, a self reinforcing power that would grow without end, until everything collapsed in despair.

An entire Entity Shard refined into a single desire: To Escalate, To Grow, To Destroy. To Burn.

It was a bit unfortunate that a blue angel was smirking from above the prison.

As layer after layer of faith based runes circled the square, 'Tithe' lit up as a new energy source began fueling the growth of kami, magical reserves, and the crystal castle. Even with 'Tithe' not explicitly equipped, the energy was being directed through runes to the correct areas of the Soul. Parts of the bound fish bowl began to light up with energy, and the Binding covered in purification runes softly glowed as the angry fuel was cleansed and radiated healing warmth.

It wasn't enough of course.

This level of ever escalating power would never be contained through such simple energy drains. Such basic power needs.

Simmy's smirk grew as the ever growing ocean of power was guided with the slightest touch towards Squishy. The core of Adam's power.

It was that female jellyfish who had prevented Adam's soul from gaining a new socket. Too soon, too unstable, too similar to the existing sockets.

It was her who spent his power charges as soon as they appeared.

And it was her tentacles that drew in the rapidly growing power fields with glee and relief.

For Adam's safety and protection, it was important for Power Manipulation, or at least the broken pieces of Eldritch Monstrosity that composed it, to heal more.

Because he was growing in power to the point where 'Transfer' was becoming a risk, as it assumed he was better protected from those above than he truly was. They may not get as lucky with the next Realm, where the powers that owned reality were both eager for assistance and happy with the result. So while she was technically 'fixing' Adam's ability to send messages between realms, realistically she was patching a much deeper issue at the moment. Several of them.

Simmy watched Squishy establish stabilized energy pathways, offering small changes to ensure the 'Dragon Battery' wouldn't overflow the absorption channels and that the repair work would proceed as carefully as possible.

Squishy may do great work on day to day operations, but it was really Simmy who understood long term planning.

Speaking of which, she began writing the notes that she would use for communication in the next week or so. Without her powers, each attempt was fun and difficult, sometimes requiring dozens of attempts to ensure the right effects and emotions conveyed to her husband. Flickering her power for moments, she would verify each note accomplished her wishes without spoiling too much of the future.

And when it came to seducing his women, she refused to cheat at all. Mmm. The skirt for Wednesday.

Last edited: Oct 25, 2019

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Oct 28, 2019

#1,208

Narwhal collapsed into the sheets, her sweat covered body shuddering from far too many emotions.

CD and Nightmare Moon had passed out a while ago, neither had experience with Adam's drive or enthusiasm... but now she was falling ever more close to sleep as well.

The feeling of his arms wrapping her up to cuddle were very welcome. "What. The. Hell. Adam."

His embarrassment was apparent. "Not sure. Just... really full of energy today. Haven't slept in almost two days at this point, but I still feel ready to get going."

She gripped his arms. No way in hell. Not tonight, anyway. "Let's. Just. Stop. Awhile."

Adam nodded against her neck and mentally retreated into his soul. Might as well sort the massive ocean of data from Star Wars if he was going to be THIS wired this late.

Unknown to him, a blue feather appeared in the room moving the three girls into more comfortable positions. No reason for the girls to be sore in the morning. Well. More sore.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Taylor hummed happily, hundreds of virtual windows open and flashing as she made changes. The quests farther along her Class advancement became WAY more interesting now that she had unlocked some more abilities. 'Multitasking' had been enhanced by 'Non-Linear Logic' and 'Heuristic Prediction', even if she had to look up what those words meant with mom.

Now she could accept System quests to administrate all sorts of tasks submitted by other System users, even if the details were a bit censored to ensure privacy and reduce her exposure to the more mature topics.

Taylor HAD taken the time to ensure any requests from Mom or Dad were always at the top of her queue, but even without their minor requests she had all sorts of interesting problems and stuff to reorganize and direct.

The girl hummed along, redistributing the troop deployments around containment zones and organizing a few proms and birthday parties.

It was a light workload today.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam forced his leg to stop jittering.

He had eventually went to Squishy about the situation. The endurance? No problem. No longer need to sleep? A bit annoying, but he could relax in his soul as a stop gap measure.

But he had tried to move a machine in the factory level with magic and atomized half the damn floor!

Until Lung stabilized into a good power source, he would be... well. Inconvenient. Too dangerous to do much of anything other than slowly absorb it all like a sponge. Even the idea of traveling to a new Realm was shot down, as 'Transfer' could shove him anywhere right now.

He needed a hobby to help distract himself.

So he was trying to sculpt.

Simmy got a massive block of stone and some tools that could resist his ambient magical pressure and enhanced body, and he was trying to slow down, focus, and break something in a creative way.

Without destroying the ground below the block, or breathing out magical fire, or whatever.

It... well. It was slow and unrewarding.

WITH his powers, carving anything took an instant of concentration.

Without it? Rock had fault lines and defects inside it, and even a slight misunderstanding about those issues could cause chunks of the stupid thing to pop off. He hadn't touched half the tools at all, he just had a basic mallet and a chisel and was trying to slowly cut the rock.

Designs? Shapes? No, he just wanted to consistently carve out small slivers of stone without nailing the chisel into the rock or accidentally punching chunks out with his fists when he missed.

So... basically a lesson in control here.

He absently tilted his head as he kept the chisel at an angle. The trick here was small, SMALL taps with the chisel. Slow, small progress.

A gentle tap popped a foot long strip of stone off. Cracks splintered into the rest, the stone crumbling into a pile.

Crap.

Simmy tossed the rocks aside, another boulder for him to ruin placed before him.

A smiley face. That should be doable, right? Any curves against the natural 'grain' of the stone would have to be very small chips to avoid another structural collapse. Right.

The worse part of this, Adam considered as he slowly chipped the left eye of the face, was that the raw power prevented him from making his awesome extra limbs. Not that they would be helpful, honestly... compared to his natural hands, they were drastically less controlled and could apply far less finesse.

But multiple limbs was a mans romance. Or something like that. Everyone was cooler with extra hands and stuff.

As Adam chipped his way through another boulder, the massive number of faith power absorption rings continued to ensure not only his comfort but that the underground power supply would be topped off for literally decades.

Waste not, want not... and all that.

Deep below Variance Villa, the growth of Flame Metal had never stopped. It had not increased its rate of progress either, and the spread in general was slowing due to the exponential amount of exposed rock and soil as the roots dug deep.

With this new source of energy, every curse and miss stroke of Adams was pulsing in the metal. Safe houses and other constructed buildings were beginning to reach underground for the pulsing powerful metal foundations ever growing.

It was probably for the best that no intelligence had been given to this particular construction, as without modification or set limits it would probably be a very large 'Villa' after it consumed a few state's worth of soil or so.

Simmy directed the roots again, ever so slightly. No one had to know that the patterns being carved out could theoretically be empowered as a rune boundary, and with Adam this distracted (She gave him another boulder, the gravel gathered for decorative purposes) she could take her time ensuring patterns for strength, protection, and purification would slowly form under the soil.

After all, everyone needed a hobby.

A quick glance ensured that the other girlfriends/wives to be/sisters were still asleep. She had been too busy last night to show off her schoolgirl ensemble, but tonight she could have a bit of a fashion show!

It was going to be fun.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The next morning Adam flexed his hand and realized that Simmy had rearranged the girls after the long night of antics. Seeing her body flex and bend as she 'cleaned' the area in that maid outfit though...

As he stalked towards her 'innocent' surprise, he internally nodded.

Sometimes it was good to take a day off or so.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Infinite stamina sucked.

Aside from the Endbringer, the other girls had to tap out and have a spa and relaxation day. Even with lots of free 'Recovery' optimizations the mind grew weary.

Which was fine, but with the girls out and about Adam grew a bit restless, even with a beautiful blue angel trying her best to distract him.

It was just... too much energy. He was physically handling it, but the side effects were maddening.

He spent more and more time with Squishy, having her search for Realms that were both expensive to visit AND had expensive options. Something to sink this raw power into, something to focus the frustration towards.

As soon as his body and soul stabilized enough, he would go to the most expensive one found and just punch stuff for a while until his body stabilized. Both Simmy and Squishy agreed that a few good fights would rapidly improve his stability and increase his control and efficiency with the new energies. His girls agreed that while fun at first, the 'Energizer Adam' should not be a continuous experience.

Also, he really wanted to eat lots of food, have even more sex, and punch lots of things. The raw energy burned in his soul slightly, a very light stinging as his abilities were forced to grow and self-refine.

Right now, he was down to the first and third option, and food alone was not enough... so the implied universe FILLED with bad guys he was allowed to slaughter with no moral issues was very appealing to the man.

Squishy assured him that the Realm had lots of big fights, both individually large and numerous, lots of neat biology to explore, a tech base that focused on providing variety rather than optimized standardization (Especially for weapons)... and also, super powers. Spiritual ones.

Honestly she had him at 'lots of big fights'. He had almost NO fighting style right now, he mostly stood around and used his overwhelming power to squash everyone. Even his big stick weapon ended up being a walking cane cause it felt cool. He hadn't even hit anyone in the last journey.

And Yes. Realistically, he knew there was no mental manipulation encouraging him towards conflict, not like with normal Entity Shards. But functionally?

He wanted to go punch something into powder.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Two months had passed.

Slow. Infuriating. Months.

His soul pulsed with excess power, but it was now a rhythmical, reliable pulse.

The girls not only knew his plan, but were thankful that the raw aggression he had built up would finally get an outlet. Not to mention they found the destination an interesting place, even though there was no media available in this Realm that referenced it. They would need to get the details from Adam's memories once the journey provided a brain insertion later.

His plans for weapons? Gone. At this point, he wanted to crush things with his magical bone reinforced hands, and only kept the black club he made for potential golf swings.

At this point, he had forced so much energy into the black stick that the blue fire on top had condensed into a metallic blue orb of raw magic. Heaven help anyone smacked with the thing, just getting too close to the magic could cause light burns to anyone nearby. The black body of the club felt like cold stone at this point, and the entire weapon seemed to just be where Adam expected it rather than actually be stored anywhere.

Even as a human his eyes were starting to burn with blue fire.

He glared at the wall.

"Transfer: Abyss."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Twilight blinked at Adam's corpse.

It uh. It transformed into stone. Instantly.

Yeah, that was far too much power. That was too much power for a dozen organic bodies, much less compressed into a single organism.

He would have to make a new body once back, hopefully one that can handle that level of raw magic. Or bind it into his soul better. Or a distributed spell matrix for energy transfer?

The other girls sighed and left to focus on their work as Twilight began some new research quests for her teams.

Narwhal and the Dragon sisters had guild work, and Nightmare Moon actually had some interviews from some news sites to attend. Her digital celebrity star was still on the rise, and looking like a sex goddess (technically true?) with a voice of an angel wasn't hurting her ratings.

Still, they would all likely meet back here in the Villa to try Boro's new experimental dishes tonight. It had become a bonding experience since Adam had gone a bit food crazy recently.

The big improvement in Adam's power stability did mean that this journey would be a bit different than usual, however. Adam and Simmy had basically stated that they would stay a bit longer this time without time travel to get back instantly, since they could actually receive alerts from Dragon and CD through System to Squishy. It was needed, as the time travel really bumped up the costs and the target this time was (conceptually) FAR away.

It wasn't an huge issue, theoretically. They did need to have the two Entities fully converted at SOME point after all.

Last edited: Oct 28, 2019

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Adam twitched as the new Realm offered a very, VERY long list of templates. He did NOT have the patience for this.

Simmy, handle it.

Multiple selections flew by before he could read them, but Adam only cared that, FINALLY, he was close to some actual combat.

His eyes flared blue as his soul burned into the new Realm.

Let's punch something.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The battle continued, but the leadership felt the strain almost more than those desperately struggling below near the walls and barriers.

With hidden desperation, Ghira motioned Commander Travis to the side, even as Travis's people continued to pack up.

Visibly impatient, the Commander did at least follow him to a side room.

It was quiet for a few moments. Expensive, life threatening moments.

Ghira sighed. "We won't ask for any further front line support. Nor report any of the incidents. I can even get an increase in our paid commerce taxes approved with some effort on future food shipments to us, can increase them by at least 4% or more."

Maybe 2% honestly, but he could find the additional money somehow. It would bankrupt him, and cause the settlement's attempt at growth to drastically slow, but it was better than having his people consumed alive.

Ghira tried to connect emotionally to the military leader. It... wasn't working. "My communications have reached Vale. I've been told that over a dozen Bullheads, each flying vessel full of trained Hunters, all are coming here as we speak to reinforce our defenses!"

Commander Travis smugly chuckled. "Oh I am sure. But my people come first, and I have orders to return to Mistral when the situation becomes untenable here."

He felt his claws flex, desperate to cut this asshole of a person. "We. Can. Win. You don't even need to risk your own soldiers, just use your air superiority to keep the flying Grimm off of Kuo Kuana's back, keep our city's air space open and clear."

Travis gave an amused look of contempt. "I have better use for our Dust and ammunition than to waste it on a fools errand. Now, I have places to be."

With a sharp turn, the bastard walked back to his already loaded Bullheads, preparing to vertically launch and leave Ghira's people and his family to their fate.

Even as Ghira followed the ass towards his vessel, he was racking his brains for a solution. Political power meant little with so many at the gates. His other friends in higher places were too far to get here in time. And while he himself was strong enough to end this one moron's life, it wouldn't fix the situation in the short OR long term.

But they could hold out, albeit with more casualties, even without these damn turncoat 'Support Troops' that Mistral had offered. Worthless as they turned out to be.

Near the military vehicles opening, Everyone paused. Everything. Everywhere.

The screaming, the rage, the beasts in general had all... stopped. Gone quiet.

Ghira watched in growing horror as the black tide and white bone armor fighting towards his city opened room... and massive forms shifted towards the front lines.

Goliaths.

Grimm the size of buildings, massive mammoths with white bone tusks and masks. Each step shook the world.

They usually avoided hunters and residences, even normal people. They were old enough and strong enough to be satisfied far away from conflict in general, to avoid being seen. One showing up could just ignore anything below missile or grenade launchers. Low level Dust couldn't phase it, and most Semblances couldn't touch the things. Battle flowed around Goliaths like water around a stone. Towns vanished, villages crushed.

One was a disaster.

There appeared now... dozens.

Spikes of despair hit Ghira's soul. His wife, Kali. His new darling baby girl, Blake.

Instantly he made the decision. Morality could go hang itself, his baby came first.

Turning to the asshole Commander, he threw pride away and knelt on the ground. "Please, Commander Travis. If you won't defend us, at least take our children away. Don't let them die like this."

The Commander was clearly shocked at having the Chieftain of the whole continent of Managerie in such a position... but recovered.

As the ship lifted off the ground, he watched the Faunus leader still prone in the distance.

Turning back inside, he snorted. "Sorry, but I don't have room for livestock on MY ships."

The sooner he could leave these savages the better.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira Belladonna felt pure rage flow in his veins.

That monster Travis was clearly unaware that Faunus could hear things far better than Humans.

Not that it mattered right now.

A Chieftain is a leader, and as such should lead.

He stood with what dignity he had left and turned to his loyal men, each pretending to have seen nothing. "Tell our people that our friends from Mistral have recieved notification that our reinforcements from Vale are close. They are leaving to offer the incoming forces air support and to help guide them back here to battle."

The two Faunus gave tight salutes and ran to disperse the messages. The loss of the local Cross Continental Transmit System relay tower had nearly crippled the defense forces before a hasty messaging system was put in place.

The Grimm were attracted and enraged by despair and negative emotions after all...

Lies like this were required in today's wars.

Turning towards his supportive people, he felt his face tighten in determination. "Open all reserve wepon caches, enable the emergency turrets, and stop restricting the food reserves to all recovering force members in medical."

He reached down for a spare spear. "If we live I can find a way to recover our supplies. But if we die, I refuse to be responsible by holding back any advantage we have left."

The other dozen or so spears were easily hefted like a back pack, ready for his projected rage.

Gazing at the ever closing forces of monsters, he gripped the spear tightly. "Show me to the battles suffering the most."

Time to hunt. "Let's kill some Grimm."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Beyond the wall around Kuo Kuana, men and women... Human and Faunus. The weak and strong frantically reloaded pistols, aimed shotguns, threw energy blasts, summoned fire and wind and lightning, shot sniper rifles, launched missiles... anything and everything was heading downrange. Holes tore in skin and bones shredded, the Grimm were peeled and torn and pulped into black sludge.

And the field of black creatures with red eyes and bone armor continued to advance.

Thousands of beasts collapsed from damage and turned slowly into black mist even as more carelessly crushed corpses of other fallen Grimm while advancing.

And behind this tide, ever slowly approaching, were monstrous elephants that ignored the battle as they came to flatten the city.

Susan gripped her knife pistol as she tried to clear her gun jam it... before transforming it to knife mode and focused on helping her freinds to reload their weapons instead. "I can't fix my weapon, I'll be support until another gun is available or until they get close enough for close range combat."

Garth nodded, his massive axe-bazooka jerking him back a half foot. It shot slow, but made a hell of an impact. "Can you find some more Fire Dust rounds? I'm back to basic ammo right now."

She nodded and ran to the supply hub, knowing he used 60mm rounds and preferred grade 3 fire dust rather than grade 4.

He turned back to the endless targets and tried to aim towards the ground between several Beowolves, the smaller Grimm far too maneuverable and quick to risk allowing to get any closer. Then again, with a target environment THIS rich every shot was at least useful.

His aim was thrown WAY the hell off when a massive spiraling Glyph formed in the air above the Grimm, blue lines twisting in the air and burning brightly.

Any thought of an unknown Grimm being responsible was gone as the entire mass of rage creatures actually FLINCHED from the ever growing pattern.

He stared up at the Summoning Glyph in honest confusion.

Why the hell was a Schnee here!?

As the Glyph grew in size, he gulped. If this WAS a Schnee... how the hell could one get THIS powerful without all of Remnant hearing of them first!?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira looked up, his last spear throw ignored even as it pierced the distant Goliath's eye, the beast bellowing in rage. "Sienna, any idea?"

The Bengal tiger Faunus was already watching, her orange eyes wide. "No sir, but I KNOW there were no Schnee relatives in our city this morning... and all our 'visitors' were exiting, not bringing new fighters to help."

Then the Glyph vanished as something massive fell towards the ground, screaming in rage.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam fell towards a face coated in white bone, the open fangs sharp and hungry... and grabbed the monster by the throat.

And the face. And the chest. It was almost like holding a squeeze toy.

Damn his hand was large.

Then he hit soil, the beast in his right hand exploding into black goo as his other reached for another screaming attacker.

Still in a white suit, he slammed his massive legs deeper into the dirt as his left hand grabbed the torso of a werewolf thing and HURLED it into the crowd.

Lifting his head to the sky, he screamed in joyful rage... then slammed his trunk into and THROUGH some massive bear demon covered in armor.

Oh. So he was an elephant Faunus. And now knew what a Faunus was. Neat.

His trunk absently snagged the clawed arm that tried to attack as his enormous right hand pulped some sort of small boar Grimm, his left limb blocking a claw that failed to pierce his flesh.

A nudge inside and a message from Simmy made him frown.

Flexing his torso, blue flames burned a open circle for space and held a perimeter as he turned to the left.

Yep. Massive city. Lots of guns aimed in his general direction... no, probably towards the army of meat toys.

A frown crossed his overly large face.

He just wanted to smash things. He didn't want to be all responsible and protect people right now.

A nudge from Simmy brought his smile back.

His magic surged into the sky again, a complicated Glyph slowly spawning blue feathers.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Commander Travis flinched, some sort of distant scream echoing. "Right, let's get farther away and do it faster."

As the troops called 'Yes Sir!', Travis felt something was off, his soul twinging as something unseen and undetectable modified in his body.

It was ignored, he wanted to get out of this hell hole quickly. Probably wasn't important.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Above the stranger, another blue Glyph slowly exposed... perfection.

Among a rain of blue feathers, an actual angel... Glowing soft blue and singing such a strange melody. Tired men and women felt aches fade away and a building urge to action grow. Children calmed, orders were simplified, and each shot from the front lines grew more accurate, more deadly.

And the man responsible, the giant in a white suit with massive hands covered in black gore, continued to scream defiance as he fought towards the massive Goliaths.

Equally noticeable, for the first time the enormous creatures seemed to be paying attention. To almost seem concerned. All the Goliaths turned towards the screaming fighter.

The defenders in the city of course were a bit distracted though when a massive pulse of sound echoed... and the entire front of the Grimm wave paused.

Turned.

And began to consume each other.

Cannibalism bled black blood in a perfect circle around the massive city.

And above the carnage, a blue goddess sang the future.

Ignoring the madness driven disaster in the Grimm ranks, a triumphant trumpet of noise erupted from the fighting elephant Faunus, his gore soaked right hand holding some massive black rod with a blue boulder on the end.

The Goliath reared back, slamming massive feet covered in white armor onto the smaller fighter... who knocked the attack to the side, rod still held high.

Then the rod fell upon the armored mammoth skull.

And blue flames blossomed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira was unsure when everyone had stopped firing as they watched a giant fighter dismantle each normally lethal mountain of flesh.

He WAS sure when he heard Sienna purr. "Mmm. He better be single. Or at least with someone willing to share."

He gave her a flat look. This was why he delayed passing the leadership to her. "Get the wounded to triage, shore up the weak points in the walls and defensive, and ready the squads for inspection."

Her glazed eyes watched the massive man flex as another spire of flames burned into the skies, Grimm screaming in pain and rage. "Mmm, I'd like to give HIM an inspection..."

She was tossed off the wall.

He turned to his other assistants, who suddenly seemed far more focused and ready to follow orders. "Right, treat this as a break and recovery period, we needed a bit of breathing room before Vale's forces arrive and we won't waste this one. I want the mechanical teams to do as much maintenance and repair on our turrets and the peoples weapons as we can before conflict continues."

A massive chunk of Grimm tusk, over a dozen meters long, slammed near the wall as the ground shuddered.

He glanced at it. "Also, collect the stuff he throws this close to our defenses. I'm sure we can find some use for it."

His people scurried to spread the orders as he turned back to watch the stranger try to uppercut a Goliath.

Successfully.

Good distance, that one. Shame the head didn't roll straight.

Spoiler: In case Media URLs change in the future

Last edited: Oct 29, 2019

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Oct 30, 2019

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Summoning, specifically through Glyphs, was interesting.

Adam's trunk held the magical rod as his right fist tore through a rolling Boarbatusk, his other hand carefully swinging a twin headed King Taijitu serpent. Too fast and the stupid thing would just tear apart. Honestly a terrible weapon, even if the attempts were very fulfilling.

Point was, his Spiritual power set now had blue patterns, 'Glyphs', etched into the white 'Tithe' cards hanging on the white 'Purification' cords on his red spirit Gate. 'Binding', the black cords that wrapped his soul up like a holiday present, now twisted nearly invisibly with 'Purification' ropes like a shadow. That said, the blue 'Glyphs' on the many cards were not identical... and kept shifting as they filled with more information.

The snake split into smaller chunks again after only a few slams into the advancing crowd.

Worthless. At least the gorillas, the Beringel Grimm, were able to hold together long enough to take a few opponents down a limb or two.

He used his now free hands to grip his weapon, the rod's blue magical stone crashing into rocky soil and piercing deep while blue flames swirled around him.

The Grimm screamed.

Anyway, 'Glyphs' could theoretically do a lot, but the reason HE had access to the stupid thing was a combination of picking the most expensive 'Transfer' options and letting Simmy pick how to enter the Realm. Yes, he grabbed the options for the full language package, no higher powers, and other such choices... but he also selected 'Determine Parentage' and 'Inserted into History'. At the time they were just costly choices, but it had certainly been a risk in retrospect.

His arm tore internal muscles and ligaments again, his fault. Tried to change direction too quickly. 'Recovery' helped make the recovered parts adapt to prevent similar issues as he absently used his trunk to tear the embedded fang fragment out of his torn shoulder.

Point was, he was technically a bastard Schnee Faunus from a (hopefully) fictional family branch. Because if they were NOT fictional, then they and an entire town had not only existed but had been wiped out in the wild to a Grimm incursion. Realm insertion needed a story that didn't introduce OTHER people or some such complications to keep things simpler for the user, but he was pretty sure it wasn't spawning people just to kill for a convenient excuse.

After all, that kind of option WAS an option for Transfer, and Squishy had blocked that pile of stupid early on in his career. Thank goodness.

Arms busy, Adam growled and kicked the lunging Beowolf hard. The pieces of meat pierced a gorilla like monster... another Beringel? Point was, two down for one kick. Messed up the footing though, which was frustrating enough with all these corpse pieces scattered. Better start shifting the fight to a less damaged area.

So summoning. No idea how to use Glyphs normally, but Simmy helped hijack the spiritual Summoning function of Glyphs (which were even now being enhanced as they absorbed all his runic knowledge) to allow direct kami to matter conversion. Heck, her new body was damn close to pure organic other than some Shard stuff in her brain, and she was loving how sensitive her 'Faunus' body was compared to Endbringer material. Plus, as a Summon, death just sends her back to Adam's soul.

He frowned, black ooze sliding off his suit. Does that mean if HE dies he would go back into his own soul? Huh.

Anyway, if used normally only defeated foes could be summoned (Hense him being able to call the Simurgh)... but a bit of modification to the pattern by Simmy allowed Adam to summon himself as long as his soul was in the area. Implying that he had defeated himself. Maybe emotionally? Or something.

It was... odd.

He flinched as something tore through his spine and shoulders, his reflex smashing a massive fanged mouth into fragments as 'Recovery' analyzed the acidic spit used. His body shifted as the wound evaporated away, his glare focused on the three bear like Ursa that had helped the recently deceased creature to get that swing in. A stomp hurled his massive form over to the presumptuous bastards, hands clawing for grip.

Making his body this way with summoning did have some downsides. No unicorn bones meant no magic, the biggest flaw so far. Using the Rod was a workaround really, but the change was noticeable by a lot. He also had far weaker flesh than expected, although that was being modified moment to moment as 'Recovery' tested different solutions during combat.

But the upsides?

Creatures in this Realm were half flesh, half spiritual. Soul based abilities used over generations had made biology adapt to unusual energies, and even the most basic of Aura not only protected the physical bodies but helped them to regenerate from harm. And he was beginning to believe that Dust, the materials that saved Humanity and Faunus kind from death to the Grimm in the past, was solidified faith. It would explain why a rock could enhance abilities powered by soul energy.

These Humans and Faunus of Remnant, they evolved with faith as a weapon. That... had potential.

And though Adam's body was mostly a native Faunus, most people in this Realm relied on their Soul, their Aura, to absorb damage, to heal, to fight. Their bodies were fairly standard if they ran out of Aura shielding, and many didn't bother with excessive physical training or whatever when such a convenient method would enable superhuman feats.

Then again, Adam saw an advantage to having a body that could ignore blades and laugh at explosives.

And when it came to adaptation and evolution, to biological enhancement... Adam had significant experience.

His torso twisted, his right fist smashing with the wrath of God into black flesh, the force rippling the meat into liquid even as his hand opened to snag the next victim. The ground here was a bit too unstable, partial collapses forcing him to jump to better advantage during the conflict. Some part inside also winced: Two thirds of this continent of Menagerie was desert, worthless... and his fight was not doing this fairly green terrain any favors. He would have to use 'Growth' and such to fix everything up later on. Anyway.

The summoning method Simmy designed did have an additional cost though, if not a noticeable one energy wise. He had to store beings in his soul to summon first of all, which was simple enough... but he also had to allocate one of his own power sockets for the summon's use when called forth. It wasn't a permanent thing, and dispelling Simmy would have everything back... but it felt ticklish as hell. Still, it was fine. Like all summonings, while physical they HAD to follow any and all orders Adam gave, otherwise past defeated foes summoned would just kill you when called.

Besides, Simmy was really enjoying the Magical Socket. 'Harmony' was fully in use, and she was enthralled.

Adam screamed in glorious anger, the active 'Purification' allowing him to cause serious damage while only equipping 'Recovery' for this battle... for this refinement. His hands clawed through teeth and skin, has trunk absently bashing foes with each smack of the Rod causing a flame flare. His eyes flared as he fought ever more fiercely.

Every twist taught 'Recovery' how to enhance a body with faith. Each injury showed how faith and magic could work together. Each torn muscle and cracked bone explored how to enhance muscles without going beyond biology, how to strengthen bone without losing impact absorption. Changes became cheaper, more optimized, and more rugged.

Every punch taught Adam how to not overbalance, how to not over commit. It wasn't a fighting style, it wasn't something taught by masters of a lifetime to a student in need... it was a more basic, an angry set of intuitive strikes and guards. Barely enough to be considered a street brawling style. What little value this 'style' had grew as he experienced a continuous fight in (sort of) deadly conditions.

Every Grimm death and corpse caused twisted black energies captured by the flesh and blood to be exposed to the air. The constant 'Purification' empowered flames from his weapon was transforming the smog into delicious temptation... the army of Grim even now was being slowly pulled toward the fighting Faunus.

His body was soaked in blood from many healed wounds, liquid that evaporate with the intense blue flames that washed over the area with sinister intentions. Something about the pure violence and lack of moral restrictions helped calm the energy he had been overloaded with for weeks now. Squishy watched closely, modifying power pathways and enhancing her control of the energy source.

And while the initial cost of summoning himself without providing a body first was high, now that it was done he could just store the spiritual bodies of himself and Simmy in his soul until needed again. A permanent project safely tucked away. Finally, there was a target for this raw power from Lung's corpse, one that could handle the strain and benefit from it. No longer would unguided energy build up and begin to pressure his soul.

The convenience of not having to build a body every time he took a trip was just icing on the cake, the real prize was having a set of test form bodies for enhancement that wouldn't need resetting every journey. One that even now, fighting in the outside world, was absorbing the overcharged internal power that had built up in his soul these past days.

Later he could design magical bones reinforced with faith, later he could analyze Grimm for possible use a disposable puppet armies, later he could ask Simmy about why she was making an aircraft currently fleeing the area head towards some very dangerous territory.

His jaw snarled, muscles tensed, as he gripped the rod by the magical rock and stabbed the sharpened black shaft through the skull of another Goliath, the white bone armor snapping loudly as the elephantine scream was cut short.

Blue fire purified the beast from within as Adam turned towards more stress relief monsters.

Right now, he had a fight to enjoy.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira watched technicians try to get the relay communication tower repaired. The spare parts were being modified where needed, but progress was coming along nicely.

Sienna Khan, bouncing next to him, was not nearly as composed. "And then he grabbed an Ursa by the skull, like a pebble or something, and threw it at a Nevermore! Like... Straight in the air, not enough time to even arc, just a massive bear shaped hole in that flying Grimm bastard! I'm not even sure he was AIMING for it, some sort of sixth sense just made him slap some awesome into the death bird!"

He withheld a sigh.

He was grateful, no doubt. Even now, a line of Grimm were desperately consuming each other and tearing black flesh and white bone in a protective circle around the city. A MASSIVE circle. And that Angel (Nude!? WHY!?) was even now randomly grabbing abandoned knives, halberds, spears and other such abandoned weapons and tossing them with terrifying accuracy at various flying Grimm trying to get closer.

But despite his appreciation, he was a bit annoyed that his second in command had gone full fan-girl.

Her orange eyes sparkled against her dark skin, tiger ears twitching. "I didn't even know you COULD suplex a Goliath!"

He heard chuckling from behind before welcomed arms gave a tight hug. "I see Sienna is still enthusiastic over our friendly stranger's ongoing campaign?"

Ghira twisted, pulling his sweet Kali into a deep kiss before nestling against her neck, his arms tightly hugging her close. "I am so glad your division held out."

He felt her chuckle. "Casualties are not only surprisingly light, but we actually have only a few deaths so far. The battle goes beyond well."

Inwardly he sighed. No one fought the Grimm without a price, even if the cost of NOT fighting was far more unimaginable. "I originally hoped the giant could hold the storm for a few minutes... but he may still be battling strong by the time Vale forces arrives."

She pulled back, her black cat ears upright. "You mean we actually DO have reinforcements coming!?"

Ghira's smile was far less stressed. "Not from those Mistral bastards, but Ozpin owed me a drink or two. He got the signal before the tower was assaulted by those Nevermore ranged feather attacks, and I know he will be heading here already."

They blinked as a form dashed close to them. "Ooh! Hey Kali, have you checked out the Grimm blood circle? I don't know art, but I think it's forming some fairly awesome patterns with the splatter!" Sienna suddenly frowned. "Wait... those patterns weren't that clear an hour ago. And... are they starting to glow!?"

Everyone, even the body guards, snapped their attention to the distant corpse line, ignore the blue flames and screams beyond. Black blood was etched into the soil... very unnaturally. Clear shapes where soaked earth bordered untouched land, harsh contrasts that had NOT been apparent originally. Pulsing patterns, with a near black glow that struggled against unseen bonds.

They... sort of looked like Glyphs.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy continued her work. Spirit collection, spirit purification, spirit binding: rune after rune were analyzed, converted into the relevant Glyphs, reviewed more, examined for compatibility, and so forth.

Using telepathy to squish these Grimm or twisting their desires inwards was fine enough, but why waste all this energy filled fluid? If ignored, it would simply evaporate back into nature.

Better to fuel some faith wards.

She couldn't actually activate them, being an extension of Adam's existence at the moment and only having the Magic Socket available to herself, but 'Harmony' DID allow her to bind the rage, the mindless hate, and so forth into the pattern.

She had predictions on what would come from this, but then again magic and belief could mess with those...

So what would happen when raw hate was used to power purification runes? How vicious would the warding system be with the life blood of the foe used for construction? How much Grimm blood could she force into such complicated runes without causing an explosion of negative energy?

It should be interesting to find out.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Commander Travis shuddered, his body twitching.

But he had escaped the chasing Grimm. That massive swarm that came out of nowhere was gone, distracted by his wise choices and quick conviction.

He checked the bandaging on his left arm, the Bullhead jerking in flight due to his lack of attention. It was fine.

Lesser men than he would have gone down in a 'blaze of glory' or whatever, but he knew better.

The bandages were fine. It was fine.

He was very smart. Very smart.

Travis carefully wiped more brain off the window. Very hard to see with the mess. An order to clean the cockpit was ignored again by the body parts near the door. Lazy bastards.

Still, despite his good decisions and command talents, he wished he had killed his men more slowly. The corpses launched from the ship did distract the following Grimm, even if some of the less patriotic assholes had tried to resist his wise... his...

He was very smart. And this was a good idea.

Point was, a lucky shot from one of the soon-to-be-decoy's had made him one handed, and now that the screaming had stopped and it was easier to think... to...

He was very wise. Saved all kinds of time, and he wouldn't have to fill out as much paperwork now. "Squad died." Very quick, and he once he got home he could collect his funds and resources because... because...

He wanted to... donate? To...

Something inside him twitched, and he nodded at how good an idea it was to do certain things. He didn't need all those credits, and his armor was covered in blood and organs anyway, why not sell it? And his squad didn't need those accounts at this point, they were too busy being sorted alphabetically by torso meat length in the cargo bay. At least they knew how to stay on task. Yes, silent majority probably won in this case, and those credits would be needed elsewhere at some point.

This was a good idea. He just knew it.

Last edited: Oct 30, 2019

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#1,296

His lungs vibrated as he hummed with deep satisfaction. Side note: Elephants can hum. Or at least, Elephant Faunus can hum.

His hand smacked the large beast to the side. This was the last Goliath he could see, and he was taking his time to enjoy it. 'Recovery' had allowed him to scan many samples of Grimm during the fight, but it hadn't been a priority really. And a lot of the samples exploded shortly after collection, as things do during fights. So each attack on this enormous creature was also a scan showing composition, how the flesh handled energies of differing frequencies, and so on and so forth.

His massive hands tensed and ripped both tusks off before he kicked the massive beast back into the crowd, a short trench dug by the body.

Also, some parts didn't dissolve after being torn off. Mostly bones and bone like armor segments. It was odd, and meant his recent battles had a bunch of debris that needed to be cleaned up at some point, but it also gave good hand holds and torque points. Mixed blessing really.

He reared back, his right hand glowing with purification energy. "Prayer Pulse."

Sound smashed into the elephantine skull before a white ring sang forth in a sphere, evaporating corrupted flesh.

Simmy was right, yelling out attack phrases made fights more fun!

He ignored the small Beowolf crushed under his steps as he began walking towards the largest remaining clusters of Grimm creatures when he felt a soft voice hum as delicate arms hugged his neck. Or tried to. At his current size, even his wrists were a bit too thick to wrap one's arms around.

A relaxed grin spread over his face as his trunk carefully supported his blue winged shoulder passenger. "Simmy! How goes your end of the battle?"

Wow his voice was deep at this size. Made the ground vibrate a little as well.

She directed his attention towards the bleeding corpses and the massive black Glyphs surrounding the city. Ah.

He nodded, holding his left palm towards the symbols. "No problem."

White power pulsed at the black blood... which glowed with void flames that rapidly spread over the shaped meat juice. Interesting.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira, Kali, and Sienna watched in silence as black flames spread over the many blood spatters surrounding the city Kuo Kuana. Sheets of hot darkness began to reach into the sky... and within the black abyss, red eyes glowed with hunger. Forms seemed to shift in the fire, to turn upon itself and fragment and reforge.

A Boarbatusk too close to the blood line screamed as the black wall bulged into oversized jaws, a fanged mouth erupting from the wall to consume the unprepared Grimm attacker... and then smoothed away into more black power and red eyes. Even as the wall pulsed with the sudden influence of energy, other jaws began to form at the boundary, eyes focused on prey.

On their side of the barrier, they could see the black ooze of the consumed Grimm converting into a white mist even as the grass closest to that side of the barrier pulsed green with life.

Kali frowned, her black furred ears twitching over her pale face. "I'm not going to cross that." She turned to her husband. "We are not going to cross that. Not until we can make sure it won't eat everyone who tries."

Ghira nodded, watching several black tentacles and tongues snap from the black surface to capture flying Nevermores attempting to flee the new border. "Getting close to it seems unwise." A thought crossed his mind, and he snapped back to the technicians... who were as distracted as the rest.

He frowned. "Back to work the lot of ya! When Vale arrives I want to be able to call a warning for them to avoid that thing. No one wants a friendly face to be a surprise snack."

His people got back to work while his wife and second continued to watch the black wall expand, reaching into the sky ever higher with every Grimm too close to avoid consumption. Escaping it was a concern for tomorrow, right now the demon wall was a comforting defense against the diminishing hoards.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam gave a soft trumpet of satisfaction. "So these are the new Glyph patterns?" Unlike the original faith runes, these didn't purify the incoming energies but enslaved them to purpose instead. The more they fought, the stronger they would become really. He could feel the wrath and hunger being actively twisted to desire the flesh of fellow Grimm.

Simmy nodded, innocently kicking her feet as she rested on his left shoulder.

He idly knocked a Sabyr into chunks, the saber-tiger like Grimm unable to even scar his skin at this point. Not that much could after all this adaptation he went through.

His advancements through 'Recovery' had taken a while to adjust correctly. Some parts, like his organs and brain and such, barely accepted faith (Or Aura) modification at all. The exceptions were parts like his lungs or liver, parts that could benefit from organic forms of 'Purification' and such. Most however had performed with lower efficiency with too much faith being supplied, their mortal focus unable to be improved with immortal power.

Other body parts barely resembled normal flesh now. His muscles had strange structures and patterns that glowed with kami, his bones were nearly hollow from all the passages built into them, and his skin had gained gray tattoos that covered most of his white skin. Each part had different percentages of faith based material, too much would make him physically fragile, too little left him weak to spiritual attacks (And possibly magical ones as well). It was an ongoing experiment of trial and error, but his powers were learning a lot in the process.

Adam absently straightened his white suit, his blue hair short and his blue eyes satisfied. Because in the end, he had achieved his ultimate short term purpose.

Lung, or what bits of soul and emotion was remaining, was now entirely gone.

The thing in confinement was now only an Emotion Furnace, designed to take anything and everything, even emotions and prayer energy, and use it as fuel to generate raw power. Simmy and Squishy had even extracted the strange furnace from the internal prison system and constructed a containment structure using magic, faith, and Crystal Shard materials that could handle any unexpected energy pulses safely.

With the fierce fighting allowing that power to circulate correctly, with his advancements in body design able to accommodate the increased energies, with Squishy's better power management and Simmy's advancements in Glyph design and purification methods...

Adam felt at peace again.

It was well timed. Simmy had informed him that more fighters were incoming, the 'Hunters' of Remnant armed with weapons and soul powers. And well... even with releasing the purified corrupted Grimm energies into the air, it was getting harder and harder to keep the monsters attacking as more and more of the Goliaths passed away.

Or blew up.

Let the incoming forces clean up the refuse, Adam had gotten what he wanted. And his soul prison was back down to the three Endbringers, if Simmy still counted as a prisoner considering how little she spent in her cell.

He turned towards the growing black wall of energy, the many red eyes of evil still sending tongues of darkness to pull in Grimm for snack time, and started walking. Fighting for four hours or so was more than enough fun time for now.

Adam blinked at Simmy's pat. Right, he was still like... thirty or forty feet tall or something stupid like that.

He continued to hum at a deep pitch that vibrated the ground as 'Recovery' began simulations for a smaller, compressed form. Big was great for battle, but if he wanted to use a spoon or the restroom at some point it would help if he wasn't five times taller than everyone else. Any excess could be 'Converted' and 'Consumed', and the smaller form may be stronger anyway.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sienna was bouncing as she watched the massive hunk of muscle leave combat and wander towards the city, absently blasting Grimm apart with small twitches of his manly muscles.

She was slightly nervous when he got closer to that black barrier, but the blue angel flew through it just fine earlier and she was a summons of his or something... so he had to be fine too, right?

She blinked as the black fire pulled away on its own, a multitude of red eyes watching the mass of beef cake stroll through with fear etched into the flickering forms.

Mmm, yeah. He was damn fine.

Crap, better get her work done or the Boss may keep her from hanging out with tall, white, and muscly.

She snapped off orders to her teams with far more enthusiasm and efficiency than usual, keeping an eye on the giant that even now was awkwardly meeting with her Boss near the gates.

Seeing her huge leader barely be as tall as the sex god's ankle was more than a bit amusing, but she wanted this crap done so she could go meet up with the hero of the city.

Maybe some fun celebrations and stuff. Mmm yes.

She ignored the workers and repair crews distracted by her antics, she had to hurry things up!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Professor Ozpin checked his scroll, the holograms and timers telling him he was far too late to the fight. The swarm of Nevermores over the sea had been unexpected, and delayed the ships flight by half an hour or more on an already desperate time table.

He tapped the device, getting updates from the various teams he had brought on this trip. A heavy amount of Dust and ammo had been allocated for this rescue mission, most from Ozpin's not so small emergency lien reserves. Not that money was worth much when the lives of thousands hung in the balance.

Please, let some survivors hold off the tide. Even a few dozen would be a victory at this point.

He glanced at the distant skyline, knowing Kuo Kuana should appear at any moment. The ships in formation were blasting any flying Grimm that got too close, but overall the ships were ignoring the black army traveling below in an attempt to reach the battlefield even a moment sooner. Hunters and Huntresses were conserving ammo, only killing the Grimm directly fighting the convoy on its desperate trip.

In the middle of confirming resource use and statistics from his people, he heard an uncharacteristic gasp from Glynda and his attention snapped back to the horizon.

A black wall of fire was burning to the heavens, massive red eyes and black jaws shifting within.

...What fresh hell was this!?

He absently heard static connections being made between the city and his assistant Glynda, the small part of him so happy that anyone was alive buried under concern as his powerful senses explored this... this fire of anger, of rage, of hunger. It was even now drawing what portions of the Grimm forces were too stupid to escape backwards, into many hungry maws. Massive jaws taller than trees were forming and crunching black flesh into blood that seemed drawn to the black flames.

He blinked. "Sorry, what was that Glynda?"

She seemed equally confused. "Chieftain Ghira wants us to focus on driving off the Grimm without getting to close to that black fire... because he wants to talk about the elephant in the room."

He paused. "What's the elephant in the room?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's what he wants to talk about."

...The hell?

The gate was too small.

The tiny leader, Ghira, was also noticing that the massive 17 foot tall gates only came up to Adam's waist.

Adam gently moved his tree sized trunk to tap the arch... which felt far too flimsy to handle him bumbling into it if he tried to crawl under the thing. Not that it would matter, his shoulders were too wide. And he was slowly damaging the pathway just trying to walk here.

He glanced down at the leader of the city. "I uh. I think it would be best for me to relax out here for a while." Where everything wouldn't crumble. Like the streets. And any houses he bumped into. And these tiny, easily missed people that were scurrying about.

Ghira glanced at the slightly cracked archway, and nodded. "Doesn't mean we can't show you some appreciation Adam." It really made his throat a bit sore having to be this loud, but his new friend was around 35 feet tall. Almost eleven meters of muscle and awkward 'I can sit over here' in one package. So one had to adapt.

The ground vibrated as Adam used the defensive wall as a back rest, thankfully far more sturdy than the gate structure section. He felt his body almost hissing as the hot muscles finally began to relax, his battle fever cooling while Simmy hummed softly on his shoulder.

Side note, she was like 9 feet tall or so and was refusing to wear clothes while 'on the clock'. Apparently when you were THIS tall, everyone else just felt super tiny.

He was brought out of his thoughts by several large Faunus, bull related based on the horns, bringing massive cask barrels and making a stack nearby, one guy was helpful enough to rip one end off a barrel for easier consumption.

Adam blinked as he inspected the thing. His hand easily wrapped around the person sized container, it felt like an egg or so in relative size... a quick toss back and he hummed. Some sort of alcohol, but not one he recognized. "Hmm. The taste is fine, but it would be best to hold off on drinking this stuff until I am small enough to enjoy it for a while."

Ghira looked up from directing his people, the tent still being restructured to help their new guest at least get out of the sun. "What do you mean, small enough?"

He looked down at the busy crowd, mostly military as the citizens were still busy manning the walls until the threat was completely gone. "I came here for a good fight and to learn stuff, like how to make weapons or how healing people is different depending on body types. I can't exactly examine Dust or work a forge when I can't even squeeze through the damn streets."

Simmy tapped his head and he blinked before nodding. "Ah, you meant more 'how' than 'why'. I have a series of skills and abilities that are not normal, as I am sure everyone noticed at this point. The ability to control my own biology is one of my oldest, most practiced abilities. I learned how to heal others and work with plants and stuff thanks to that same skill. Making a new body, much less modifying my own, is simple in comparison."

He frowned at his massive arm as it flexed, ignoring the stunned soldiers. "No, I could shrink down instantly if needed, but I am doing this slowly so that my powers can adjust, hopefully keeping some of the advancements in body reinforcement I made during that fight." Being torn apart for that long, while not a huge issue at the time, still was annoying enough for him to want to keep the improvements made.

He gave a weak smile, trunk absently brushing potential dust off his shirt. "At least I am already down to 35 feet or so, in an hour or two I should be down to 30 or better. That said, I do appreciate the effort with the tent... I would like to take a nap after that workout."

A black-eared cat Faunus sauntered in, leading another squad of warriors who were carrying food supplies for their guest. "I'm back! I am pretty sure at this point we can call off the emergency crews and go into repair and recovery stages of emergency."

She blinked as cloth suddenly blocked the sun, tent finally in place over the group that still bustled about setting things up. "Ah. That's actually pretty nice, I hadn't been in the shade for hours now."

Adam slowly nodded, his blue hair brushing the fabric even as ropes were being tossed to secured it. "You would think fighting in this weather would have been very heat intensive, but Grimm blood is surprisingly cool towards the center. Wasn't really trying to treat them as water balloon temperature controllers but it was a lovely side effect."

He saw confusion in the woman's eyes and carefully shrugged, the tent shifting in response. "Grimm tend to pop if you aren't careful swinging them."

Ghira laughed loudly as he pulled the woman into a tight hug and fierce kiss. "My woman can fight an army herself, but I had to force her into leadership to show everyone else how to do things right." He moved from the glowing with embarrassment Faunus and sat at the brought in table. "That said, even her battle record rarely involved 'Grimm Popping', an oversight I am sure she will rectify at some point."

Adam looked down at the conference table... It still looked like doll equipment.

The chieftain looked up. "So. A bit of serious stuff before we relax and call today a glorious victory and all that."

Ghira drank deep from the flask passed to him by his people. "What the hell is that black fire wall, and how dangerous to our people is it?"

Adam blinked. "Ah, the defensive ward." He pointed the tip of his trunk at Simmy. "I had my secretary defend the city so I could focus on punching stuff. She decided to use the Grimm as a fuel source for some modified Glyphs, designed to use the blood of the beasts as a collection array and purification system. This ward is one that grows stronger with time and food supply while defending the city."

Simmy gave a short bow, her assets causing Ghira to lose focus a bit until his wife smacked the back of his head. Not that she hadn't looked too, but honestly. Time and place.

Adam winced himself, though less from sympathy and more from feeling his bones restructure with 'Recovery' and his height start shrinking again. Hopefully he would lose a couple of feet or more this time. "Anyway, negative energies will trigger the barrier. It will eat whatever monsters are near by, then when everything is dead or scared off it should go asleep until needed again."

The woman (Simmy mentally informed him her name was 'Kali') seemed interested. "So it doesn't need Dust for power?"

He started to shake his head before feeling the tent tremble. Right. "No. Dust may enhance the barrier, and some Semblances may empower the thing, but the default Glyph sequence just requires an initial donation of Aura and some Grimm to consume before it is self sufficient."

Kali's attention was focused. "Can you make more of these 'wards' as you call them? And what would we need to do the same."

A small pile of blue feathers poofed on the table, leaving behind a bound book. Thank you Simmy. "My secretary wrote up some educational material. It's enough to teach people how to draw Grimm blood without it evaporating, how to solidify it into the correct Glyph shapes, and how to empower them until they gain enough momentum to stand alone."

He sighed. "Again, I am a bit of an amateur with anything not biologically involved. Simmy loves Glyphs so far, and has been redesigning them since we got here. I should also point out that the wards in this book are far weaker than the ones around the city."

Seeing the looks, he carefully shrugged. "She is able to bleed an army of Grimm into massive, redundant, and individually custom designed Glyphs. I have enormous power reserves. You would need a LOT of people, resources, and time to duplicate even simple protections around your city without me."

He pointed his trunk at the book. "So best to start off with the basics. I'm sure your people can improve them in time to something even better than what Simmy put together." In a few hundred years or so.

Adam reflexively released a yawn... and nearly collapsed half the tent. "Crud. Look, the wards will only attack Grimm and people who intend harm to this city. The bullheads of hunters should be fine to cross over?" He glanced at Simmy who nodded. "Yes, they will have no issues. Can we continue this conversation after I sleep for a while and shrink a few tons?"

Kali blinked. "What?"

Right, she hadn't been here for that. "Ask him. I'm done for now."

Thankfully months of practice as a Baku had trained him for this moment.

The soldiers and their leader eventually left the massive tent, even as snoring echoed out from the shifting cloth. It wasn't like they didn't have mountains of work to do themselves, after all.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sienna looked at her girls. "I know, but this is a special case. I need support."

Tawna rolled her eyes. "Girl, if you want another lesbian orgy there is no need for all the bluffing."

The group blinked when Sienna Khan pulled up an image and emailed the group. "Our target is between 30 and 40 feet tall and covered in muscles. Masturbation alone will need to be a team effort, and I need people I can trust."

Suzanna gaped at the massive muscled man in a wonderfully white suit. "Girl, he would rip you apart!"

Fever burned in her eyes. "I've always loved a challenge."

Tawna scoffed. "Eating a hotdog in one bite is a challenge, trying to have sex with a building, regardless of attractiveness, is just stupid. And yes, likely lethal. There is not enough Aura in the world to heal you if you tried to climb this mountain."

Several other girls nodded. Suzanna sighed. "At least voyeuristic stuff is possible, I guess, but at his size you might end up drowning at the height of your victory! And again, I hate to point this out, but you WOULD BE HIGH UP! Falling or being squished would be a real, possible concern."

Betty was tapping her chin and nodded. "We need scaffolding and safety lines."

Tawna jerked and glared at her. "NO! Do NOT encourage this Betty. I don't care how much of a size queen you are, his unit is probably the size of an ACTUAL MILITARY UNIT! And for all we know he could be gay or even non-sexual. Has anyone actually talked to the guy yet?"

Sienna sighed in romance and lust. "He speaks the language of violence like a poet blessed by heaven."

The crowd paused.

Tawna nodded. "Right, she's lost it. Does anyone NOT lost in sexual fantasy know any ACTUAL information about the man?"

A hand near the back went up. "I helped bring the celebration kegs to his tent. His giant form may be a type of Semblance. I mean, some of the other girls heard him say that he can change size."

Betty nodded. "Dibs."

Suzanna groaned as the girls went back into debate, watching Sienna lose track of the conversation while mumbling about 'Suplex God' and 'Abs you could grate trees on'. At least it seemed like conflict in general was done for today, even if she really wanted to check on her squad and head home already.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy wouldn't stop humming until Adam snagged her with his trunk and wrapped her up in some sort of hug.

Seriously, he COULD go without sleep but 'Recovery' was taking forever on this and he couldn't even enjoy a nice meal until it was over.

There. He absently snuggled the smug angel until she gave up the noise making and relaxed into his embrace. He could worry about politics and all that crap later.

Spoiler: In case Media URLs change in the future

Last edited: Nov 4, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 4, 2019

#1,322

Professor Ozpin flinched as the Bullhead crossed the black flame boundary. Thousands of unseen eyes watched him with hunger as they crossed, and he felt the edges of the world full of fire and rage.

The other side was nearly as bad a shock, as purified energies filled the massive pillar of flames. An unconscious sigh ran through his students even as everyone confirmed that there were no casualties during the crossing.

He checked his scroll. The fire kept the majority of the Grimm away, any getting too close being consumed while screaming. It meant his people could nearly relax, relying on the high ground and firing from the Bullheads as they flew the perimeter.

Now that hours had passed and the vast majority of Grimm had either died or wandered away, they had to risk the black flames to enter the formally attacked city.

Yes, that was unpleasant.

He nodded to Glynda, who managed the multiple landings with the now mostly stable Cross Continental Transmit System back online.

He himself went to find Ghira and find out what the hell was going on.

The Hunters and Huntresses jumped dozens of feet to the ground from the ships even as they landed, moving with purpose as they began disaster relief efforts and standard reinforcement procedures for an area surviving conflict.

He smiled at the busy mass of society. At least those classes were clearly doing their jobs.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira snorted. "No."

Ozpin frowned, before glancing back at the massive tent with multiple guards standing around it. "Did he request solitude?"

His friend clapped Ozpin on the shoulder, directing him away from the interesting person. "The man in there saved my kingdom, my city, my people, and most importantly my baby girl. The least we can do is let him sleep in peace until he wakes."

Ghira ignored Sienna and a crowd of suspicious women, a glance with his wife having Kali run interference. He smiled at Ozpin. "You can wait for any interrogation, why not review the videos we recorded instead? The Giant fought for literally hours after all, we have more than a few popular films making the rounds at the moment."

Ensuring the busybody was distracted would be annoying, but keeping people away from Adam's nap was literally the least they could do at this point to show gratitude. That, and annoying a guy who can rip a building in half seemed foolhardy.

Ghira sighed. "While we walk, I am afraid we must talk about recent... negotiations we attempted with the detachment from Mistral. I am unsure if the individual I worked with was working with official direction or on his own prerogative... either way, he did not leave a good impression as he ran from battle and left us to die."

Ozpin's gaze was now sharply focused and intense. "Indeed? Tell me more."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy hummed, gently brushing Adam's hair as he was firmly held to her chest.

It wasn't HER fault he left the 'Shrink and Optimize' function of 'Recovery' running while asleep. As it was, the man was down to a foot and a half tall, his body so compressed and optimized that he was slowly becoming unable to move.

The perfect plushy, at least until he wakes up and undoes the changes.

She snuggled with the tiny guy, his reinforced trunk idly wiggling as soft snores vibrated from his dreams. Maybe she should convince him to be a snuggle pillow more often.

Her feathers continued to slowly fill the massive depression in the ground that had been caused by Adam sitting earlier, slowly converting the sink hole into a feather floor for her and her toy to relax in.

Then again, her man was currently so compressed that she could drop him from a building and probably not wake him up. Depending on the building, initial velocity, etc and so forth.

It was of course impossible to squish 35 feet of anyone into less than two feet of height, so the majority of mass was burned in the process of experimentation with different muscle densities, formations, enhancements, and so forth.

And at this tiny level, the compression was selected to ensure that the important inner organs and brain and so such would remain safe, unpressured, and undamaged even with so little space available. Sure his limbs couldn't bend, but aside from that small issue his body was fully capable of surviving a train impact without armor. Also, his nerves had adapted in the process... so he was perfectly comfortable snoring away while a massive Endbringer cuddled him with human squishing level of forces.

Aww, look at his wiggling nose!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Kali was tapping her feet very impressively.

Sienna was mostly able to ignore it, but the other girls were rapidly falling into awkward shuffling. "I'm just saying that he may need assistance relaxing. Music and stuff."

Kali glanced over the girls, not one holding an instrument. "So... singing then?"

Sienna flinched. Yeah, she knew that wasn't a talent of hers. "Uh... Massage! Right, we were going to work together cause he is a fairly big guy. Big. Those muscles. Damn. Mmm."

Tawna snapped her fingers in front of Sienna with no effect, then sighed. "Sorry, mam. We don't mean any harm though. And we won't try to force anything, but could we at least say hello?"

Kali sighed and glanced towards her husband, having an intense discussion with the visiting Professor as they walked towards a more secured location. "Maybe later. I won't go into detail, but Giant Adam has requested a bit of a nap to adjust after the fight. Apparently the process of getting that large is easier than returning to a reasonable size."

Betty pumped her fist in the air. "YES!"

She froze when the group turned towards her. "I mean... uh." She wilted... then rallied in confidence. "No. No apologies, FUCK YEAH! Go big or go home!"

Tawna pushed her aside. "Back on topic, can we at least help out in the general area until he is available?"

One of the girls near the back whimpered. "And can I put this climbing gear down somewhere? I can't keep this junk off the ground for much longer."

Kali turned from the drooling Sienna, to the small girl Betty doing some sort of celebratory dance, to the overwhelmed Tawna and her girls trying to bicker quietly.

Screw it. It was her Husband's job to handle the strange crap anyway. "Tawna will be in charge, you girls divide up any jobs that come up, if an issue happens let Ghira know and my hubby will handle it."

Cause SHE wasn't going to.

Kali sauntered back to the technician teams to see what long term modifications and replacements would be needed to keep the network running for the next month. An instant message via scroll was good enough heads up to Ghira about the small army of lecherous women trying to molest their new hero.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The girls cautiously entered the absolutely massive tent... the soft echos of snoring ringing within.

Aside from the piles of packaged food, the barrels of good alcohol, the tent was surprisingly... empty.

Tawna pulled the group further into the dim lighting, the Dust in the lamps hid by the lamp shade to ensure a more relaxing atmosphere. "Hello? We are looking for Mr. Adam Burns?"

From deeper in the tent a musical tune rose from a pit of blue feathers, blue arms holding aloft a toy Elephant Faunus.

...It was adorable.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Thank everything good and innocent that 'Recovery' didn't prevent sleep.

Seriously, powers that prevented or got rid of the need to sleep seemed like a negative option, who wouldn't want to snooze a bit?

Mind you, half the joy of sleeping is the ability to rest among beautiful women and soft stuff... so if he was stuck somewhere alone and rocky, maybe skipping a nap or two would seem like a good plan.

He snuffled, trunk wiggling a bit before it wrapped around something warm and squishy. The moan was ignored as not relevant, and he wiggled a bit to find that comfortable spot.

Right, goals for the near future.

First, once he shrank down to something more reasonable (six feet or so would be fine, he could likely adjust it easily enough once 'Recovery' experiments a bit) he would take some time to explore this city.

Designed for Faunus, there was a whole section in this city that was partially flooded for the aquatic creatures! That sounded neat!

He would likely need money though.

Adam pushed against the warm fingers stroking through his hair.

Flame Metal and Null Metal wouldn't work here. Found that out during the fight, if it got too far from his body the materials would turn into liquid, then explode into pyres of fire and frost. Still not sure why an insulator like Null Metal would spew ice everywhere, but the spikes of frost were quite impressive.

So to get some cash, or lein in this Realm, he would need to borrow some raw material. After he made better tools (Extra suit arms work fine if they don't reach out too far, so that should save lots of time making less dangerously unstable work assistants), then he could build a few Conversion Generators and get going. No galactic sized military to invade THIS area if he built some impossible things. Probably.

He grumbled a bit when someone poked his cheeks and trunk.

Hopefully that would work fine. Everything here was saturated with Soul energy though, so best do some experimentation and make sure the Gather and Construction beams work as designed first. Could a soul be Gathered? Well, yeah, probably. Kami was usable in a conversion generator, so it should all work out eventually.

He blinked awake.

"Oh! He has bright blue eyes! He's so adorable!"

He blinked VERY awake.

Why was he surrounded by sexy giants!? Wait, when did Simmy get so big!? And why can't he move...

...Uh.

Crud, he left the power working and didn't set a timer.

Even as he winced his body made nearly inaudible cracks and shrank another fraction of an inch. Yeah, better turn that off.

With a flex, his body and outfit grew to a comfortable six feet... and then collapsed into blue arms and blue feathers, the ground replaced with a slumber pit of some sort.

And... Completely covered by squealing Faunus girls.

His eyes bulged. "Hey!"

Someone spoke above the din of noise. "Dang it Betty, don't jump the queue!"

Simmy snickering was NOT helping him get free. "Hang on, what's going on right now!?"

He felt the angel petting his head as a serious tiger woman leaned in FAR TOO CLOSE, rubbing her cheeks against his and purring. "Hi. We are part of the service staff selected for the temporary tent residence you are currently using. We welcome your attendance and wish you a pleasant stay."

Her eyes glowed with a dangerous light. "Now, Mr. Muscles McGee, we are just going to verify that you are uninjured, or if more medical attention is required."

He yelped, ignoring Simmy giving the cat eared beauty a thumbs up. "Can I get a bit of space first!? Last thing I remember is trying to take a nap."

The girls 'examining' his torso pouted, but did give him some room. Mostly.

"Betty you slut, get off him!"

"NEVER!"

Adam felt his chin pulled away from the sight, focused back on the woman with bright orange eyes. "Ignore them." HOW!? "Listen, your guardian angel Simmy gave us this letter from a 'Narwhal' that she claims would explain everything."

Adam focused with difficulty, opening the blue letter. "Dear Darling, make sure Simmy records any orgies from the good angles."

...Yeah, that sounds like Narwhal.

He sighed, suit forming multiple limbs that gently moved the surprised women off his (now well handled) body. "Girls, I am more than surprised and grateful for this kind of attention, but I am not comfortable with random sexual encounters. I want to actually get to ACKH!"

One of the cow girls smacked a wiggling bottom. "Off Betty! Dust, you weren't this uncontrolled an hour ago."

He glared over his shoulder at the still three-foot-taller-than-him blue angel, her sexy smirk NOT helping him stay calm from all the stimulation. "You know I won't do anything without Narwhal's explicit permission. I didn't do squat with the other dream girls before I talked to her last time, I won't do anything without her consent now either."

Her smug look grew wider as a letter was held up.

Adam's expression went a bit blank as he read the long note from his girlfriend. Whom apparently had a bit of a fetish for a long list of body types. And requirements needed to be met, personality types acceptable, and so on and so forth. Not to mention the personal incentives she would give if he hit certain goals. Like he was some sort of intergalactic realm wandering pimp.

He looked at Simmy. "This is... a bit offensive."

A second note. "Oh." That girl. "So she is trying for punishment games. Fair enough."

The third note covered the issue with a more serious tone, and included input from CD and Nightmare Moon. While his girls in Worm had no issue keeping urges within the group, so to speak, they had laid out guidelines about what kinds of activities they felt were 'fair game' when traveling to new realms.

Not nearly as 'Collect them all!' attitude as the first letter suggested, but far less restrictive than he was expecting.

He looked at the awkwardly shuffling girls, mostly lined up except for the two pulling Betty away from his lower region. "Right, got some notes from my girlfriends. Basically I don't personally like the idea of 'no string' relationship encounters. Full stop. However, I am willing to try talking a bit and seeing if any of us actually have the potential for a longer term relationship."

Keep focus, ignore Simmy's leer, ignore Betty's... everything.

Adam honestly never saw a conversation like this happening, but his life had always been weird so... whatever. "I feel I must mention that my girls always come first, and until you are accepted by them don't really expect much 'action', so to speak."

This got him more than a few pouts, but he had felt blessed enough with just Narwhal. The letters were enough to keep him from giving an instant and default 'No' to everyone, he could read between the teasing to see that Narwhal found the group idea pretty sexy, but he came to this Realm for a reason. An actual reason.

Harem collection wasn't it. No matter WHAT Simmy implied.

He clapped his hands, muscled limbs flexing. "Right, I've shrunk over 30 feet and slept for hours, anyone know where to get some food?" He winced. "And a bathroom. In fact, restroom first, then water, then food, then maybe I will be awake enough to understand where all you girls came from and why."

One of the girls with a cat tail raised her hand. "The belly dancer outfits came from Ms. Angel."

He gave Simmy a deadpan look... and she just puffed her chest and looked even more proud. Her nude chest.

Damn it.

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So, coffee exists here. Made from plants infused with soul energy. Just what one needed after a hasty bathroom break and some unsatisfying military rations.

THIS was something he would bring home to his girls. "Mmm."

The 'leader' Tawna offered a small pot. "Honey?"

Adam chuckled, trying to ignore the small squad of armed female Faunus in sexy dancer outfits following behind them. And 'Betty', the cow girl riding on his shoulders. "Why not? This stuff is amazing plain though."

Sienna padded up to his right absently twirling some sort of chain whip with blades, orange eyes glaring at the passing women. "So what can we do for you, Sir Muscle-ton?"

He frowned. "Right, first I have no money... so let's go fix that. Anyone know where I can get to a workshop and where I can find some scrap materials?"

One of the girls raised a hand. "I'm a weapon craftier, and I don't mind if you borrow our forge a bit." The girl next to her nodded. "As for scrap, anything from a damaged weapon tends to be ground up and added to the metal of the replacement parts. We believe strongly in communing with our tools and weapons, and it is not uncommon for recycled powder or weapons to be used for literally generations in a family."

He checked the dog eared girl. "Roxie, right?" A nod. "I don't need much at first, but the more raw material I have the more I can accomplish. It doesn't have to be anything with the emotional investment as weapon parts, I can use raw ore or cut ends and whatnot. Even slag from the refinement process can help me a lot."

Half the crowd scattered, barely any orders passing as Sienna made some hand gestures. "Right, we'll head over to Roxie's joint while the girls collect some raw material and any scrap or loose bits they can. Meanwhile, tell me a bit how you went from massive and murder-fun to tiny and adorable?"

They chatted a bit, Betty finding his ability to shape shift almost TOO exciting, as they wandered through Kuo Kuana. A feeling of excitement was pulsing in the street, the lack of heavy death and property damage pulling a festival feeling in the air as people dashed everywhere.

They were walking towards what Simmy noted as the Chieftain's house, Ghira's place, and the main street was covered with market stalls that owners were eagerly returning to, trying to take advantage of the emotional high running through the crowds. He ended up trying a few snacks being sold along the way, the girls insisting he try a few samples even if they were paying for it.

Roxie's place was near the industrial section of the city, which was surprisingly close to Ghira's home and the center of town. The biting smell of hot metal twanged in the air, with clouds of steam showing that Roxie's place was more like a Guild Hall than a personal forge. The entrance alone was wide with constant traffic, workers and material loaders pushing through all kinds of equipment and resources while crowds of Hunters and high level Crafters passed alongside them.

Not that he had much time to explore, as the girls plied him with questions and offered snacks and refills of coffee even as they moved towards the work floor.

It was a bit crowded, and he felt a little overwhelmed... but it was a welcoming feeling as well.

Finally though, he had arrived. Piles made with ingots of metal, massive wooden barrels filled with powders and shrapnel, and access to a secured wall section filled with Dust and Dust Crystals of all kinds of natures. Fire, Ice, Electric, Gravity, Combustion, Hard-Light, all kinds of it was carefully seperated and sorted... and it pulled his attention. Like sunshine behind a waterfall, he was drawn close.

The girls rapidly found their new friend beyond distracted, ignoring the world... as a forest of bone limbs erupted from his white suit.

Adam on the other hand, was entranced.

Dust was amazing.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sienna watched Betty get gently lifted by a twelve jointed bone limb, white fingers carefully placing the squirming feminine package into her arms as a multitude of others began pulling Dust from the reserve wall as if they were free samples.

Not that they would say anything.

The man's assault on Grimm earlier had done more good than gathering ALL this expensive Dust and detonating it. They wouldn't be so stingy as to refuse him access if he needed it to work with.

That said, she winced with a few others as rare samples kept for months or years were casually pulled from storage and evaporated by some sort of red beam of light.

The nearby work stations, which had slowed significantly when an elephant Faunus surrounded by very powerful and socially significant women just waltzed into the building, now ground to a halt.

Metal, barrels of scrap, and millions of lein in Dust were just vanishing into the twisting bone forest of limbs as the man's bright blue eyes blazed with fire, something glowing and twisted swirling under his focus as small hisses and pops made the wary flinch.

It couldn't be dust explosions, not with pops that weak. But he was doing something even as metal was melted in the air near his hands, as wire was inserted and laid, as thin plates were welded and screwed into place.

It was art. A symphony of parts and limbs and focus, somehow avoiding collisions and disaster by the smallest of margins.

The fact that he could sip coffee without the rapid motion of the tools and arms getting in the way was impressive as well.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

First, Dust in general was not only crystallized kami, it was also not quite existing in three dimensional space.

It wasn't just multi-dimensional though. It was sort of... folded on itself. If reality was a series of fabric layers, one on top of the other, this stuff was bulging slightly into other areas of reality without breaking through.

Probably was how weapons could shift from a spear to a sniper rifle or chain gun, really. It wasn't quite soul storage like Adam used, but it didn't hide stuff in another chunk of reality like Shard Crystals did either.

It was an odd effect of having so much faith impregnating the material world. Add in that the entire population of this planet only survived fighting the Grimm thanks to Dust, and well... worshiping the material and finding soul connections to the weapons that used Dust made a lot more sense.

That said, his personal kami peanuts were more pure in a way. Like unaligned Dust, it could be powdered and added to existing Dust Crystals to cause them to expand and grow.

Thankfully that test used a nearly impossible to measurable fragment of his faith, as the new Gravity Dust had nearly covered his work space until he could get the Gather beam to consume it at the same rate as expansion. As it was, it took a few minutes before he could absorb enough away to get back to work.

Good to know though, some of these samples were in very low supply. He probably got here between the resupply schedules.

Adam absently whistled as he carefully duplicated completed Dust crystal samples of each type and began restocking the secured wall supply. No reason to use up the last of their samples, what if someone else wanted to test stuff out? They could probably pull what they needed from their reserve supplies, but there was no reason to not simplify the process. It was only polite.

Making new Dust crystals would be expensive normally, but in a Realm like this where Faith grew exponentially? Simplicity itself! Plus he was cheating, there was far more of some types like Fire or Combustion Dust than the others like Purity or Hard-Light. Not to mention his Dust exponential growth accident earlier.

A little advanced analysis to compare the folded Crystal Frameworks for the most stable and pure pattern, a bit of 'Research' to enhance the structure further to an optimal shape... and a Construction beam build later, new sample Dust Crystals!

He would have the wall restocked in a bit, which should then allow him to continue working on his project without guilt. It was like being that guy who took the last piece of pizza, and no one liked that guy.

Back to his project, Simmy floated behind him, mentally offering modifications to his designs from her simulated experiments on the various faith imbued materials. It was not going to be a Droid or anything, introducing them here seemed dangerous, but this was a Matter Furnace using only local materials. It would join the (still being designed) Gather/Construction Gun and a small Storage Unit so he could build stuff here even without the super convenient Flame and Null Metals. Probably would need improvements later, but for now it was good enough.

He hummed a bit as molten metal was floating over his head, Dust powder was being added to some plastic and glass panels, and wiring with Electrical Crystal Dust was etched into some metal surfaces. Seriously, he would need to take a month or two and explore Dust in general, it was basically magic or partial Shard powers in a very basic form, crystallized. It couldn't handle anything advanced like flight or whatever on its own, but it managed to generate energy types without actual dimensional shenanigans, and could replace entire chunks of Crystal Shard Planets normally used to create those required effects.

Heck, some spells could be vastly simplified thanks to the materials nature. The spells could toss out the flame generation and so such and focus on straight control options instead... much easier.

In the end, it was all a bit slap dash really. Adam hadn't even had a chance to connect to the CCT System here and download publicly available information yet, but he had a lot of stuff he wanted to get done and this would be a simple way to make any stuff needed later on in this adventure.

He grinned as the materials being modified slowly grew in complexity, forming a backpack like structure to hold the Matter Furnace and Storage Unit together and out of the way while he worked in the future.

Narwhal would be so proud that he was thinking ahead this time!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Second in command Sienna, the head of the Weapons consortium Roxie, and the girls responsible for trade, manufacturing, and so forth... they were all entranced.

Amidst the confusion and loud sounds of Adam's work, the flow of lost materials slowed... and reversed.

Mountains of absorbed Dust, some worth more than a small town's yearly income per gram, some so rare that no one dared to actually use them despite free access... Dust Crystals began to appear from the busy bone limbs and be carefully reinserted into the storage wall.

Not just the dirt cheap Combustion Dust or the common Fire Dust, Crystals of rare and near impossible to ever see Dust types were rapidly filling the containment units. Some, like the Plant Dust Crystal, never existed before! Kuo Kuana as a city had never seen anything more than Plant Dust in powdered form, and rarely at that! The stuff was beyond valuable, as it could directly increase plant life and crop growth. The few rumored Plant Dust Crystals to be found had been snatched up by Atlas, their frozen landscape needing enhanced farm methods for survival.

And now they had access to hundreds of them. And counting.

Rack after rack of Dust shelving compartments had Crystals increased in quantity, and before Sienna knew it the entire thing was now full and Adam's limbs were starting to fill the powdered Dust sections as well. As if it was barely worth mentioning to resupply an entire city with rare materials. Just... more and more.

She glanced at the girls, who also seemed a bit disturbed. How were they supposed to pay back their hero if he just spews cash in every direction!?

Their thoughts were broken off when a happy cry came from the man. "ALRIGHT!"

A glowing backpack, thousands of thin dust patterns with strange combinations of sparkling circuitry, was casually strapped onto the Elephantine Faunus's shoulders. An odd gun was attached to tubing connected the system together, and his smile was wide even as his trunk wiped sweat from his brow.

He turned to the overwhelmed Sienna, probably for the best since Tawna was still staring numbly at the massive wall of Dust storage so recently filled to capacity. "Right, I got the tools I need now... but I have run quite short of scrap and such. I know I've asked for a lot, but I promise I can make some neat stuff that would be really useful if you guys just loan me some more resources and some land to build on."

He pumped the gun which began to glow pulses of red and green. "Though I will need to talk to Ghira again at some point to find out what would be valuable here. Thinking about building some automated healing stations or something if I can get enough biological scans first. Maybe some food production, since this land mass seems to be two thirds desert."

Sienna absently led the muscled miracle man away, giving her girls time to recover and follow later.

And blinked. Did he really build Betty a saddle on his new backpack? Huh. She did seem comfortable up there.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam was near bouncing in eagerness, Betty's arms hugging his head. He could build a fort! No, some sort of massive tower maybe. With floors to convert excess kami and faith into needed materials.

Ooh, maybe a pizza joint? Did Remnant even have pizza? He should make sure his tower could grow or provide the right ingredients.

A thought had Simmy hum. He would have the needed seeds when the time came. And free food was always a good thing, right? Should earn him enough money to buy weapon parts or whatever.

And even if he might have showed off a bit with the robot bone arms, he managed to mostly stay under the radar, he felt. Stealthy Adam, that's what they should call him!

Not sure why Simmy was sniggering though.

Last edited: Nov 7, 2019

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Adam grinned as he followed Sienna into a secured building. "Ghira! Good to see you now that we are roughly the same eye-level."

The man blinked. "Adam?" He grinned. "I see you've lost some weight."

They shared a man hug even as Adam laughed deeply. "A bit of baby fat I'm sure, didn't need it anyway."

Adam glanced at the crowd. Nope, no idea. Looking back at the Chieftain he grinned. "Now that I'm not stupid tall and you guys aren't in the middle of battle preparation, I have a few things I want to try and bargain for. Hopefully in the process helping your city out and earning myself some money."

Ghira noticed his wife being flagged down by a hastily speaking Sienna. Hmm. "Right, what can I do for you, my no longer over-sized friend?"

His trunk resettling Betty on her saddle, he leaned forward. "I have many unusual skills and technological know how, but I need some property to build on. Due to how dangerous some of the stuff I build can be, it needs to be land you won't need back at a future point." Seeing his expression, Adam grinned. "No worries, I promise I can earn enough to properly buy the place if you let me get started."

His wife made some... interesting hand gestures. "One moment, Adam. And I am sure we can find some space for a man with your talents, just give me a bit to find one easily secured... especially if it will hold fragile machinery."

Adam watched his purple-robed friend start a heated whisper conversation with Sienna and his wife, Kali. Right up until a white haired gentleman wearing mostly dark green approached, sipping something from a mug. "I suppose you are the giant being mentioned around town?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Well, not currently, but at the time I was a fair bit taller."

A soft chuckle had the man extend an open hand. "Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. In Vale, if you were wondering."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ozpin shook hands with the tall muscular Faunus and felt a body stronger than stone. Maybe stronger than most metal, the hand he shook flexed barely at all before something rigid gave physics the middle finger.

He absently gazed at the short cow Faunus ridding some sort of backpack saddle setup that glowed strangely on the man's back. From her small stature but mature body, she was likely Betty Bordeaux, the guild leader of Kuo Kuana's wine and dairy industry district.

She seemed to be gnawing on Mr. Adam's blue hair. And clearly unfocused.

He looked back at the mass of man and muscle. "I hear you saved the day when my good friend needed it most."

The man chuckled awkwardly, then pointed to the side. "Honestly I sent Simmy to protect this place, I just wanted to go punch some Grimm and relax a bit."

Ozpin glanced left... and up. A nude blue angel. How modern. "Quite."

Adam grinned. "Right, full introduction I suppose. I'm Adam Burns, very long distance traveler just arrived in the area and man looking for a fight, knowledge, and a chance to explore a bit. Got the fight down for now, though I might get lucky if the Grimm are dumb enough to attack a carnivorous wall of fire, and now I am trying to get some facilities set up."

Ozpin glanced at his friend and wife talking quietly with Ms. Khan... whom seemed far less frustrated and bloodthirsty today. Unusual. They seemed busy discussing something or other. "What specifically are you intending to build, if I may ask?"

Adam held up some sort of tube gun, something like a flamethrower? It was connected to Miss Bordeaux's seat. "Made this gadget to gather and restructure material so I can make some autonomous drones with Construction beams. Makes buildings simple to set up. If I can get Ghira to give me some space to get started, I can make whatever people in this town need most and charge a bit under market value for it. Should be easy cash at that point."

He glanced at the device at Ozpin's side. "By the way, saw lots of people with those things attached. What are they?"

Before Ozpin could respond, Ghira marched back into the conversation. "Adam, quick question. Did you restock the forge Dust supply?"

They both watched Adam's confused expression. "You mean the Dust sample wall? I thought it only fair to replace what I used. Whoever used it before me had been very impolite, using so much up and not going to your stock to restore it. Some of the storage bins were just plain empty! So I just topped the whole thing off. I didn't cause a problem or something, did I?"

Ozpin glanced at Ghira, who noticed the expression and sighed. "We don't have a Dust sampling display, those shelves and storage devices were the entire City reserves. And apparently some of the Crystals you supplied us have never been found intact by our people before. Possibly not by anyone before."

Seeing Adam's confusion and ignoring Ozpin's gobsmacked expression, Ghira waved his hands. "Dust naturally forms Crystals, any attempt for us to make them artificially causes explosions. Since most Crystals are damaged or partially formed when found, we have to reduce the found fragments into powder simply to get any kind of safe and stable use out of it. So Dusts that are more rare or that show up in low amounts have an extremly low chance to be found in an intact crystaline formations."

Adam hummed, trunk rubbing his chin. "So how much would a machine that converts loose powder into an optimized Crystal formation be worth?"

Ghira's pause gave Ozpin a chance to step in. "Can I see a sample? The quality and purity of a Crystal changes the labeled 'grade' of the Dust significantly."

Kali and Sienna got close as the two men watched Adam point his tube-gun-thing at his other hand... and a green beam shined down as a red gem began to form. Within moments a fist sized crystal of near transparent ruby glowed in his grasp. "This stuff is far less explosive when in a stable format like this, but don't go shooting it or something."

Ozpin carefully accepted the Fire Dust Crystal. "Crystals come in grades, with 'Grade 0' being powder form, 'Grade 1' being deeply flawed but still stable, and upwards being what percentage of volume contain flaws and the determined degree of severity in the worst found flaw."

The rotated crystal was too clear. Nearly cartoon level of perfection. "I don't have a grade scale for this. Normally, near invisible gaps of gas or misaligned structure is common even in the highest quality samples I've seen... It is very obvious this stuff was artificially produced, the organic production process CAN'T produce something of this level of quality."

Kali silently held a hand out and accepted the sample. "Our weapons by necessity use powder, as the quality is standardized at a fine enough powder level, but vehicles and advanced machinery can use crystals like this directly. Also by necessity, our devises have to dynamically adjust internally during use as even crystals within the same Grade of quality can vary greatly during consumption."

She held the gem to the light. "Older devices will not be able to use this directly without adjustment, too pure. But once modified, they would only benefit from the quality increase. Longer use, better efficiency, lower faults and so forth."

Adam hummed. "Well. I suppose I can make a few powder-to-crystal conversion devices then, since it sounds profitable. Not comfortable giving out a Dust conversion machine though, changing Dust between types is too unstable. Not without making a machine at least the size of a large house."

Ozpin chuckled as Adam realized everyone was staring at him with some kind of hungry look. Not, the Professor chuckled, that the women around HADN'T had hungry looks to begin with... but now the predator eyes of business and profit had found the poor boy.

Ghira gripped Adam's shoulder tightly. "Screw the council, I just happen to have a house far to big for my small family. What could you get done if I gave the back half of it to you?"

The slightly shorter leader of the city was already dragging Adam towards the center of town, Sienna held back whining by Kali who clearly had a few extra questions to ask.

Professor Ozpin chuckled as he realized for once he WASN'T being focused on by the general crowd, and began wandering along behind the Dust wizard elephant Faunus and the random crowd of powerful business women who seemed to be his entourage.

He blinked. Right, he should have asked why a nude blue woman was flying along with the man. Things had gotten a bit side tracked.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam leaned back, using his trunk to wipe his brow with a rag. "Right, that's a hundred powder to crystal conversion machines. Simmy?"

He accepted the papers from midair. "Here are the schematics, the procedures and tools to build or repair parts, the Glyphs needed internally and which will need maintenance first, and a general safety guide. You know, not too much Dust or it will explode, not too little Dust or it will go unstable and explode, don't eat ham sandwiches too close or it will explode, and so forth."

Ghira and the dog Faunus Roxie were already reading the documents, Roxie so close to one of the machines she was almost cuddling it.

Adam brushed his hands clean... well cleaner. "It won't be high output, maybe a hundred Crystals in an hour or so, but it is better than nothing."

He moved towards the back section of the massive mansion. "So with that as payment, everything from here backwards is mine to work with?"

Kali noticed her very distracted husband and stepped up. "Right, I would like to keep a bit of back yard for my baby Blake to play in, but from here to the back fence is all yours to work with."

Adam felt a grin on his face, gently pulling a complaining Betty off his pack only for her to snugly hug his leg. "Right, well this should be more than enough."

First, some of this 'Combustion Dust Crystal' for fuel. Forming a basic gem, he tossed it on the ground and pointed his Gather gun at it... and then focused.

A white peanut appeared and gently fell towards the glowing orange rock. Adam focused his Gather beam and began consuming the mess right as the white peanut came in contact...

A harsh crackle like fractured glass shocked the air as a wave of orange Crystal sprouted away from the Gather beam and grew over the lawn. Harsh tings and tangs of cooling metal filled the air even as the sections closest to Adam vanished into his machine, sparks of orange light pulsing even in the sunlight.

Adam ignored the now quiet crowd, collecting more Dust until his Storage Unit was filled. This faith crystal was VERY good fuel, broke several rules about the conservation of energy and mass.

Within moments, he converted the energy into a series of small drones. Each with Storage Units, each with Gather and Construction beams, each with gravity manipulation emitters. And right here... a base station.

Gather a few feet into the ground, Construct a metal protective case, a LARGE Storage Unit, a Conversion Generator filled with some faith doped Combustion Dust, a Matter Furnace, and a docking station with robotic limbs to help connect to drones.

He watched as a drone flew down to the black metal surface, connected to the station, and filled the Storage Unit onboard with energy and some material... before being replaced by the next one in line.

Adam nodded. "Good enough. Now, Simmy please have them build a square building above and below ground. Dangerous stuff a few floors down, vending machines at ground level, and all the farm designs in a tower above that. Don't go higher than Ghira's place, we can make more room below ground if it is really needed."

The blue woman saluted with a whistle and flew off, the dozen or so constructor drones following her directions even as Adam made a few more to act as an excavation crew and to harvest the still growing Combustion Dust Crystal.

...On second thought, better double the excavation droids. The growing Crystal hadn't slowed down yet.

Watching Simmy direct some drones to work with the base station, generating a larger work force, Adam gave a firm nod. "That should handle it. I'm done here."

Turning towards the distracted crowd, he walked to that Ozpin guy, ignoring Betty's grip on his left leg. "Right, Professor Ozpin. I was wondering about that device you all seem to have?"

The others were busy watching the back yard dissolve into red Gather beams anyway, so he likely had time for a short chat. These 'Scrolls' were fascinating faith-enhanced technology.

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Ghira watched the Elephant Faunus follow Sienna towards the nearest shop that sold Scrolls, Professor Ozpin staying behind, probably to talk about the Dust Crystal compressors.

He held up a hand before Ozpin could say anything and turn to Roxie. "Well?"

Roxie's grin was electric. "This is not only a device that we can build, but one that can be built fairly cheaply. Does not even require the more esoteric materials to set up."

She pointed at a blue, near transparent gem. "Furthermore, we missed a couple of important points during the discussions."

He watched with interest as she held up samples. "Notice that regardless of Dust type, they are forming into standardized Crystals? The more rare or bizarre types of Dust tend to form very strange and unstable Crystal shapes, like spirals or with fragile points."

Roxie pulled out several glowing gems. "Not his stuff. All of it is even more stable and regular than the most common Dust Crystals in nature, Fire Dust. We are going to need several teams of researchers to be assigned to this, and a lot of new hardware redeveloped."

Ghira nodded. "But overall it should be far cheaper than what we use now?" Seeing a nod, he gestured a few assistants over and began assigning personnel.

Professor Ozpin was watching with curiosity as some powdered Dust was being crystallized... then processed back into powder. "What are you testing with the Electric Dust over there?"

Roxie glanced. "Ah, that was thanks to one of my girls making a comment. After crystal fragments get ground down into powder, further refinement and filtering is not really possible without setting off esoteric effects or changing the Dust's nature. Dump the powder into one of Adam's refined Crystals, grind that back to Grade 0, and we get some of the most pure quality results with really amazing consistency. Ammo production will love it."

Professor Ozpin sighed. "I'm not getting any of these machines to take home, am I?"

Ghira laughed loudly even as his wife handed him some forms. "No, but we don't forget our friends. I assure you our prices will be far lower than the rest of the market, even better if you can help us acquire Grade 0 Dust in the future for us to get around the general racism in pricing we run into. Especially if you can get samples of any Grade 0 our stocks don't already possess, I want Adam to see them and possibly generate more if his quip about type conversion is an actual possibility."

Ozpin was about to accept when a frustrated growl echoed in the room. "Headmaster!"

A very perturbed Glynda Goodwitch stalked into the room, some of his squad leaders following the angry woman, her riding crop slapping her palm. "When I agreed to assist with organizing the recovery procedures, that did NOT imply that I should be abandoned without notification as you wander away!"

Ozpin carefully sipped from his mug. Drat.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The place Sienna led Adam to, 'When Hunter`s can`t, Faun-Doo!', was a combination restaurant and electronics store. Hunters would come in, leave their equipment to be modified/repaired/maintained, then order from the various dip related dishes ranging from oil to cheese to chocolate.

So cows should exist somewhere. Or very kinky cow Faunus? Better not ask.

Their electronics selection was (obviously) limited, but Adam found a section with the standard Scroll options easily enough. Sienna covered the bill, saying that her Boss would insist on it and then pouting when he tried to object. Damn those orange eyes, they could be pretty adorably insistent.

Now however, he had a top of the line model and a bottom of the barrel designed Scroll, both to be dismantled and explored. After he finished the group meal.

It was an Fondue dish in a less official sense, technically a Fondue Bourguignonne where meat slices were being dipped into hot broth for cooking rather than treats into cheese, but yeah. Good stuff.

He looked up when another sat at his table. Ah, Ghira's wife Kali. She glanced from his trunk moving sliced beef to his mouth to the partially disassembled electronics his many limbs were poking. "Huh."

Kali leaned in a bit, her cat ears perked. "So I assume you had a chance to look over a Scroll at this point?" Noticing the partially hidden second device, she blinked. "I mean, Scrolls... I suppose."

Adam nodded, swallowing quickly. Shouldn't talk while eating. "Found some interesting implications in Remnant design choices."

Seeing Sienna was also interested, and feeling that he had some time anyway since Simmy was building away at his tower, he held up some parts. "Right, so basic stuff I figured out."

He held open the casing. "Most of the hand held device is junk. Impact absorption gel, armor plating, it has nothing to do with the actual components needed to work. Scrolls in general seem designed to be damaged, soaked, electrocuted, shocked, dropped, and probably eaten."

Sienna's face grew dark. "Yeah, from what I know it is so Hunter or Civilian remains can be identified if their towns are destroyed by Grimm. Supposedly can survive digestion."

Adam shrugged. "Well, the hardware has almost no moving parts and from what I can tell use Dust tainted materials that interact with the owner's Aura. Technically some of the Dust included in the wiring, emitters, and so forth get used up over time... but most of it uses the owner's Aura as a power supply, builds some up like a capacitor inside the armored shell, and uses the tainted materials to simulate actual Dust usage. Should last for decades if one is lucky."

He moved the other device forward. "The expensive Scroll model actually allows direct Grade 0 Dust to be added to make everything longer lasting and more powerful, but that made it harder to adapt for my needs. The final design was better in many ways, but over simplified and lacked interesting tricks since it could ignore Dust consumption by making you refill it."

Adam shook his head. "The big one is the holographic display, which uses fractions of Hard-Light Dust embedded in the emitters, with some wiring acting as securing frames for the edges of the screen when expanded that harden under Electric Dust charge. To keep the Dust from being wasted, all kinds of small tricks and modifications to the materials were built in... it is the most complicated part of this device."

He frowned a bit, moving the scroll to the side. "The communication hardware is sub-par by far in comparison." He took another bite. Mmm, this broth was good. Not chicken based though. Well, not the species of chicken HE knew.

Kali blinked. "I'll be honest, I didn't do well in my tech based courses. Focused more on combat and such. Why does that make the cheap version more interesting for you though?"

Adam grinned. "I can more easily replace the materials with alternatives I have, including the power source. Sienna was telling me that her girl group has quite a few mover and shakers in the local economy, and a few would be interested in a Scroll with more features without sacrificing durability or increasing Dust consumption."

He swallowed some sort of pork related meat. Probably pork, though it had a bit of a beef undertone. Note to self, look up the Cuisine world here. If for no other reason to prevent Boro and Robo from kicking his butt later. "I may design something later, but Scroll development won't be my focus. More interesting to me is your software design philosophy."

Sienna and Kali blinked as Adam continued. "Your software is developed just like your hardware, with the expectation that the user will be out in the wild and have difficulty communicating. It is rugged and redundant."

He gestured toward the devices. "Data is compressed heavily and digitally signed, then broken into packets that go through a cryptographic hash. So is the file as a whole. Then all the pieces search for the nearest devices and duplicates are sent in alternate directions for redundancy and... all kinds of neat stuff."

Adam grinned as he reached for some more beef-pork. Better than straight beef so far. "If many people are trying to get the same file, nearby devices can act as additional sources to reduce overall traffic and server loads. The protocol is designed to expect whole nodes of the network to vanish or pop up without warning, and the more people in one area with Scrolls the better the network as a whole can act."

Dang this is good stuff. He swallowed and waved a hand. "Scrolls, as you know, can act as a point to point radio, a phone, a temporary server, and so forth. Most importantly, if I build some interesting new hardware all of these devices can connect to them without any additional actions or updates needed."

Kali pulled her Scroll and was ready to take notes. "I assume you have devices you wish to set up in the city?"

Adam nodded, a bone limb twisting another part of the Scroll open. More defensive redundancy parts, nothing new. "Not going to bother redesigning the Scrolls as I said, seems like a lot of work without improving things much. No, after we eat I want to go see your local 'Cross Continental Transmit System' setup. An extra one or two can be constructed without the system having a problem."

From what he could gather, the Towers were mostly limited in number due to costs and time requirements. For people NOT capable of the stuff Adam pulls by accident, the individual components seemed to be very costly to create, requiring specific stages of dust impregnation, sealing layers, special fuel supplements and more. Not that he had full schematics yet, it was only polite to ask first.

Back to the point, with this design the people acted as part of the needed hardware. Their Scrolls were using the massive CCT Systems as hubs that had enough power to connect to outside sources. Locally? The network was one big mesh. A growing, warping mesh of devices.

Side note. Security? Nearly none. The possibility of catastrophic hardware failure was almost guaranteed, the hardware or even PEOPLE who had encryption keys could be lost at any moment, and the risk of important data loss was too damn high to risk secured networks or so forth.

Instead, they had developed amazing software to ensure accountability even with how strange the network looked when mapped out. It was near 'Big Brother' levels of observation, and if the entire planet wasn't constantly at war someone would have abused this exposed system by now. They probably already had at some point, and discovered the dire consequences.

Getting restricted data? Easy. But you best justify why you got it if you didn't want a Hunter to show up with a blade to your throat.

It was amazing the setup had worked this far, as one theoretical person who didn't care about Humanity and Faunus continuous existence could cause massive damage to the system.

Adam blinked, realizing that he had been passing Betty skewers of meat for the last half hour or so, his constant tinkering distracting him. "Betty, are you sure you don't want to sit next to me? It would make eating easier."

The woman just squeezed his neck with her thighs and continued enjoying her snack.

Oh well. They were very soft thighs after all.

Ignoring the distraction, he focused back on Kali. "So after the meal, can we head to the relay tower next?"

Kali shook her head. "Wouldn't help you. Ours was damaged heavily via Nevermore attack. Theoretically."

Sienna snorted, a dark look crossing her orange eyes. "Sure. And those traitor soldiers from Mistral just happened to pull away for 'safety' reasons when it was attacked. And I saw some structural damage that looked more like a blade and less like a Grimm feather."

Kali sighed. "Regardless, there isn't much point in viewing it right now." She pulled her own scroll out, tapping a bit while Adam passed Betty another pork skewer. Giving anything Beef related to a Cow Faunus seemed uncouth.

She nodded. "Right. Here are the schematics for the most advanced form of CCT System researchers have verified as buildable. This is an ongoing global project most of the kingdoms spend some Lien on every year, even if the current schematics being used in the field are over a dozen designs behind."

Seeing his confusion she sighed. "The really advanced stuff requires not only extremely expensive components and beyond difficult building methods, but the size and Dust Crystals needed are... an issue. It would require almost all unrelated traffic to be stopped during shipping, it would require those types of Dusts to be confiscated for years to build up a supply."

She shrugged. "It is why these designs are just theoretical. The most advanced CCTS was made in Vale two years ago, and it was only a version 13 schematic. They are still trying to pay the costs down. This version however is at release 32." She tilted her Scroll towards Adam, since his hands were busy.

Adam looked with curiosity, and then decided to disable 'Research' and turn on 'Technomancy' to get a better look.

The song of striking metal and singing electricity filled the void, and the world faded away.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy sighed as she redesigned Adam's tower again. Faith modified materials in this Realm meant that the process of building something can change how the finished project affects the world.

Each constructed tower increased new things to test and try, and each time she Gathered the building up to Construct again these ideas would spawn more children.

At this point, she had expanded the vending machines on the first floor. The ability to spend money (Lien here) to get Adam's refined Dust was likely going to be the main focus, and the machines here accepted impure Dust as payment or at least to grant a discount. It didn't need Adam's direct work to keep running, and some drones were assigned to ensure all the equipment would be maintained.

Now the vending machines contents covered more varied products.

One that delivered bags of highly refined and efficient varieties of plant seeds, albeit the species provided only covered the local foods grown on this planet. Simmy had spent far too much time ensuring that the modifications she made actually existed somewhere, none of this was magically or technologically enhanced yet. The grain may grow better than expected and faster than believed, but it was theoretically possible with selective crossbreeding. It wasn't cheating. Mostly.

She had to move the vegetation machine so there would be room for the Ammo one next to the Dust vending machine. It could directly produce Ammo of the caliber desired when Dust was supplied, though it required Adam's brand of quality. She thought that was clever.

Just to avoid some headaches, she ensured the machine that would produce each of the individual parts listed in Adam's Glyph guides, the ones for Adam's Dust Crystal compressors, and so forth would need approval from Ghira or his people. The people of Remnant could make it on their own, but Simmy's products came from a customized Matter Furnace and had a level of quality unreachable by most mortals.

Honestly, the trickiest part wasn't setting up these basic devices but determining price points to not kill the economy or wrest control of materials from the local government. Calculating how much of a discount to give to Ghira's government in general was equally annoying.

She was in the middle of redesigning the modular farm framework (Each attempt reduced part costs by 0.34% and increased productivity by 0.88%) when Adam decided to do something stupid. Again.

In a world with an actual soul, in a room full of people empowered by their souls, he turned on a power with no soul component to examine a machine designed to work with the soul.

She sighed. Freedom sometimes meant not stopping someone from punching themselves. At least she now had the schematics for those interesting CCT Systems.

Simmy floated to the side as the drones evaporated Adam's tower again, now rebuilding the walls using new patterns and materials. Why build a CCTS on top of the building when the outer shell itself could communicate instead?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The earth was asleep, the sky was in pain.

Life grew with passion, death slept and hungered.

Mental defenses kept things within the realm of understanding as black and green circuitry began to pulse and expand from a small room in a small city.

Souls. In the air, the soil, the food, the people, the metal.

Faith. Enriching it all. The rules slid on a scale of madness and hope.

And covering this ocean of souls, abscesses and absences parasitically gnawed. Decayed. Spread.

The World did not desire these Grimm. It pulsed with purpose at the small thing spreading from Adam's body.

Aura was not the same thing as only being an expressed soul. It was generated by the soul, true. It was also a field of faith, of spirituality and life.

To gain Aura's effects, one required hard determination and willpower while embedded in a Realm like this one, like Remnant, where faith and Aura and souls were exposed and ever dancing.

With intense training, one awakened can unlock the Aura of another. It was risky, it was hard, it was dangerous as others could smell your delicious location. As corruption hunted you.

With intense circumstances, apparently something similar can occur as well.

In Kuo Kuana, in a small restaurant with fearful and concerned Humans and Faunus, in a state near unconsciousness yet hyper-focused...

A green electronic eye opened.

White peanuts appeared and vanished, black ropes wove and reinforced, and green pulsing lines began to adapt, to connect.

A fragile socket in a fishbowl soul, one that should have continued to grow and stabilized over time in this Realm, lacking the energy that Squishy had stolen to reinforce his other damaged abilities, shivered.

Cracked.

Squishy looked at her hard work... and sighed. Power Manipulation was still too broken to make more soul sockets like it should have. Not for now. Not for a while.

Hopefully, if a new power was different from Soul, Magic, or Physics, it would be strong enough to cross this hurdle. The next stable value would be a soft 5 or a hard 7 sockets, but expanding past 3 had been near impossible so far. Not if she wanted to keep Adam safe.

Squishy watched the confused green eye pulse again, circuitry infecting the nearby area as it explored and expanded in ways impossible to 'Technomancy'. As it began to twist. To slow.

Finally, the black fabric of cybernetic circuitry began to fold. To twist and bend and slowly wrap around the black ball of 'Binding', to wrap around the fishbowl soul.

The Green Eye covered the opening of the Fishbowl, the circuitry compressed until the green lines became invisible due to density.

With a sigh, Squishy floated to the opening and touched the warm gaze that looked softly at her. All that work on the new power socket, wasted.

From the lost voices, from soft whispers in the dark, the Soul of Remnant sang an old song.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I recognize your soul, and by my purpose protect thee."

The snap of the socket caused the green eye to begin to burn blue.

And deep under his Crystal Castle, a spark blinked blue as well.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Kali yanked Sienna and Betty back as she and the others lept away from Adam's body.

The Faunus didn't shift an inch, body of stone, his eyes blind and his limbs frozen.

Behind him, above him, somewhere hidden, they could feel something ancient. Uncaring. Alien. Foreign. Shear size alone made them feel weak, small, fragile.

Near reflexive instincts caused rage to flash, retaliation, defiance.

Kali bared her teeth. She was strong! Her child must be protected! Threat! Threat! She dared not move closer.

Sienna was spinning her blade whip, cautious. It wouldn't matter. Nothing would matter. But she would stand to her death without submission, for some things were worth fighting a hopeless fight.

Betty felt... a connection. Someone else who was broken like her, who lost family like her, who lost everything like her... and who built a new world worth living in.

Above the corpse of Adam light began to twist... To hum...

Silence.

Everything relaxed.

The sun was brighter, even if it was setting. The air was crisp.

Small noises had resumed, and the shadows were dim.

Behind Adam, some sort of three eyed being floated, blue Glyphs floating in patterns as the creature watched everyone. Thousands of limbs were reaching out to unseen locations. It flickered.

The skin sheering callousness was gone.

The robotic, soulless gaze had softened. To recognize existence.

Then Adam collapsed onto the ground, his body softly glowing with blue Aura and all the strange feelings and sounds vanished entirely.

Kali threw her scroll away. "Fuck That. Fuck all of that."

Sienna (And the rest of the quite disturbed customers) quickly moved away from the haunted device. "The shit did those eggheads make!? And why would we EVER build something like that!?"

Kali flicked a wrist, and one of her guards near instantly smashed the Scroll with her mallet. "Yeah, fuck that. No." She could get an untainted replacement, no way was that thing going to stay on her person. Or near her daughter.

They heard a noise and turned towards Adam... whom Betty was sitting on. She noticed their looks and waved it off. "He's fine now. Sleeping too." His trunk absently played with her hand as she giggled.

...It would be a while before anyone else was willing to get close to Adam or the cow Faunus who decided to sleep on his chest. Better to let him sleep that off.

Last edited: Nov 7, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 8, 2019

#1,405

Ozpin looked up from the most recently modified documents and passed diplomatic papers when the room filled with whistles, alerts, and random noises.

Looking at his own scroll, he saw new notifications as well.

It was standard policy when leaving standard CCTS coverage to set up emails and notifications to be delivered when back within range of targeted areas, a more unofficial policy included sending short messages to friends or loved ones to let them know you were still alive and nearby.

And just now, Ozpin's notifications had been delivered.

All of them.

Not just locally but to all existing locations. Including Mistral, home to Vale, and all the way to distant Vacuo and frozen Atlas. As if they were next door.

Master Forge Crafter Roxie, brought in during the negotiation phase for Dust quality appraisal and as a subject matter expert, blinked. "What the hell is 'Skyword Networking' and why is their signal so good!?"

Ozpin ignored the commotion and made a quick attempt at a personal call, moving to the side of the room while Glynda and Ghira's people tried to get the meeting back into order.

A stern face answered. "It's too early for good news if you made it home to Beacon Academy already. Did you manage to find any survivors down there Ozpin? I'm still gathering recovery resources, but there have to be living people for it to matter."

He responded with a soft smile. "Better than good news, my friend. And I am glad I can contact you this soon: You need to come down to Kuo Kuana. Personally."

General James Ironwood blinked... and frowned. "Unlike some coffee addicted Headmasters, I have responsibilities to my school and my forces. If I could make it down there in time for the actual fighting it would be one thing, but if the crisis is actually over?" Ozpin nodded. "Then it would be hard to justify to my people to drop those mentioned responsibilities for a visit."

Ozpin sipped from his mug, unable to fully suppress his grin. "Remember the last time you were unable to visit when I said it would be wise to do so?"

General Ironwood paused. It had been when Ozpin had found the Summer Maiden, one of the four magically powerful women that secretly walked this planet. More legend and myth than simply unusual. Not meeting Summer Rose sooner had destroyed many chances of getting good scientific studies done, and with the woman starting to build a family the probability of visiting other Kingdoms dropped by the day.

He turned to the side as Ozpin watched with mild amusement. Frowned.

And it was with a sigh he gave in, as expected. "It is of that magnitude?"

Ozpin chuckled. "Possibly of even greater impact. If nothing else, Kuo Kuana is about to become an economical powerhouse within the month." His eyes focused. "You need to be part of the following negotiations."

James began pacing, easier as he was using his personal dorm communication system instead of his Scroll. "Should we pull Theodore into this? Or Lionheart? Haven Academy in Mistral is closest after all, I suppose they are already present."

Ozpin winced. "Not Headmaster Lionheart, though we need to contact him. Leonardo's people acted... poorly. Hopefully against his orders. Either way, even attempting to include them could destroy any agreements we try to set up and probably end all negotiations."

He nodded at Jame's shocked expression. "On the other point, I will be contacting Shade Academy and Professor Theodore after we finish, but YOU need to get down here as fast as possible. He can probably call in remotely or send a proxy, you need to be present."

General Ironwood paused... nodded. Tapping his personal Scroll he began moving quickly out of focus before the feed resumed from his own device. "What would be wise for us to bring."

Professor Ozpin sipped from his mug. "Your best engineers and most competent design teams at minimum. Loyalty and ability to stay silent should be your number one priority. More so than competence, even."

Seeing James raise an eyebrow, he nodded. "Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it is that vital. And Yes, you would hate me if you did NOT take this advice." Seeing his message get across he relaxed a little. "It would also help your negotiations to bring in as many Grade 0 Dust samples as you can, especially the esoteric or odd ones. It would be worth the risk, and I will be informing Theodore to do the same."

Ozpin glanced at his frazzled and busy assistant as Glynda tried to wrangle the group back to order. Over the video, General Ironwood was snapping out orders before glancing back at his scroll. "I will take at least 10 hours to arrive down there even at maximum flight speed, 14 hours or more is likely. How long will it take you to get back down to Menagerie? We could possibly join our fleets."

Ozpin sipped. "Check your connection details. I never left."

After a shocked pause, the connection fuzzed as General Ironwood began cursing and ordering far more complicated equipment and expensive tools to be added to his convoy.

He would have to be a participant indeed.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam felt... relaxed.

And yet... connected.

'Growth' and 'Recovery' pulsed through his body, 'Research' and 'Harmony' soaked his mind.

His heart pumped 'Manipulation' through his veins of 'Tithe', while his eyes glowed with magic and faith.

His throat itched with 'Consumption' and 'Purification'.

His skin itched as 'Conversion' began to work defensively, incoming attacks being shifted into safe energy and moved through his nerves built with 'Transfer'.

These skills, conceptually enhancing his being, were held together with 'Binding' even as they attempted to fray and forced his form to twist and shift on unseen levels.

They grew. Stronger. Clashes between them resulted in stronger reactions. For the first time in years, many years considering his time lost in Abyss, Adam 'Adventure' Burns had NO sockets equipped with powers. And his black sphere of a soul pulsed, the blue eye twitched as it was watching inside and outside. The concepts continued to press tight to each other, to connect.

Before, Adam felt that he had something close to a Semblance already. Glyphs had been selected before coming, and he had a spiritual section of his soul to handle kami and faith powers. He had only worked his body with 'Recovery' to ensure a good strong foundation to work on as he explored the idea of 'Aura' in general. He considered Aura in general to be something like the blue flames, an expression of Faith or a single feature of power.

Now, he realized that Aura was similar to that strange Spark that glowed under his soul's Crystal Castle.

It was... an overview. A summary. Everything he was and possibly what he would be was represented by this field of power. As his abilities grew his Aura would enhance, would stretch, would be refined.

But his Semblance on the other hand... that was something more specific than Adam's now awakened Aura.

As the mess of strange powers and concepts grew ever more real and strained within his Faunus body, Adam felt something tense. Tighten a bit too much.

Then a black grid in his Soul twisted.

His Grid of Confinement, storage for Endbringers (And temporarily a gang leader with anger issues) thickened. The sharp lines of the grid seemed to creak wide. To fracture itself and expose the inner workings.

And into that pattern, into that structure, Adam's rampaging Aura poured forth.

With a loud sigh, Adam felt muscles relax and his body feel more and more material and mortal as his pulsing fishbowl soul stabilized.

His bright blue Aura faded as it was able to find purchase in the man's bizarre and tortured inner representation. His sockets quickly equipped 'Recovery', 'Growth', and 'Purification' as his abilities tried to fix the strange types of damage he had suffered... as best they could.

Within moments, he could feel all that oppression, that strength of conceptual power, his own field of Aura... embedded in the Grid itself.

The concept of Confinement, of Self Control, of being Master of One's Self.

His Soul Prison, the black Grid of Confinement, had gained a soft blue glow of Aura over each square. The faint presence of Leviathan and Behemoth totally vanished. Simmy herself was almost dragged back from reality and her busy work before Adam quickly relaxed her leash. More secured, more stable, still usable by his Summon Glyphs, able to restrain future foes.

Side note, Simmy was now sending mental images of herself still nude and wearing leashes.

Wonderful.

With a force of will, Adam woke up. Technically healthy, he could feel his body twinge with remembered pain and rapid modification as he attempted to refocus his fuzzy attention to reality.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira glanced towards the (temporarily closed) shop that his new friend was currently taking a nap in. He couldn't see it from here of course, diplomacy shouldn't be done on the streets after all.

That said, the negotiations had stalled for the best of reasons: More people wanted to come beg to join in the bid wars for better long term deals with HIS people. With HIS nation.

Being in a position of power was very satisfying. It would be more so if the local Hero of the Day would give some indication that he was alright.

Kali had already had some medical staff verify that whatever was wrong was not causing further physical harm from what they could tell. It seemed to be some sort of strange Aura reaction to something, possibly depletion from his recent battle? Short answer was 'no one knows', but the lack of fear from the flying blue angel had kept everyone mostly calm. If anything, the nude being seemed exasperated more than concerned.

If the worse case occurred the negotiations would go forth regardless, his blue flying associate had already constructed an astoundingly large building behind Ghira's home. Filled with strange machines that could supply the needed parts for more 'Glyph Wards' and 'Crystal Conversion Machines', the transformation of that tower in his back yard into a monster CCT System was just frosting in comparison to the other economic windfalls. Theoretically no matter what happened to that muscled warrior, Kuo Kuana would be fine.

But to be honest, Adam was simply an easy person to talk to and seemed full of profitable abilities and ideas. The man was very eager to offer such gems up like worthless trinkets. And he knew how to throw a mean punch, which shouldn't matter to a Chieftain like himself as much as it actually did. By saving the day, the man was a friend in Ghira's mind anyway.

He glanced at the most recent calculated numbers. Even if negotiations took months or longer, which at this point looked very unlikely, the filled Dust reserves meant Kuo Kuana and Menagerie as a Kingdom had Lien to burn. More importantly, Lien to invest and to multiply.

He approved some theoretical trade deals to work towards so the diplomats could refine that into that legal gibberish garbage that he had to read all the damn time.

The pulse of power came without warning, again from the direction of the Elephant Faunus.

It was... quite noticeable. He sent some people to verify the situation. Just in case.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty blinked as her comfy bed suddenly stopped moving mid snore. She groggily awoke as the Faunus below her shifted.

And the world turned blue.

An Aura, many feet thick, pulsed outwards... then began to fold into itself. To compress itself. Folding in half, Doubling, Compressing, Binding.

She looked down at the near metallic looking Aura that coated Adam... whose bright blue trunk suddenly snagged Betty by the waist and pulled her into a snuggle with those big muscled arms.

Mmm.

The closed eyes she had watched barely began to open.

And look at her confused.

Adam's bright blue gaze examined Betty's clear brown eyes in confusion. "...Good Morning?"

Betty snuggled tighter into his hug, her sensitive body tingling. "Mmm, good indeed."

She ignored Adam as he began looking around at the empty store/restaurant, until she felt his trunk tapping her shoulder. "Yes?"

He stood, her body absently lifted in his embrace. "Where is everyone? In fact, how long was I out of it?"

Betty shrugged. "Don't know, fell asleep after the first hour or so. Why does your Aura make you look like a Smurf?"

Adam looked at his body, the bright blue metallic coating shimmering. "The hell!?" Then paused. "Wait, Smurfs exist here?"

Betty gave him a confused look. "Uh... yeah? It wasn't the most popular show since the Faunus Smurfs were supposedly some sort of poison Frog clan and the Human Gargamel kept trying to catch them for breeding purposes, but isn't super obscure either."

Adam blinked. Huh. "Not from the local area, never been in a city like Kuo Kuana." True. "Never got exposed to local Media, or anything like that." Double True. "Spent most of my time fighting Grimm really." Sorta true? At least for this Realm.

She frowned. "Right, so we should have a movie night." She blinked, noticing the Hunters cautiously entering the room. "After you convince Sienna and Kali that you are not possessed."

He blinked. "What?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The diplomacy room had turned into a relaxation area at this point. A snack table was set up, the devices to be debated over were being examined, people were constantly moving to quieter corners to call friends and family. It made the mood skyrocket when very distant people were suddenly a short connection away.

Those calls that had formally required massively expensive long distance calls, specialty created billing plans, sometimes loans... Well.

Calls like that? 'Skyword Networking' not only offered a damn cheap flat rate for all connections (barely more Lien than a local call), but with a quality and connection speed that was straight up unusual. More, the connection was getting more stable and faster the longer people used it, as if someone was improving the stupidly advanced network in real time.

The room barely paused when the door opened again, until Sienna squealed. "Adam! You're up!"

Ozpin watched as a dozen Scrolls snapped a quick picture of the Faunus and inwardly sighed. So much for information security.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam was overwhelmed by the crowd, and only a quick reaction stopped his Confinement Aura from activating again as he assured people he was fine and worked towards Kali and Sienna's side of the room.

Suddenly glowing with Blue Metal wouldn't exactly calm the situation, after all.

Eventually he reached the Chieftain's wife, her appraising look not exactly comforting. "Ah. So... sorry for suddenly going odd and passing out."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is this kind of thing a common habit?"

Adam thought back to his months of mindless sleep between worlds, his months sleeping as a Baku, his many soul experiments and the damage he suffered. And that one time he turned into an eyeball bush out of boredom. "Nope, must have been a one time thing."

She bought it, right?

Sienna came up close, ignoring Betty riding his portable backpack (Only minor damage from his freaky emergency nap!) as she touched his arms and searched for injuries. "What happened, Adam? I don't know what you remembered but it was... unsettling."

He sighed. "So... uh. Better do this with a few people." He waved Ghira over, the man trying to not crowd his concerned wife. "Ghira, can we have a bit of a talk? Preferably with just us and someone you know who understands Aura pretty well?"

Ghira made some hand gestures and most of the crowd left silently. Damn fine leader, that. "Unfortunately my friend Headmaster Ozpin would be the best locally available person when it comes to Aura knowledge. Just don't accept any job offers or 'quick visits', you are OUR Hero and we called Dibs." He glared at the chuckling man holding a mug. "YOU HEARD THAT! DIBS!"

What?

...Moving on.

Eventually the group was down to Betty, Sienna, Kali, Roxie (Cause she wouldn't leave) and the two leaders. And an attractive woman whom seemed perpetually annoyed, named Glynda, whom Ozpin included as his assistant.

Should he call Simmy over as 'Adam`s secretary'? Was that standard procedure? He didn't want to stand out.

Oh. She was a tad busy putting more modified drones into orbit. Technically only three were required to act as satellites for planetary signal coverage, or at least that was true for a planet the size of Earth Bet, but she was pushing for a stupid amount of redundancy. Helped transfer speeds and stuff too, and the drones could repair each other.

Considering that Earth Aleph (Years of advancement with no flying Endbringer issues) had only launched about 400 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, it was pretty impressive that Simmy had already pushed 500 of the new drones into the atmosphere. And counting.

So she was probably too busy to join the group.

Then again, before becoming his wife she had spent most of her time up in space. This wasn't exactly a difficult issue for the angel to solve.

Even without using the cheats available with Dust (Didn't work outside Planet's Remnant's Aura field anyway), the modified satellite drones had some really good solar panels and filled Conversion Generators setup. It was mostly just quality assurance keeping her at Adam's newly constructed lab/vending machine store/automated farm/CCT System and overseeing everything.

Would she even want to come? HE hated meetings a lot, it was why he found a qualified person to handle all that junk back home. Several in fact.

He blinked, realizing the group was gathered and he should probably speak up at this point. How awkward.

Adam smiled weakly. "Right, so I guess you all would want the long version rather than the short one?"

Professor Ozpin chuckled. "If it is short, why not start with that? We can still hear the details afterwards."

Adam saw the others interest and shrugged. "Despite years of modifying my own soul and learning abilities to control soul energy, I hadn't actually awakened my Aura yet. Trying to deeply connect to Kali's scroll, which uses Aura, exposed me directly to the world as a whole and the Aura of the planet... and she decided to help wake my Soul up. So to speak."

The confusion and arguments started quickly, but Glynda of all people quickly pulled it together and put it in order. Damn, she was a good assistant. Maybe he SHOULD have dragged Simmy over.

He nodded. "I can connect to technology directly, but it won't cause strange effects from now on." "At the time, I needed to refine my soul to survive a dangerous travel attempt through unusual means." "I won't answer that." "No." "I wouldn't suggest it, the process was the most painful I have ever experienced. Refining my soul hurt nearly as much as when it was being burned, I do not suggest it."

Crap, that just made the questions worse. "I won't answer anything else about how I modified my soul, just accept it is a side effect of my existence. And generally a bad idea. Full stop."

Better. "I don't know why the planet is female, and it may NOT be. Most powerful people I know aside from me are women, so I just assumed honestly."

In the end, it was Kali that brought up the biggest issue. She frowned. "If it wasn't the planet, then what was that thing, the creature that appeared over your body when you were passed out?"

Uh. No idea. Squishy?

B̨̙̜̳͚̻̳us͉͕y̪͕͉̘̻̜̩̕.͚̀

...Uh.

Last edited: Nov 8, 2019

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Nov 12, 2019

#1,427

Squishy had blocked both Adam AND Simmy from returning to his Soul to see what was going on.

This led to the awkward situation of Adam having several people watching him without actually having an answer to a VERY good question.

He cleared his throat. "I may be having... technical difficulties with my newly awoken Semblance. Hypothetically."

Kali gave him a dry look. "And the creature?"

Adam winced. "Right. So I may or may not have given my strange powers a metaphysical form, one which acts as a companion and friend while helping me with my various power related issues."

He looked away from the group. "She is currently working on power related issues." He glanced at Kali. "What did the creature look like?"

Kali shivered, as did several hunters in the background and Sienna. "Three eyes, two small and one really large in the middle. And limbs. Many strange limbs."

Sienna shook. "The tentacles had hooks. They were too long."

Adam blinked. "Ouch. Right, Simmy will need some personal time to handle that."

T̰͓͇̘͓͝h͎̠̲̼͖͘an̡͖̣̜̲̥̗k̜s͓ ͔͠ ̱͚̘͙͞Ada͏͉͖̺̱̝̠͉m̥͚͈̤͖ͅ.̹̗͠

No problem.

Adam turned, Betty hugging his head. "Right, so onto simpler topics. I want money, and I am relying on Simmy setting up my tower to have lots of neat things you guys will want to pay me to get. Pricing will be fairly low, but only citizens of Kuo Kuana are allowed to operate my machines directly."

Seeing Ghira's look, he shrugged. "Because you guys are nice, this continent seems to be mostly desert and monsters, and it is easier to have you guys do the legal stuff and paperwork. I give you a massively good deal, you exploit everyone else for lots of cash, and I am likely to get anything I want when doing research."

Ozpin winced at how happy Ghira and Kali looked. That would impact negotiations later.

Adam poked Betty. "So asking the person who is hugging me most often, what products does this city need most desperately?"

Betty nodded. "I personally need a stable supply of animal feed. Water is handled easy enough but any food gathered goes to the citizens first. Only the lowest quality leftovers go to my cattle and fertilizer pits, and during shortages I have to sacrifice percentages of my herds to cover the gaps."

Adam hummed. "Simmy has already gathered seeds and modified them, the best of the best chosen from all sorts of plants. She stayed within parameters of what could be found without mad science, but even then the wheat grows faster, needs less water and sunlight, and resists blight and so forth. Lots of her choices do, and the ones she selected and marked in the machine are best suited to this area's climate."

He nodded to himself. "Let's head to your food storage, I will set up a modified 'Matter Furnace' that can convert anything you shove into it into some standardized Feed. Simmy?"

A blue paper page fell into his hands, and he handed it over. "Does this food mix look like appropriate feed for standard baseline generation?"

Betty flipped from adorable cow girl into shark-like business attitude. "Hmm." She read quickly, nodding here and there. "I couldn't afford the seafood additives or some of the more fragile fungus and roots you two included, but if it was just available? This would be a VERY good general purpose fodder. Some of the other animals I am in charge of would require a different vitamin ratio depending on pregnancy cycles though."

He gestured and she blinked before flipping the page. "Ah. Yes, these four base formulas would cover standard feed, pregnant feed, recovery feed, and growth feed. The fact I can mix the four to handle various situations is very helpful."

Adam grinned, feeling her legs hug his neck. "Right, we'll schedule that for the afternoon." He glanced at Sienna. "Anything you can think of, Ms Khan?"

The Bengal Tiger Faunus licked her lips before catching her boss's eye and calming. "Uh. Right. Well, I gather you already have vegetation options for farming and clearly our animal farms will love the improved feed setup, but militarily we need a few things."

She held up some fingers. "Dust supplies... seem to be handled. Communications as well... any advantage you can give us on that?"

Adam shrugged. "Free access to anyone in the city? Should improve tourism and increase immigration."

The woman shivered, her tiger ears twitching. "Mmm. Then I suppose the best I could hope for is a stable supply of metal for our repairs and tools. And weapons, of course."

Adam nodded. "Get Simmy at my tower some structural material samples and point out the most used ones. The top three will get converters, but you will have to supply them with material to work with. Other metals, rocks, unneeded Dust, plant produce. Lower quality will get you lower quantity of output, of course."

Ghira stepped forward, and clapped Adam on the shoulder. "Friend, I can not explain how grateful I am at the riches you pour upon us... but please stop there."

Adam blinked. "What? Why?"

Ghira sighed. "You risked becoming a religious icon before now, having saved my people from death and consumption. If you don't wish to be literally the founding father of our nation, please stop now that you promised purified Dust, secured sources of food and materials, and unlimited world wide networking."

He leaned forward. "Your actions do not beg for praise or fandom, but they call for it loudly in nature. You did enough just coming to fight for our lives, you did more than enough by ensuring that the other Kingdoms will have to treat us with respect for trade reasons alone."

Ghira led him and his passenger Betty towards the door. "You've slept for so little, and every waking moment was to make my people happier. I have a lot of politics to suffer under, plans to make, and people to guide... but you have no such responsibilities."

Adam was gently shoved towards the door. "Go. Explore, build things if you wish, but relax a little. Betty, unlike my subordinate Sienna, has time to show you around and act as guide."

Adam blinked as he felt Betty pat his head, now standing in the street. Huh.

Well... not like he enjoyed politics or paperwork anyway.

Still, this was MORE reason to build his new Bro those gadgets really quickly. Maybe a massive Conversion Generator under the ground and then he could connect it to the power supply.

After all, anyone who forced Adam out of boring meetings and paperwork deserved a bit of a treat.

He began to bounce down the street, Betty giggling and directing his turns with her warm thighs. It was a good way to spend some time.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira let out a relieved sigh. "If he kept that up he would become Chieftain by popular demand in hours. And no one deserves that punishment."

Kali chuckled, having sent some teams over to Adam's tower to report about the supposed machines there. "You never did stop complaining after that first day of paperwork."

He quickly waved her quiet, glancing at Sienna... good, she was still distracted. "Don't warn her, I am trying to have her take over eventually. Become an adviser or something. Need more time with my new baby girl anyway."

Kali nodded. "I can't wait to pick her up from day care. Ms. Carlen says she is already trying to sit up on her own!"

Ghira felt his chest swell with pride. Of course his darling girl was a genius! And she would be a beauty just like her marvelous mother.

Turning back to the mess of governance, he inwardly focused. Now to ensure her future home would be profitable, safe, and full of potential.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam and Betty were... well, relaxing.

Visiting the barns and constructing the needed devices took seconds to start, as it was basically asking Simmy to send a few drones to handle it.

So now the two were watching the machines build and carve and fly.

Betty was the first to really break the peace. "I felt stuff when you were in that store."

Adam blinked. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "Awakening your Aura is normally a far less spectacular event, but it always involves the innermost Soul. And I felt stuff."

He watched the hole in the foundation deepen. "Anything stand out?"

Betty winced. "I wasn't born in this city. I was brought here by the Huntress who killed the Grimm in my town. There were only two other survivors, but they lived near the other side of town. I didn't know them."

Adam watched her ignore the world. "I was taken in by the Ranch and Winery Guilds, back when there were dozens of Guilds adopting any and all orphans. They took care of us, even if most treated us like future workers more than daughters and sons."

Betty tugged some grass. "Times got tough, we had losses. I ended up in control of so many groups because unlike many I survived long enough to show my talents. Years of working for each group meant I could run those organizations well enough. Better than most."

She looked into his eyes. "I felt that you also had lost a lot. And you also are building a place to call home."

Adam gave a surprised chuckle. "Insightful." He nudged the shorter woman. "Bit surprising considering how huggy you can get."

She blushed. "A woman has to commit when she finds someone worth fighting for! And I felt we shared a... a history of sorts."

He hummed... and decided. "I won't tell you my past, or where I am actually from. Not yet. I have many secrets, and I protect many people." He looked at the short woman. "But I will admit that at one point I had nothing. No friends, no memories, almost no abilities. What little power I had actively hurt me, and then damaged itself over and over again until it had enough pieces left over to repair itself enough to work."

Adam gestured, the machines working. "In a way, not really remembering my past is a gift. I'm not entirely sure I was actually ever alive before then anyway, the power I was bound to was beyond mortal thought or comprehension... even as weak as it was back then."

He looked at the construction. "I have a girlfriend you know? Technically I have three to four of them, depending on if you count Narwhal's ability to split into two bodies. And the girls follow my Narwhal's guidance."

He ignored the deep interest Betty showed, her eyes twinkling. "I'll be honest, my girl is not against new people joining our group as long as they can share and are good people. It is something of a secret fetish of hers almost, one I have had to hold back on several times."

Betty gave a firm nod. "Sounds like a keeper. Make sure to tell her that I have been part of a lesbian harem before. I have experience."

...Damn. What was he supposed to say to that?

She snuggled into his side. "Want to head back to Roxie's after this? You could set up the metal extrusion machine there near the forge and I can show you some of the weapon construction tutorials you seemed interested in."

He sighed with a smile. "You know what? Sure. It's a date."

He blinked as they began to walk back towards the center of town. If Betty worked out, she would be the first girl with TWO horns.

...Narwhal wouldn't let that go.

Last edited: Nov 13, 2019

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Nov 13, 2019

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Adam shifted the new addition to the forge's wall, the device using his cannibalized portable 'Gather and Construction beam backpack-setup' as major components.

It had gotten annoying to move it around without damaging it, and Betty had been riding his neck rather than the seat he built into it anyway. At least now it would be useful.

His bone limbs were more useful anyway, several ending in Gather and Construction emitters. It only worked without dissolving into violence because his currently active Aura extended his 'Please don`t explode this' field far enough to keep his tinker assistant arms stable.

He still looked like a massive metallic blue statue though.

Adam grabbed some of the supplied scrap and tossed it into the large input hopper. Set the lever up to retain original material mix (Alloys can be annoying to remake), and press the activation button...

The output conveyor belt began to drop off round ingots of metal, still a mess of random materials like the slag submitted.

Roxie, who had showed up quickly when he walked in with Betty riding on his shoulders, was bouncing. "Right, but how does the 'Extraction' setting work?"

Adam gave her a dry look and had dozens of his limbs snag the ingots and toss them back into the input hopper, dropping the lever down to 'Extraction'... And Go!

The belt began dropping off one pound round ingots of pure metals; copper, iron, steel, and so forth. Anything that wasn't included in the 'Acceptable output' listing (Roxie could edit it pretty easily) was converted into more energy to fuel the Matter Furnace. A few purified Dust crystals came out too... leftovers from many shaping and scrapings.

Roxie was near bouncing with excitement. "And this doesn't need maintenance?"

He nodded. "Any vulnerable parts are behind thick barriers of material, you could dump liquid metal over the surface and after you chipped enough away it would be back up and running instantly."

And... she was now ignoring him. Hunters and engineers had surged into the area. The forge roared into action.

It turned out that once Dust was added to metal, any further modification was dangerous and unwise. Failed product was stored away until it could be safely destroyed... a massive waste. Rather than just produce raw material ingots for future products (Easy enough to set up, she had him put those machines in the supply room area), the big feature Roxie asked for was something to recycle miscast material.

The 'Reclamation Station' as Adam decided to call it did just that. Dump your failed alloys and ingots of refined metal and the Dust used to make those alloys would be separated and returned. Along with purified metals.

It was apparently a big deal, as even the metal came out MORE pure than the junk sold to this city... but this 'Date' had been a bit more business than Adam had expected.

So since they were being ignored anyway he motioned Betty to be quiet and headed back towards Ghira's backyard to visit his personal tower and Simmy.

Adam watched more shop stands being set up along the path. "So is the growing market a celebration thing?"

Betty, now fully enjoying her shoulder ride, relaxed her upper body on his head, arms wrapped around. "Nope! Our city always had a busy market place on main street. There is another one over in the shallow sea, that water flooded path down there. Aquatic Faunus have their own style of market and goods. Great seafood treats too!"

Adam paused at a stall showing all kinds of interesting nick knacks, mostly small carved statues and painted wooden discs. "It's very colorful."

Betty hugged his head. "Yeah, our people are a bit out there when it comes to dressing up or celebrating. Expect lots of reds and yellows since the recent battle went so well." She patted his forehead. "Thanks to someone."

He held back a blush. Her height may not be much, but she was certainly 'gifted' physically... and insisted on pressing herself against him. "So I plan on us doing a bit of a project when we get to my property. We'll design it as we go, it should be fun!"

She perked up. "Another machine?"

He tilted his head slightly. "Well... eventually. First, I need to build a facility or two after we dig a little. I thought you would enjoy us setting up some underground pastures and such, maybe set up a whole farmland down there to avoid flying Grimm or whatnot."

Adam couldn't see her eyes, but based on how she near vibrated with anticipation he assumed she was interested in the idea. Besides, he had practice with Variance Villa, and Simmy had recorded some of the stuff Shirley Temple did underground... it should be fun!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Right. Air quality.

He ended up having a drone construct Power Couplings in a vertical shaft just so the air purification devices could be added to Adam's new staircase just to keep everything safe and prevent stale air from being an issue.

Betty suggested air-locked doors as well to prevent someone or an accident from slowly flooding the lower floors with deadly gasses, which seemed a bit obvious in retrospect. Lighting was easy enough. After a while though... well, Adam started adding random patterns to the walls just to keep the boredom down.

After a while though, Betty herself was more than a bit tired of the trip (Adam was built like a truck, barely noticed the exercise) and they were still many floors to go until they reached the chosen working level.

So they took a break and had the drones build a series of 10 express elevators down to the desired level. The lifts were modified turbolifts, so no long cords had to be installed and there were a few extra 'cars' that could replace one of the elevators if they had mechanical issues. Still, Adam ended up carrying Betty back to the surface to wait for the actual trip downwards after construction of the elevators finished, leaving more drones to finish the 'emergency staircase' path.

Simmy joined them for snacks.

Betty was ecstatic. "These are amazing!"

Adam nodded, taking another bite. "We can get away with using Construction beams on plants and plant dishes easily enough... not for meat or foods that use them. For them to possess the right taste, they need to be exposed to the Planet's aura much longer." He missed Simmy's head shake. "Have to radiate the plants Constructed with raw faith to get them to taste right. Should be healthy though."

Betty took another bite from her corn cob. "This butter is amazing though!"

Simmy flashed a blue card. Oops... the Gather and Construction beams COULD be used to restructure existing protein or food products, just not generate more from pure energy. Fair enough.

It was amazing butter. Smooth, and he could taste the world's Aura in it, making it somehow conceptually delicious. Like butter enhanced by long lost dreams of butter.

It went well with the potatoes too, since gravy and many other sauces were rare in this Realm due to how dangerous food production could be. Not an issue for Simmy, obviously, but such is life.

Adam slowly sliced the steak. Cooked on low heat until rare, then seared with a crust and bathed in butter... Damn good food!

Simmy ended up preparing enough food for the Hunters sent by Kali to explore the Vending Machine Floor. And it was sizeable, there were a hundred machines already with hundreds of options, Ghira's people were making purchases and either getting their purchases directly from the devices or going to the unloading dock with a ticket to redeem their shipments.

And well... once they got too close to Betty and Adam's table, they ended up spending some money to try Simmy's dishes as well. Good advertisement, that.

He tried another 'potato chip'. It was actually made from a local tuber that wasn't even close to a potato, much closer to an orange colored yam honestly, but when fried and salted was close enough. Although it had a sweet after taste.

Either way, when he was alerted that the new elevators were ready for use a crowd had already popped up and Simmy had set up a ticketing order machine for people wanting to try a dish or two. The recipies were also shared when people seemed interested, so new local dishes would likely pop up soon.

Boro would be pleased.

A (far too fast) elevator ride later and Betty joined Adam in... a very dark cave.

Welp. "Right, how big should we start? We are deep enough that we can go for lots of head room and stuff, but I want you to lead me in design here."

Betty lit up, and the two began debating what would be the best arrangement. Some plants needed flooding or standing water, and doing so underground would be simpler as it would limit evaporation issues and be more easily kept under control. Other plants needed specific temperatures or light cycles. Animals would need constant attention too.

So to keep things simple, the area around the lifts was divided into four quadrants and Adam began transforming them into pastures. Animals, needing the most supervision and handling, would be close to the entrance/exit area. The back areas and farther regions would have the various plant fields, while berry bushes and trees (Needing only to be harvested and not replanted every season) would be farthest away from easy access.

It was a bit relaxing. Adam's blue Aura coated tools could extend and work easily enough, and as long as he didn't try to use his Semblance Squishy had no complaints. He would follow the chipper and happily wandering Betty as his tools evaporated rock and Gathered material from the surroundings, Construction beams coating the high ceiling with metallic foam reinforcements and Power Couplings. Some emitters for water and 'sunlight', a few Plant Dust Crystals being energized, some sensors for a camera network later, just whatever felt useful.

Sounds acted odd this deep, echos began to develop until Adam set up some sound absorbing panel sections into the ceiling at certain points, but it was very quiet this far down. Simmy ended up making a useful suggestion, so Adam began to include small sound emitters into the wiring so soft music would play in the caves.

Eventually they had to take a break, so Adam carried an exhausted Betty back to the elevators, building an employee rest area and manager offices.

Betty fell into the new chair. "I can't believe how much room we are excavating down here! When will we add the sod and grass?"

Adam tapped the table, one of his many limbs reforming into a hard light holographic emitter and showing both the design plans they had created and a hologram of the progress made so far. On second thought, this could be useful... better add some mapping equipment and emitters into the managerial office.

He pointed. "We are about five to seven percent done with the north-east quadrant, and Simmy sent thirty or so Drones to work on the other three. She'll finish first of course, but I thought this could be our project for a few days until someone bothers us and makes us go up and mess with politics or whatever."

She blinked. "What project? We are just wandering around."

Adam lifted her up to his shoulders. "Sounds like hard work to me."

He left details on the project on the table for the Hunters who had wandered over to the Elevator and followed them down earlier. They had kept a respectable distance away, but they clearly seemed interested.

Adam gently held her warm thighs as they headed back to the field, ground being restructured into fertile earth by his manipulator arms and tools. "By the way, I found out that Dust crystals grow really, REALLY well when exposed to raw faith."

He watched as an artificial river bed was being added, stone foam used for structural stability and durability. It would be a shallow lazy river for the animals, duplicated on the other quadrants. "What do you think happens when I dump Dust and kami pellets into a Conversion Generator? Assuming I can keep it from exploding or whatever."

It was a fun walk.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Kali winced at the recent report before flagging Ghira over. The talks had basically been put on hold until the other two Headmasters could arrive, even if general idea outlining had continued for hours now.

Her husband seemed thrilled to have an excuse to call a break to the proceedings, although that enthusiasm began to dim after seeing her face. "What happened?"

She handed him the reports. "Right, see you later tonight honey, gotta go pick up our precious."

He blinked at the stack... then at her vanishing form.

Huh.

Looking down at the summary... which seems to be a high level summary of the thirty OTHER summaries... he stared blankly.

Raw Metal creation. Contaminated material purification and recycling. Secured underground farmlands... with ultra-rare Plant Dust included throughout as if it was an afterthought. A real time map of the underground facilities left on a table near an underground restaurant, a higher resolution version with all kinds of features in a managerial section... an automated underground restaurant with near negligable cost food options. Something about an infinite energy generator.

He shook slightly. How was THIS calming down!? Those farms would produce at least 10 times the product per square foot than usual thanks to that Dust, at higher quality as well! And the farming area allocated according to that map was larger than the city above ground... Heck, a SINGLE QUADRANT was bigger than their farm fields! what would they DO with the tons of excess product!?

Ghira sighed and began making rapid orders. The energy thing would be a top level secret, the farm issue would be downplayed and all non-city populous restricted. The metal production would be disguised as 'recovering more material than expected' using the new 'Recycling Plant' that he would blame Adam for. Did they have the schematics? Well, THOSE would be kept secured.

No wonder his darling ran off, this was a mess. A glorious mess, a series of issues of being too blessed, but certainly it was compressed paperwork in a raw form.

Ghira frowned, then reluctantly called his policy people away from their breaks. He had been SO CLOSE to going home for the day, but to do his job right it would be another all night work day.

He gently touched his scroll. His wife sent some adorable videos of Blake playing with blocks a few nights ago... he would have to warm his heart replacing sleep tonight during breaks watching his baby be awesome.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

T͓̥͙͎͙͈̞̱̘̻̼̂͒ͪ͌̌̽ͪ͟͝h̵̶̶̬̤͓͚̞̰̙̭̻͉̲̙̟̻̿̉̈́́ͮ͛̆ͧͮͤ̈́̎ͨ̿̃͜͝ͅȩ̃̎̒̿̊̔̇́͂̋ ̼̞̳̰͓͈͓̣̲̭͋̒̎̐̓ͦ͗̿̓̈ͭ̍̌͆̚͘͜ n̶̢̢̪͉̠̱͍͖͔̳̝̺͇̳̜͈̠͆ͦͫ̀̈̀̀̉̾ͭ̅̀́͡ͅu̡̢̘̤̲̻͓̘̫̩̣̍̅̇ͮ̊̒̉̽͒ͪ̃͐̆́̚m̵̧̬͍̣͚̳̫̺̞̬̼͆̈́͋̈́̓ͧ̋b̴̡̨͖̙͖͔̞͇̹̹̘͓͈̦̥͎̻̔̇̏̓ͦ͆̈́̋̾̾̓e̶̦̝̭̩̟̮̣̙͙͚͌̂͋̒ͥͥ͋̽̒̑ͭ̂̊̑̇̎ͥ͘͞͠ȑ̈ͩ͆ͩ̾̍̃̓̐̓ͥ͒̅ͭ͌ ̌̋̿̇͋͒̅͂̓͑́҉̞̪̞̰͟͝͝o̶̷̡̹͖̲̜̫̮͙͈̳͕̦̳͚̔̆̓̀͑͋̈́̓͌̑͂͌̓ͫ̈́̉͢f̵̨̢̧͚̱̰͈̩̏͗̾ͣͫ͂͂̽ͪ̈́͊̚ ̷̣̩̹̺̳̩͚̐̏̎ͪ̍̓͂ͬ̌́͟ͅ b̶̧͕̪̰͖͖̪̝̻̯̖͓̍̿͌ͣ̒ͪr̵̩̪̩̻̥͖̐̀͑̔ͥ̿ͮ̓ͤ̃̾͠ͅo̡̡̥̬̙͈͈͉͉̔̐̄̈́̏̈́͛ͭ̈ͥͩͯ̋̉ͫ͊͊͢k̡̍̐̌̀͒̇̾̾͞͏̸̝̦̝͓̮̼̲͎͠e̡̥̗̗̻̰̲̻͇̻͔ͮ͐͆̆̽̍̓͢͝ͅn̨̮̥̹͉̹̖͓̱̹͔̝̂̆ͩ͑̇͂̏ͫ͊ͨͯ͌̓ͭ̿͒ͥ̚͢͟͟ ̨͍̖̯̞̠̻̳̞͉̞͚̉̑ͧ͌̂̎̈̔̆͑͑͜͜ p̷̭͙͖̤͓̪̖͕̍ͦ͂̐͋̈̌̀́a̦̗͕̰͓̖͇̮̹͚̦̙̳̟̼̖̦ͨͦ̍͊̔ͣͬ̓͟͜ͅŗ̶̶̞̺̭͎̞̳̩̘͍̼̦̰̺̾ͤ̇̽ͪ̑ͣ̑ͭ̽ͪ͗̑̑̕͢ͅt̶̶͉͇̮͕̦̹̯̙͇͇̲̯͇͕̥̯͉̫ͥͩ̒̃̃̽͐͗̾͊ͪͪ͜͞͝s̡͚̥̭̲̞͉̤̬̝͇̦͙ͪ̀̂̋̊̈̒̽̀͊ͨ̋͋͑̄ͬ͌̂́ ̢̙͔̤̺͈̦̺̱̝ͮͦ̔͂̄͛͆ͣͣͪ͠ͅ w̨̥͈͚͓̝̜̹̯ͦͧ̀̓̚̕͢e̷̴̞̖̬̰̯̎͂̓̆ͯ̽͊̆ͦͥͅŕ̭̗̝̖̙̰̜̪͓͖ͨ̓̿ͬ͌͊ͤ̊̌̔ͨ̅ͥ̕͝͡e͐ͩ̈́ͬ̽ͦ̈́̅̈́͊̋̂͢͠͏҉͈͔̣̝̖̠̥͔͙̯̺̯͓͕͖̝ ̵̢̾͛̽ͦͦͯͤ͡͏̗̪̩̼̪̖̲͉̖͔͍̣͖̘̘ư̧̛̛͔͎̻̩̼̠̥͉̇ͧ̉ͨ̀ͦ͒̄̌̊̊̇ͭ͜n̏͒͗ͫ̐͂͆ͮ͡c̴̶̞̞͖̠̯͗ͤ̉͋ͫ̋̊͌͂̿ͮͭ̅͠o̧͔̠̠̘̠͙͖̳͙̮̘̯̬͓̬̲̯͎̽̏̆ͣ̍͆̊̊ͫ̍̔̉̐ͫ̓̆͟ͅų̵̙̣͇͓͖̠̥̩͓̤̐ͧ̾ͥ͂̌̔̎̌͊ͧͮ̄ͫͩ̇ͨ͢ǹ̴̵̫̜̮̭̯̮̂͊̍͊ͯ̅̅ͧ̽̄ͧ̾̈́͜͜͝t̋ḁ̴̛̠̳͍̞̝͎͑ͭ̏̎̏͊̿̒̍̐̄ͤͫ̒̋ͦ͆̿͘ͅb̵̰̭̝͕͇̱̳̥ͪ͑̓̆̍̏̚͜͠͠͝l͂ͫͭ͒̎ͬ̑̾ͤ̑ͩͨ̈́ͪ͛̾̓̌͟͏͈̝͖̦͚͞ȩ̵̴̻̹̮͙̯̥̳̰̠̮̟̤̎̽ͧ͂ͧ̽ͤ͛ͧ̈́ͣͫͬ͛̚͜͞.̋͆̒̓̑̐̄ͮ̄̉

B̴u̵̷̡̥̘̩̼̭͚̪̦̰̜̻̗͘͢t͏̸̡̯͇̠͙̝͟͝ ̦̯̞̗͖͎̦̯͎̣͔͔̳͚̻̖̲͔̞͝ s̨̗̤̞͚̲͚̀h̢̪̩̥̗̗̤̦̹͍̼͘͜ͅe s̯̭̞̻̟͠t̷̮̼̣̘̪̙͙͉̝̙̺̝̙͠ͅr̛̳͎̯͇̘̣̯̗̙͉͖̰͓͙̀͟u̗̳͎̘̕̕͜ǵ͟g̴̶̡̺̙̳̤̖̪͘͟l̴̡̦̞̤̫̺̪͉̰̻̞ę̵̷̢̩̹̗̜͈͔̪̭̟̤͉̰̼̠͇̺͍͔͞d̷͚̣̦̟̺̱͕̘͎̦̼͚̟̕͢.̷̡̛̬̥͎͎̦͈͇̪̗

S̮̭̙̣̗͚͢͢he̟̦̝͟ ҉̷̤̱̤͙̩́ͅ w̼̤̗͝͠o̡̠̣̥͎̱̘͟ul̴̦̰͇̼̻̪̝ͅd̡͓̀͞ a͉͇͈͖̭͍͙͜͞d̢̩̻͕̕͝v̢̼̫̭͢a͏̢̫̰͝n͡͠͏̞͓ͅc̨̢̹͔͙̱͖ͅe҉̡̖͉̹.̡͕̻̘͉ ͏̪͚̘̰͉͓͟ S͓͕̕͢hè͔͙̬͇̟̥̘ ̡͎͙̲́ w̳o̠ṷ̶̫̝͙͢͝l͚͍͓͈̦͠d͚͜ ̱̭ n̮͈̦͘͝o͎̺͚̗͢t̶̨̙̺̤͜ ̪̲͞ b̯̝̙̗̤e̴͏̫̟̖̥͙̖̻̥̥ ̴͇̤̣͇͓̲̤͕͚͡ d̷̘̦̲̻̙̭̬̞̦͘͠e̡̨͕̱̩̻̝̼͚̬n̖͖̲̠͇̰̩͉i̟͔̫͖͓̤̞̥͟͠͡è͖͍̠̞͔͉ͅd̶̟̱͎͔̰̞̙ͅ.̶̞̕͞ ͏̜̜̹̤̣̲̠̬̮

H̰e̟̘͞r̢͉ ҉͉ͅf̡͈̠̝o̝̫r̮̮̜m̙͉̖̙̯͞ ̝̙͕̹̫̖w̹̼̲̝a̵s̼̦̞͇ͅ ͎͍͇̺͢m̺̲͕̲͉o̰n̙s̬̠̤̫̪t̢͎ŕ̭̞̠ͅo̹̟̪͕̫̲̫u̦̘̲͕̖s̖̝̠͙͍̤,̘̲̥̠̰̤͜ ̜̥̮̥b̶̠̙͔̩̼̬͕u͜t̰̰ ̺̘̩̬̱he̛r̳̤̳̱͇̖ͅ ̦g̰̠̦͉͔͢o̖̣̼̝̥ḁ͘ls̟͈̹ w̳̬e̠̹̮̬r̖̗̺̫̭e̷̳͍̜̮̘͉ ̷̙̙̝̹͇̝͓c̹̬̘̯ͅl̬è͉̝̪̣̭à͔̻̤̻̪ͅr̭̗̘̻̠̙.̨͓̩̻͇̘ ͅͅ

Pi̷éce̵ a̢fte͏r p͟i̛èce ͏wa̡s ̵ st̡a͟cked͟,̢ ͢s͠tor͟e̷d,̕ re̕f̧ór͏matt͠ed, r̴ea͝r͞r͢a̡nged̀.̵ ̶

B̥u͎̜͙̘͍̻t w̫͈͉h̠il̰̳̤̯̗e̝̜̼͚ ̝̬g̻̻̳͓r̝o̰͔͇̻̣w̰t̩̠̘h͎͔͖ ̗̲͎w͈̲͇̮̭̭o̪̹̥͇̗ͅul̩͖̞̯̟͉d͓̮̺̼̝͙ͅ ̘b̫̖̹̣̬e ̞̠͓̝̱̫sl̮̰̦̲̝̫̖o̰̣̥̙͇̼w̤̣͕̭e̫̫̰̝d,͍ ͈̤̼i̠͉̦͉t ͕̠w̼͔͚oͅu̱̤ld͙͍̭̦̞ͅ ̞̰̬̬̼̟ͅno͍t͚̙̥̙͇̗̲ ̖͈̯be̟̦̪ͅ d͚͕̦̩en͇̥̝̹i̦̼̲̳̜͖̘e̲̖̲̯̩̞̠d.͈̳̮̠

Squishy worked in the dark, sacrificing parts to help her, to help him...

To help both be more w̴̳ͅh̴̡̳͎͈͍̠͜o̴͉͇̖̩l̨̳̺̝̩͇͈ḙ̷̙̬̲̤͚̕.̵̣̣̯

Spoiler: Translation

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Nov 13, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 14, 2019

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Adam had to build another elevator.

At least this one was very oversized for the needed animal transportation. Since he had to build one from scratch anyway, he took some time to make it comfortable for... well, whatever would be loaded onto the thing.

Sound dampening fields, sound emitters with soft music, vibration reduction. To the animals it was a room painted soft colors that they would enter... then leave. Hopefully not noticing the rapid journey down into the earth.

Seriously, these farms were DEEP underground. The emergency stair case exits (There were twelve now, and more elevators near the future plant fields) had to have rest stops with food and water on several levels just for safety sake. People without active Aura would have to treat those stairs as a challenge similar to mountain climbing! It was a bit silly.

Anyway, Betty had pretty much insisted moving all her herds down to the 'SubFarms' as they were being called. Especially after seeing the modified grass spread over the pasture fields at a visible rate.

With active power being run through the Plant Dust Crystals, it only took eight hours before several miles had thick grass everywhere.

She huffed. "Honestly, you've been Dust happy. Earth Crystals under the soil, Water Crystals in your stream beds, Light and Purification Dust in the ceiling near the Plant Crystals... Any farm would bloom if you threw multiple Kingdom's worth of wealth at em. The air feels richer too, though I don't think it will cause a problem."

Adam winced a bit. In the end, he had to design an 'Off' option to the plant gems. Otherwise grass everywhere underground would already be multiple feet long by now. The activation times could be controlled manually or by schedule from the central management offices... but yeah, there had been an issue or two at first. A Drone had to 'Mow' the areas with Gather beams a few times before everything was under control.

Betty bounced off his shoulders, doing a twist before sticking the landing on the ground. "What do you want to do now? Since Boss basically grounded you."

Adam groaned. "I can't believe that note he sent."

It was pretty short: 'Stop doing shit, your miracles are increasing my paperwork!'

He hadn't felt THAT guilty in a while. Good thing he kept the underground Conversion Generators a secret, mostly. No one should notice the extra free energy in the electric grid for at least a month. Hopefully.

Adam smiled weakly at Betty. "Well, maybe we could... uh." Shit. SIMMY! HELP!

A blue page drifted down and he read it quickly. "We could check out Simmy's new Scroll Server Services... Huh?"

A twitch changed one of his limbs 'hands' into a Scroll, Adam absently noticing that it felt better for some reason to have so many limbs right now. Odd. Maybe a few more? Later.

Betty climbed up to his shoulder, left arm hugging his head against her warm chest while she watched his overly large Scroll recreation launch the 'Skyword Networking' app.

Oh... that was clever.

Instead of stealing schematics or data like they had in the past, Simmy had basically created Remnant's first Wiki pages. Several, each devoted to specific topics... the one on weapon design would even allow you to upload your own schematics and Simmy would publish reviews, mark mistakes or conflicting components, suggested modifications, and show fully working enhanced schematics as well in seconds. People were ecstatic! The traffic levels were insane.

It looked very professional, and based on how many pages were already available (More per second), it was quite popular! The massive number of schematics and blueprints were sectioned off into one area of the site, while the other chunk described practices and techniques those designs used and worked with them as examples. Another section became filled with video tutorials either submitted by users or created by Simmy, and was growing as well.

It even had a frantic busy set of forums, where engineers from across the Kingdoms were debating techniques, showing off tricks and ideas, and general having a tinker marathon session. Some of the topics were... probably not supposed to be discussed in a public place. Seemed pretty official and probably supposed to be secret, but enthusiasm was running a bit high.

Adam felt VERY impressed. Forget stealing data, he now had an entire planet of talented people actively researching new ideas FOR him. And it was getting more beneficial and impressive with every block of info Simmy would release: Large table grids of various types of alloys (With and without Dust infusion), how they would react to stress, how they would enhance various Dust types, interesting Dust Grade 0 combinations, and so forth.

This was the type of research Kingdoms would (and did) spend millions on, as experimentation was both expensive and required for progress... and Simmy could just cheat out the results at unheard of rates using her talents. Unprecedented numbers of inventors now had access to formerly restricted or dated raw information, and the improvements were astounding even THIS early in development.

Something like a technological revolution was occurring online right now, and everyone was using HIS services and data servers to host it. Very profitable!

Adam checked... yeah, Roxie was aware of the situation. She had her own section of the sharing application, showing off her new 'Recycling Plant' as her Boss was calling it, as well as showing off Kuo Kuana's new 'Refined Dust Crystals' that she was able to work with now. Felt like something Ghira was asking her to do, probably to increase his bargaining position for the massive 'Headmaster Huddle' as the forum users called it.

Oh... Simmy had an online order and delivery service, using Drones and Construction beams to create the products purchased near the customers instead of carrying crap around. Clever.

Right, and the lack of secrecy in most of the world (Since they could access the new connection globally) meant that the world was now quite aware that Menagerie Kingdom and specifically Kuo Kuana had stumbled upon some astounding things in the last few days. The communication network itself being one of them...

But this same world of free communication had also put a spotlight on how Mistral was being excluded from the 'Headmaster Huddle'... and it didn't take long before some people in Ghira's security detail leaked about the betrayal by the Haven Academy squads.

Several sides tried to squash the news, but gossip was a dangerous thing. Haven would have to pay some heavy reparations if they wanted access to the gold Menagerie was sharing.

Adam moved on and browsed through the other features with fascination, Betty occasionally pointing out something for him to click. Simmy hadn't even STOPPED adding features.

The most recent one was a 'Grim Radar', which not only supplied a real time map showing nearby Scrolls and safety areas (Thousands of lives had been saved already, even a few lost kids had been found by parents), but also identified Grimm hordes and individual beasts and tracked them.

Like a weather station, but showing a forecast of demon monster attacks.

There was a 'Call for Help' option, that would have you light up nearby Hunter Scrolls if you were being attacked or trapped by Grimm, already shown to be quite useful. Another that hooked into the schematic database Simmy was building to attempt to inspire new weapon creators or answer the more esoteric questions. A deep analysis application that offered detailed analysis of each type of Grimm found in the wild. Neat.

More interesting to Adam though was the non-combat applications.

A website dedicated to cooking, sharing recipes, testing new ones, and trying different foods. Simmy would even simulate the dishes, take virtual photos of each step, and submit reviews when users uploaded their own dishes. Boro would be thrilled when they brought a copy of the site home, no doubt.

An equivalent program to YouTube was now up, as was a new feature never before popular on Remnant: video streaming. For civilians, the connection was formerly too slow and expensive for long video clips (Short ones only, really), while the Military couldn't afford to waste resources on massive hardware to store video unless it was of vital importance. The ability to use a Scroll's camera for literally days without storage issues was unheard of before!

With Simmy's free media storage (So she could copy it), YouTube ripoff 'HunterTV' was exploding with video clips of hunters in the wild, friends playing games, chefs showing off dishes, girls showing off their fashion styles... it was growing at an exponential rate really. And just like on Earth Bet, most of the videos were just random crap... the idea of 'content providers' would take more time to build up.

Betty found the kitten videos category near instantly, and Adam had to detach and pass the Scroll to her so she could enjoy them. Which was fine, as unlike the rest of the SubFarm, their quarter section still needed finishing. Heck, the Drones had already started planting the outer areas.

Adam walked under the artificial lights through thick grass, his blue Aura limbs expanding the pasture space while Betty kicked her feet on his shoulder, watching cats fail to get out of the boxes they were playing in.

A thought passed his mind... Simmy, could you safely set towns, cities, and other population centers as 'No Fly Zones' for Grimm?

She mentally sent him a Drone modification, weak lasers that could cross beams to make a small point of extreme heat without needing a bullet that could then hit innocents on the ground.

It would take ten or more drones to evaporate a Grimm in flight, but she had over a thousand of the things in atmosphere and even more when counting those in space now... and the needed modification had been included in the initial designs from the beginning.

It felt good having a qualified secretary. Precognitive personnel rock.

He felt Simmy designate 'No Fly Zones' over thousands of locations even as hundreds of Drones began shifting position to prepare to fire.

...Better only hit the ones without witnesses, wouldn't want Ghira to get angry about this.

Half the Drones shifted to other targets. Good.

Near invisible heat beams reached down from space. No Humans or Faunus noticed.

Adam absently patted Betty's thigh with his Trunk, enjoying the quiet walk. THIS time he was clearly being stealthy.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Headmaster Ozpin blinked at the new 'Grimm: No Flight Zones' shades added to the 'Grimm Radar' map he was testing. His eyes widened as dozens of red dots began to vanish at disturbing rates within those zones.

He glanced at Ghira... no, he would see it eventually anyway. The man seemed stressed enough right now, surrounded by diplomats and lawyers.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Their walk was disturbed again, to Adam's frustration. Betty's people had been moving animals for hours now and at this point they needed some things. Lots of small odds and ends, really.

Buildings to hold equipment, which Adam set up quickly enough. Rooms for butchery, for storing clothing or tools, rest areas, and so such.

No, the issue was the equipment they were using. It took seconds before Adam threw up his hands and dissolved the whole mess. Their tools were cautiously repaired far too much, many outdated or with poor design... it was clear that the City invested in Hunters and Defenses first, food and farming last. He began building new versions with strong anti-rust and anti-corrosion features, replaced Dust dependency with Power Capacitors and added some charging stations... with how bad their equipment was, they must have lost 10% of every harvest just trying to get the bloody things to work reliably.

Adam whistled as he pulled apart the lump of metal 'Plow' (Too heavy for normal workers yet not strong enough for someone with active Aura to use without damaging it) into something more user friendly. In a way he felt like a fix-it guy, a handyman... it was satisfying somehow. Soothing. Betty had left a bit earlier with her people, still showing up every hour or so to ask Adam about changing some stuff or rearranging the facilities.

This didn't count as miracle crap, right? Probably right. And this wasn't building stuff, just... adjusting existing equipment. Or moving facilities down here, closer to the animals and farms. Even if some of the facilities hadn't existed before... uh. Anyway.

He put down the last of the improved milking machines and sat heavily on a chair, enjoying the soft music that filled these lower caves.

He... may be done.

Simmy needed more time for the citizens of the world to contribute more and more data and technology to her web services, but other than that... well, Adam wanted to see if some odd forms of Dust Grade 0 could be found, make some extra Crystals to test, maybe make some brand new types of Dust altogether... but that was small potatoes really.

His objectives, numerous as they had been, were basically complete now.

Once Squishy said he... they. Once she said they were stable, he would be free to head home.

Betty... well, he wasn't sure what to do there. She was nice, no doubt, and seemed overly eager to move on from her old life... Maybe. According to her, once you get powerful enough you can convince OTHER people to do all the work for you... or she was fibbing so he would agree to take her with him when he left for his 'home town'. Either way, she seemed determined to try and see if a relationship could happen.

Well, it wouldn't be his decision in the end. Once Squishy and Adam's powers were stable, he would connect a video feed to Worm Realm and have Narwhal talk to Betty directly for a while.

Inwardly he winced a bit. A diminutive 'Cow Girl' with a poorly hidden fetish for well endowed men and a history of lesbian orgies? Yeah, Narwhal would want to talk to her.

Didn't help that Betty had a delicious chocolate brown skin tone similar to actual cows. Or those hips. Or her... large tracts of land.

...He needed a distraction.

Adam blinked, and looked at the blue paper note that was (now) in his hands.

Oh. Yeah, that would be a fun way to end the trip.

It had been a while since a world had experienced a fully empowered and unrestrained Leviathan, Simurgh, and Behemoth. He would be fine giving them temporary access to his three Power Charge Sockets... and they would enjoy such a target rich environment. Did Grimm need a breeding population to refill a continent? Maybe it was time to find out.

Adam absently began modifying some rakes, mind elsewhere. He would need to take a trip to the sea later to send Leviathan off, and releasing Behemoth within city limits seemed unwise... but he could already feel Simmy begin to sing a strange song over the Skyword Networking System.

Wonder how the Grimm will react to it?

Last edited: Nov 19, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 19, 2019

#1,489

Adam could have asked to borrow one of those flying 'Bullhead' vehicles, but in the end decided to make his own version for Simmy to later sell parts for in his vending machine shop.

The flying ship design was actually a bit interesting. It had massive raw Dust materials within specially doped materials to reduce Dust consumption, to generate a general anti-gravity field, to build up and release momentum and wind, and so forth.

The problem was the entire device had to be VERY flexible. Purity of Dust was not ensured, which meant the storage components had varying levels of Dust doping and taint, the fuel itself was unreliable, the burn rates could change rapidly... it was almost a constant struggle not to explode, really.

So he dumped all that.

At the heart of the new ride was a power core composed of a Conversion Furnace with Dust and kami inside. The vulnerable part was a single unit, wrapped in Aura enhanced Inconel (Super-alloy of austenite, nickel, and chromium that easily handled high temperatures and extreme conditions) then wrapped in some carbon infused steel foam (The spaces had an impact distributing gel)... The sphere was basically armor to prevent damage or keep out curious people.

The power contacts however went to the frame, which like the 'elevators' used some modified repulsorlifts. No gravity made VERY stable vehicles.

And that was it. The rest of the ride was a shell of various metal foams for lightness and strength, with a couple of remote controlled turrets on both the top and bottom to deter curious Grimm. Adam DID invest some time designing the seating and comfort inside the vehicle... probably too much time.

Anyway, Simmy built eleven of the 'Deployment Buss' models, and he was sure Ghira would appreciate the ten he wasn't stealing at the moment.

Betty and about a dozen or so Hunters joined him though. Betty had basically decided to take the month off (According to her, Adam felt she was just skipping work), and the Hunters were acting like some sort of security detail. Super needed, that.

The trip was interesting! They were fairly close to the ocean as it was, but seeing everything from this high up turned out to be a fun trip on its own.

Adam watched some Grimm wandering the ground far below. "So I have a theory."

Betty was again on his neck. "Uh... alright?"

Adam pointed at the distant Nevermores, flying randomly. "I think that Dust using vehicles and fighters are easier for Grimm to track. Simmy has been showing me a map, and most of the time monster flight patterns change when Bullheads fly by the various Grimm species, even if they lose interest fairly quickly depending on flight speed."

He gestured at the clearly uninterested monsters. "I think Grimm find Aura and Dust to be fairly tasty, at least Dust when it is active and in use. Because they seem to ignore Dust Crystals in general on Simmy's map, but run energy through it and the populations began to cluster around."

Betty's eyes narrowed, as did many of the eavesdropping Hunters nearby. "Maybe? But Grimm hunt people without activated Aura as well."

Adam nodded. "I think Aura is a beacon of sorts, as is activated Dust. If the beasts smell you or track you, they will be eager enough to consume everyone... but are much more likely to overlook other targets if Hunters or moving Dust vehicles are nearby."

Betty glanced at the rapidly texting other passengers. Well, someone would likely look into that later. "So why the sudden urge to visit a beach? I'm sure you know swimming requires advanced facilities. Grimm exist everywhere in the Sea, after all."

He nodded. "You know Simmy, right?"

Duh, nude angel of sexiness.

Adam tapped his head. "Unlike other people's abilities, I have to capture the creatures I summon before hand. And I can only have three at a time out, each one lowering my abilities in general until they return."

Betty's eyes widened. THIS was Adam when 1/3 of his power was cut off!? He out did most stories of gods and heroes already!

The man watched the currently distant sea. "Any of my three summons are... very over powered." He ignored their expressions. "I got all the fighting I wanted to handle for now, so I decided the other two could use a treat. A chance to stretch their legs, so to speak."

She gulped. "How... how overpowered would you say?"

He waved a hand. "Each has a dominion: Land, Sea, and Air; Energy Manipulation, Fluid Manipulation, Mental Manipulation. They are damn good at it."

Adam grinned as they approached the landing zone. "Simmy is my assistant, but she is also brilliant at multitasking. So since given the green light and helping me, she has been using the improved 'Skyword Networking' System to manipulate Grimm into making sanctuaries."

Seeing the confusion, he reached out... and a stack of blue paper landed in his hands, quickly passed to the other Hunters. "Basically she designed the reverse of the wards already established on your town. Grimm inside get consumed, and 'delicious' purified energies are released outside to attract more victims. Simmy is setting them up all over the place with drones and stuff. Then again, she always was one for the long term plans."

The conversation paused as Adam jumped from the landing bus. He walked towards the ocean as the other Faunus quickly caught up. "As for the seas, let me introduce you to Leviathan."

Blue Glyphs spawned, not made of blue flames as expected but of compressed blue metallic Aura, Adam's energy creating a portal of unknown languages. Blue light shown below the floating pattern...

And it began to grow cloudy.

As the first drops of rain fell, a green mass slowly dripped from the floating circle... then fell with deceptive slowness before smacking into water.

Betty felt her breath catch as... something... rose from the liquid. Faunus or Human shaped, the head alone was as large as a person! And it continued to stand, easily thirty feet tall. One right eye, three left, the featureless face barely reached above the massive muscled shoulders, the loosely hung arms and a whip like tail slowly swaying in the increasing wind.

Adam seemed mildly amused. "Levy, don't harm machines, animals, Humans, or Faunus."

The massive beast swayed silently as the rain began to increase.

He chuckled. "Other than that? Grimm are free game!" Adam gestured towards the sea. "Kill."

Betty barely saw the impossibly large being vanish, after images of... water? Heading in other directions.

He glanced at the stunned group. "Leviathan is king of the ocean. Massive water manipulation, but able to do small scale work if needed. Doesn't say much, but he gets the job done."

The ocean began to rapidly stain black with ichor as beings underwater suddenly had a new playmate.

Adam grinned, watching some sort of massive serpent Grimm in the distant waves explode into black goo and sink. "Right, he should enjoy that. Wonder how he will take advantage of the Spirit socket."

Maybe some sort of soul attack? Maybe use 'Purification'? He would ask Simmy later.

Before the others could say or do anything, another blue metallic Glyph circle spun, this time at ground level away from the beach.

Shit, was he getting another one!? Betty stepped back... as a Dragon head emerged from the soil.

No... it was rock-like, with magma flowing through cracks and the draconian eye sockets and maw, but this thing was bipedal as well. Each hand was built more with spikes of stone than fingers, more slabs of rock than flesh, but it had four limbs in total. Each moved with deliberation. Assurance.

Rock and soil rolled from the beast as it rose ever steady into the air, vibrations rumbling, Betty's bones creaking slightly as the creature clawed its way from the earth and the summoning circle.

And it was over forty-five feet tall. She wouldn't be able to scratch the damn thing's ankles! Holy crap.

Adam watched the mass of material seem to solidify. "Behemoth is a bit slow, and like Leviathan is only really useful for big attack situations. Not like my Simmy, she's amazing."

That blue angel was on the same level as these monsters!? Betty gulped.

Hearing her, the Elephantine Faunus blinked. "Right, a bit off topic. This lug can manipulate energy. All of it."

Adam shouted. "Hey Benny! Same rules as the other two, and don't come up too close to cities or villages! Other than that, feel free to clear the place out."

An energy bolt slashed through the air from the rock as Grimm evaporated. Dozens, Hundreds... the electric bolts were traveling far into the distance, even as the huge mountain slowly began to step forward... and sink into the earth.

And vanish.

Adam blinked. "Oh. I just gave him the power socket controlling 'Transfer' and 'Conversion'."

Something rumbled far in the distance.

Adam winced. "It... it should be fine."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Professor Ozpin watched with fascination at the new 'Grimm: Population Under Review' sections of the 'Grimm Radar' map. Whatever the circles were they were moving at a VERY rapid pace, red dots evaporating away in the process. The 'Grimm: Purification Circles' that were spawning were intriguing as well.

He almost jerked when he suddenly felt a growl WAY too close. Oh. Hello Ghira.

The Chieftain cursed. "When did THIS show up!? Adam had nothing to do with this, right!?"

A blue popup appeared... and both men paused. Ghira read aloud, slowly. "Uh... 'We can neither confirm nor deny any accusations that any individuals are...' what is THIS legal garbage!? It's worse than my damn lawyers!"

Thankfully the talk was derailed by the announcement of arriving ships. Looks like James Ironwood and the involved Atlas diplomats had finally arrived.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked. "Uh."

Betty and the rest were still staring at him, but he had bigger issues.

Adam coughed. "Right, so... with all three out like this, I only have my Aura available." He carefully moved.

His suit was fine, it was an actual product and not just constant material 'Manipulation' or anything. But moving his extra limbs felt... strange now. Not wrong, just... less automatic?

He blinked. How long had it been since he didn't just auto-equip 'Recovery' when bored?

...Everything was a bit off. It felt weird.

Huh.

Adam glanced at Betty. "Right, I can still punch out a Grimm or few hundred, and my Aura and enhanced body can just no-sell most weapons or attacks... but I feel surprisingly exposed right now."

Betty snapped out of her stupor, perversion at full throttle. "Tell me more about exposing yourself, Adam."

He blinked. "I visited a new place and never bothered to put on skin?" Star Wars was weird, man.

She paused. "We'll work on your foreplay banter later." Betty felt his muscles flex as she 'dragged' him towards the ocean, as if a girl her height could force a man like that to do anything. What was he made of, metal? Those sexy muscles were dense as all get out.

Adam hummed, the two of them leaving the shocked Hunters to stand around watching random Grimm explode, be split by water streams, or evaporate from electrical strikes. "In my defense, Narwhal focused more on the practical than the theory when it came to personal time."

The cow girl flipped upwards, landing back on his shoulders as he began strolling down the beach. "She never mentioned how gross a skinned Faunus would be?"

Adam patted her thigh. "It was fine, I had no flesh at the time. Nice clean bones."

The hell? "Yeah, that's not normal. Stick with the physical stuff she taught you. And avoid talking about whatever gore related fetish that mess of a topic was."

He blinked. Change topic? Yeah, better change topic. "So tell me more about that farmhand who you fired?"

She winced, their voices fading into the sound of the sea as they walked further away. "Yeah, we have warning signs around the goats for a reason. I don't even know how all twelve pens got opened."

Headmaster Ozpin leaned back in his chair, sipping from his mug slowly as the argument continued. General Ironwood had shown up with furious curiosity flavored with interested fury... he had been in a bit of a state.

All that cleared up quickly when Ozpin began showing off some of the new 'goods' available from Menagerie, specifically here in Kuo Kuana. As head of the Atlas military, he instantly saw how beneficial weapons and equipment could be if the Dust supplied was of standardized, highly purified quality.

Half of the technological base globally was dedicated to handling unusual spikes and dips in quality and power regulation. Almost no part of the tool or device being used could be relied upon, and all kinds of software and hardware was created to ensure turning on the lights wouldn't suddenly blow up your house one day. The need for constant adjustment was partly why everyone just made their own weapons in the end, a standardized product was just that more inferior. Guns that worked great in one region could barely work with Dust in another sometimes, making a single schematic hard to work with.

Headmaster Ironwood frowned. "I assume that my people will handle manufacturing and your people will work through distributing, Ozpin?"

Ozpin chuckled. "Initially that was my thought, but aside from negotiating the licensing rights to those 'Crystal Conversion Machines' which they seem unlikely to part with, you should look into the new line of Dust-less machinery."

He led James to a table loaded with documentation, passing a folder for review. "Ghira and I had a bit of a chat, and you have some of the top researchers on the planet. Converting Dust into various types or forms is amazing but simple... THIS is where your people will shine."

James began paging through the papers... rapid at first, then slowing down dramatically. "Power generators that can take any input as fuel... anti-gravity units... No Dust requirements!? What is this!?"

Ozpin chuckled, keeping an eye on Ghira and the most recent arrival, Vacuo's Shade Academy Headmaster, Theodore. The area under his purview included the largest natural Dust deposits known to society, and unlike many places Faunus whom were able to survive the harsh nature of the wild were more than welcome there... so negotiations were going well for Menagerie.

He wondered how many Grade 0 Dust samples Theodore had brought with him... he certainly came with enough ships. "That my friend is just some of the schematics provided to us by the 'Giant Hero', Adam. It took a bit of talk, but Ghira's people will outsource research and advancement of these schematics to your people in return for reasonable demands."

Seeing the glare continue, Ozpin chuckled again. "Any advancements or breakthroughs must be shared, any product using these designs or derivatives thereof being released external to Atlas, Vale, or Vacuo must undergo a joint approval process to prevent anti-Faunus organizations from abusing it. And so forth."

James blanked out slightly. "What the HELL did Mistral do to piss everyone off this much!?"

Professor Ozpin winced, and sent a private note to his friend's Scroll.

James grew more serious the more he read. "Those... bastards. Was it sanctioned?"

The silence was telling.

General Ironwood seemed to darken. "Well... well. It may be time for Atlas to also review a few other deals and understandings when it comes to our neighbors to the east."

He strode towards the rest of the group. "After all, the world of finance is going to change anyway... why not a few more minor modifications."

Ozpin sighed... but couldn't refute his friend. Headmaster Leonardo Lionheart had crossed a line no one had expected him to cross. Political or extreme faction pressure or not, resisting the advancement of the Grimm always came first.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Kali gently wiggled Blake back and forth, the slightly confused baby babbling happily as she tried to keep track of the world as she squirmed on her back.

Her baby was best baby.

The Hunter came up silently, waiting until Kali finished securing her daughter in the bright blue blanket. She nodded. "Report."

He nodded. "Target has enabled full access to the underground farms, which are already being planted as we speak. Over 80% of pasture animals have been relocated so far, the rest should be done in the next day or so. Personnel are undergoing training to occupy the management facilities down there. The Vending Machine Floor is operating as expected, and many orders are underway. However, Some issues have arisen with the most recent schematics provided."

At her raised eyebrow, he continued. "Most of the new devices are simple enough to make with our own resources and equipment, but certain components are almost black boxes in nature and require sub-molecular rearrangement to create or even properly examine. Almost zero faults or defects are allowed, any found lead to instant failure. The marked components on the list are modular, and are sold in the Target's Vending Machine floor at very low prices."

Kali chuckled. "Theoretically, if those parts were incorrectly crafted but did not fail safely, what is the worst case scenario?"

He nodded. "Fairly large explosion. That said, there is a lower quality version of the advanced parts being offered for sale by the Target, and Ghira was convinced by Ozpin to send it with General Ironwood to see if his people can improve our manufacturing processes in general while trying to reproduce the designs."

Kali booped Blake's nose, the infant's cute cat ears wiggling as she tried to laugh but forgot to make noise. "And his current location?"

The Hunter glanced at his Scroll. "The Target and Ms. Betty are exploring the sea side. And he seems to be rebuilding and reinforcing the seashore as they progress. Some sort of strange porous rock formation, stronger than anything documented. We have people looking at it."

She sighed. "I'm going to lose a guild leader at this point. At least she seems happy about the situation." Blake blinked... then gave a tiny sneeze.

Kali squealed. "My baby is best baby!"

Time for emergency cuddles!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Qrow Branwen blinked, drink still in hand.

The rest of Team STRQ was stuck here in Beacon Academy, here in Vale while the other teams had flown with speed to save any survivors of what was likely to be called the 'Menagerie Massacre'. Until it wasn't.

His sister Raven and Summer Rose had been furious when told they couldn't come, although Taiyang Xiao Long had been far more understanding of the situation for some reason... not that it mattered now.

He glanced at his drink, and cautiously took another sip.

Another lightning blast evaporated a distant Ursa, the bear Grimm screaming as the flesh floated into black smog.

Huh.

Point was, his team had been kept behind and their anger had quickly turned into confusion as their Scrolls had connected into something called the 'Skyword Networking System', letting them receive updates about how one dude ('King Muscles', 'Giant Hero', 'Sexy McSexy Pants', and so forth) had shown up and just... kicked Grimm ass.

The videos were everyone on the network, felt like something from a movie really. The ones from 'Winged_One' were the best though, very professional.

Which was fine.

He took another slow sip.

More lightning, this time a Beowolf he watched in the distance nearly turned inside out from the impact. The pack nearby were killed in the process.

Said 'hero' had also summoned a naked flying lady, so his popularity had jumped world wide just from that. Her image was all over the network, somehow just shy of exposing the best parts... if he didn't know better, he would accuse the angel of teasing the whole dang planet at this point. Supposedly he had also summoned two massive monsters to fight Grimm while he was busy on some sort of a date? It was still unconfirmed.

Glaring at the many distant Grimm, he took three quick swigs.

Three lightning blasts.

He felt a portal open behind him. Well, not really, but he heard the sounds change and smelled the shift as another place connected. "Brother, the others want you to return to camp."

Qrow shook his head. "Can't. Saving the world."

Another swig.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked. "I was unaware there was a village this close to the city."

Betty was brushing his blue hair with her fingers. "The ones closest all evacuated to Kuo Kuana of course, this one is a half way point to the Docks."

She pointed. "We get trade and even some fishing done with specialty ships, this village takes that product and repackages shipments for land distribution or harvests seafood into preservable units."

Her eyes checked as they walked. "Thank goodness the damage is minimal."

Adam hummed. "Simmy: send a drone to fix the area and the villages closest to the city. No need for these people to come back after that traumatic experience to a blown up home."

He watched as construction drones fell from the sky and got to work. "Would Ghira care a lot if we just set up some of those protection Glyph wards around these?"

Betty shrugged. "Not sure, but his wife would be grateful. If you want I can try and convince our friends following along to keep it quiet? No one should notice until the residents return." Probably.

With a plan in place, the couple continued to walk along the shore, admiring the weather as robotic drones restructured the town they slowly passed. Seriously, some of these roads were in terrible condition. Simmy, fix the worst of it, would you?

He grinned at the tune she sent him. Yeah, she could handle this.

The sea still had black smears swirling through it.

He hummed. "Hey, does it take longer for Grimm to evaporate from the sea than on land?"

Betty nodded. "It can, it is a bit annoying but doesn't seem to hurt the fish or plant life, just makes it harder to see underwater. And we all appreciate less sea monsters."

Adam nodded. "Levy, have Simmy set up some purification traps in the ocean for you and shove all the black stuff into them. Makes the ocean smell weird with this much Grimm liquid everywhere."

Betty blinked. There had been no noise or special reaction to his words... but the black streaks in the ocean seemed to suddenly be in a hurry, vanishing into the distance before her eyes.

He nodded. "Send any trash you find to Simmy for conversion too. I don't think they have as much as we do at home, but no reason not to check." Who knew how many sunk flying ships and so forth had been crashed into the sea over the years. "Anything mostly intact should be directed where Simmy wants it, no reason to crush it all before we check for useful stuff."

Adam blinked... crap. "Betty, you heard nothing."

She glanced at the surrounding Hunters, some already typing messages. "I mean... sure?"

He nodded. Problem solved. "Anyway, I want to go see the Docks. I bet I can make some neat stuff, I had a bit of practice in my home town. Made a swimming area, some deeper water channels for larger ships to come in, it was fun if a bit tedious at times. More paperwork than I expected too." He seemed to brighten up. "But technically it won't be my fault! My powers are all locked up, I would just be... uh. Directing ongoing maintenance. Through Simmy's drones. Yeah, let's go with that."

Betty made some hand gestures... yeah, several people already knew about the town they were passing. And according to the Hunter squad captain, the Drones had started to repair roads throughout the region, and Adam was already being credited. "I... I feel I must point out that you may get attention if you do so. We could just check it out anyway, but people may notice." Heck, some of the guards were LIVE STREAMING this. On the angel's orders no less.

Adam laughed. "Nah, no one cares about a shipyard, I'm sure we can get away with at least a little improvement."

Betty started to speak up when she noticed a blue slip of paper in her hand. 'Shh, it will be a surprise!'... huh?

Memories of massive monsters, supposed brothers to that 'cute innocent Angel' that was currently asking her to stay quiet. The danger she could get in if she went against something of that magnitude.

Well... Adam came first. "Hey, Adam, Simmy asked me to..."

Adam, mostly distracted, waved it off. "If she says to do something, best to listen to her. She always has a plan of some sort, so it will be fine."

She glanced at the note... that now said 'No really, it will be fine!'. Uh huh. Sure.

Betty looked down at her ride. "Adam, are you sure about that?"

He bounced along the road. "Oh she likes to mess with me, but I trust her."

She sighed, the note now saying 'I`ll send you a copy of his reaction!'... Great.

Well, he probably knew best. "Take the right hand path up ahead for a while and the Docks will be hard to miss."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy danced in the sky, directing drones to modify some structures in the ocean to slightly redirect currents, on mountains to modify the airflow. The Grimm misunderstood things in convenient ways, and various people (Criminals, racists, and assholes in general) were accidentally posting evidence of crimes and then donating hidden funds to charity. Boring things really.

More importantly, look at her man!

Her husband was best husband!

Spoiler: In case Media URLs change in the future

Last edited: Nov 26, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 21, 2019

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With casual ease, Adam swiped a hand, the earth parting with 'Manipulation' to give him some working room now that they were here at the Docks.

...Any time now.

With a blush, Adam coughed. Right, powers were currently being borrowed by the terrible trio. "Uh... First, I think making some basic designs first would be senseable."

She saw nothing, right? He glanced at Betty who seemed... more than a bit amused. Crud. "What natural defenses does this town have?"

The place was interesting. The Docks (Actual town name) was in an almost closed bay connected to the sea, with cover and walls everywhere even as you got closer to the actual sea structures themselves. Some sort of metal and rock monstrosity, obviously built in sections over many years.

Betty was kind enough to move on. "The bay entrance is normally armed with Hunters stationed in turrets, there are emergency barriers that can be mechanically lifted to block the area off, and there are underground emergency tunnels to escape from air attacks. The tunnels run through the docks and if needed we can continue to unload the ships during attacks."

Adam hummed. "Hmm. Maybe we could go big then."

He gestured towards the structures. "Any of these homes?"

She shook her head. "No, Grimm seem to ignore empty facilities most of the time so people live back in the processing town we passed and visit here for unloading and loading days only. Show up, kill any Grimm nearby, get the job done, go back home."

Reasonable enough. "Benny, we are rebuilding from scratch. Solidify the stone foundation, flatten it all, and get rid of the loading platforms, boardwalk, and docks for now."

He ignored the others and glanced into the water. "Levy, dig out the bay floor a few levels, open the bay channel entrance by double, then generally smooth out all surfaces near this area that are near water. Fill in ravines, grind down peaks, make it easier to work with. And get rid of the loose debris and pebbles and whatnot."

Adam watched the shifting landscape, 'Conversion' pulling a lot of work honestly. "Simmy, I want a barrier around this area, with some Grimm traps in the ocean farther out. Leave a gap in the middle so ships can enter safely while the Grimm fall for the bait. Get some drones making some light houses at the entrance, I assume fog and weather issues are still an issue."

He sighed. "Honestly, I feel so useless having to outsource my actions like this." His Aura coated limbs that were fortunately already formed into Construction emitters rotated, rapidly building a pedestal and a model of the local area. Another sweep smoothed the floor and vanished the random stones and so such.

Adam motioned the other hunters forward, before glancing at Betty. "So I think we can have four major loading and unloading piers for commercial use, with the outside rim of the Bay for private operations. That would have eight docking edges for at least one ship per side at a time."

The model was modified by his limbs. "The loading facilities will be entirely enclosed and have emergency barriers inside that can seal off sections of the tunnels from Grimm or water. Your ships dock, and any loading and unloading can be done entirely from the tunnels in the pier itself."

He frowned. "Simmy, can you update this thing with some storage facilities and refinement tools to match or better the stuff we cleared out?"

A drone fell like a silent brink from the heavens, covered the pedestal in lights, then Gathered a cavity in the base and embedded itself, Constructing a covering to protect itself. Good.

Adam pointed at the now constantly updating map. "Four temporary storage facilities, one long term storage structure that is heavily reinforced, and a larger processing area for later loading and unloading for transport when leaving the town or returning for more work."

He glanced over to where Simmy's drones were already forming the foundational layers of the new design. "Power will be supplied by Simmy's roads, since she has been installing Power Couplings under the things for the last few hours... but it would be best to have a few Conversion Generators underground as an emergency backup." Crud, he would have to tell Ghira at some point later. Can't leave random unknown power plants around.

The loud snap of something being reformed made him wince back into focus. "Well, that is a good starting point I guess, but what do you think would be a good long term idea or two for us to include guys?"

The ground rumbled, the sea bubbled, and strange noises crackled.

"Guys?"

The Hunters and Huntresses were a bit dazed. And staring at various things.

...Well that wasn't helpful.

Adam used a limb to pull the short cow woman off his shoulders. "Betty, do you need some sort of pasture here to hold your livestock before being shipped?"

Her eyes were still watching the world being reformed by magic, conversion, and flying laser droids. "Huwah?"

Right, probably would need a pasture. Best build it underground again, with the feed generating machines Simmy enhanced. "Good talk. You guys just... hold down the fort. I'll be right back."

Betty gestured at the ocean. "WhaWha!?"

He pet her head. "That's right, Wha Wha indeed. Be right back."

Adam walked towards the main holding facility. It would be slower to use his own work limbs to do this but at least he wouldn't feel so useless.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Gene walked into the living room, seeing her grand daughter watching some action movie on her Scroll. "Susan, you shouldn't spend so much time online. Go out and train a bit, enjoy the sunshine!"

Her little one looked up. "Gran... come look at this."

She blinked, but carefully sat on the couch. Age waits for no one, which was funny considering how much waiting SHE had to do now these days. "Is this one of your action shows? You know I have trouble keeping up with them. Ends up with explosions most of the time anyways."

Susan widened her Scroll. "That is Adam. He summons monsters and builds stuff. Right now he is making a fishing town or something at the ocean."

Huh. "Odd choice for a plot. Most of the time it is about some valiant hunter duo finding love and battle while defending someplace or other."

Her little one (I don't CARE how old you are dear, you will always be my little one) blushed. "Gran, that was ONE time! And no one filmed us!" She coughed. "Anyway, Adam fought off an army of Grimm and that woman on his shoulders is like an orphan who became a Guild Leader and all kinds of stuff. I'm still trying to catch up honestly."

They both blinked when the video shrank. To show a news room.

Oh. That was a live feed.

The two watched in wonder as a single person reshaped the world because he was unhappy about how other people prepared cattle for ocean transportation.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam paused in his work when Simmy connected him to some of the new information from her network.

Someone had found the 'Weapon Design' Wiki interesting enough to make a 'Structure Development' one. And as he watched, schematics for all kinds of tools and workstations were being shared, argued over, improved, made worse, and all sorts of neat things. And a lot of useless ones, like the egg inspection facility... for animals that don't lay eggs. Which, fair enough, if a cow laid an egg HE would want to inspect it too.

The one's Simmy had shared though involved not just loading machines, unloading machines, sorting machines, and so forth... but sorting and seafood processing facilities. And packaging ones, both for food and non food products.

He glanced at the still being constructed pasture. Well, it was a bit boring to work on this anyway... the designs were pretty solid so he was stuck walking around to get his tools in range while they automatically built junk.

Screw it, better to go back to the larger storage facility and make some processing rooms.

Time passed. And anyone trying to point out that Adam had to move a few things were a liar. Because of COURSE the loading machines should be in the Piers... and more in the storage facilities... And maybe the various harvesting tools needed a few more modifications for people with only two arms and...

Well, Simmy helped a lot in general and Betty helped a lot in pointing out how silly some of his design choices were for non-Elephant Faunus multi-limbed people.

After she caught up.

Betty had been distracted for a while, and before she had recovered some sort of call center had sprung up near the constantly updated pedestal map and she had been roped into helping. But eventually she found Adam randomly building crap in the larger storage area, and was able to point out that in several cases he had forgotten how important the order of operations could be when unloading or loading something. And how important windows were. And doors.

Buildings needed doors.

Good thing the materials used were stupid strong, despite being thin the walls would resist a heck of a lot and the ceilings were so high it made people woozy to look up at it. Should keep the flying Grimm out of the way though, and the thin materials meant more room for the future workers inside. That they were easier to lift and move around was beside the point. He fixed it all eventually anyway.

To be honest, Adam had been so distracted by the random things he was doing that he entirely missed the first two arriving vehicles bringing in Faunus from the city. If he hadn't found them in his way as he moved rooms/machines/sections of the new town... well, he noticed them eventually. That was the important part.

Sienna however had shown up a bit furious. And glaring at Betty. "I can't BELIEVE you got all this snuggle time with Captain Muscles."

On the other hand, Betty's expression shone with purity and innocence. "I called Dibs."

...It went downhill from there.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Susan pointed at the chart as the onscreen argument continued. "So Sienna Khan gathered a lesbian harem to conquer Adam's massive body, but had too many work responsibilities to properly make her case for love and sexy times. Betty had pushed hard for a relationship position early and often, accidentally becoming more powerful politically and financially in the process."

She made some marks. "Adam HASN'T seduced Ghira's wife, Kali." More marks. "Or Chieftain Ghira." More marks. "However, these twelve women whom were supposed to be body guards seem to be more body inspectors, and I don't know where on the chart they go. Or if Adam even noticed them yet."

An arrow pointed towards three images. "The sexy undressed Angel is his summons, but was also called his secretary and wife. She has directly met Betty AND Sienna, but had no issue with either one or their flirtations. Her brothers are massive monsters currently destroying the area's Grimm population, so if she wanted to end the issue both Betty and Sienna would be smushed."

Gene sighed. "And why the multiple arms?"

She frowned. "The network doesn't think it is a sexual situation, just extra tools on a very advanced suit under-frame. Maybe a secondary weapons platform he uses for construction." Susan pointed to the board. "The network is going a bit crazy, but the thirty five women claiming to be from past relationships were unable to provide proof, same with the ex-boyfriends. The best information we got so far was from 'Winged_One', who keeps making some amazing videos and finding some interesting rumors."

Gene blinked. "Like what?"

Susan leaned forward. "Supposedly Adam is dating a woman who is a twin... with herself!"

...What?

Last edited: Nov 21, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 22, 2019

#1,520

Simmy was busy. Levy and Benny were having fun, but not really entertaining to talk to. Squishy was... well, she would get back to him later.

No, the real issue is having to wait. Home needed time to consume the two Entities, HERE needed time to bestow Simmy with all their knowledge, and Betty had to go talk to some people about some business or other, guild related he was sure. So... he had to spend some time NOT doing anything.

It was surprisingly hard.

Adam had retreated to the workshop warehouse, now that there were so many people in the way. He had wanted to get some sort of giant actuator arm, a robotic limb that could just lift ships out of the sea for hull maintenance... but Betty felt it would gather a lot of attention. And after some consideration, he had to agree with her.

So he took over one of the many workshops he built in the new 'Dock Town' and was trying to get something done that... well, it was a bit tedious but it was best to just grit one's teeth and get it done with.

Tech integration.

Simmy was still gathering more and more valuable information, but he had enough to get to work. While the faith enhanced materials were awesome, and the Dust infused stuff created interesting options... the real issue was the design philosophy.

Star Wars tech was about precision, automation, and standardization. Trillions of cultures trying to trade and interact.

RWBY tech was about fault tolerance, individualized design, and variability. Only the surviving few attempting to live.

With a sigh, Adam began going over each of his various designs. Some would give up reliability and precision to gain far more flexibility and error handling (Both software and hardware issues, this stuff was useful). Stuff like his initial build up equipment was in this category. Other schematics would have no change, the necessary output too reliant on other parts to accept change easily. Gather and Construction beam emitters for one.

The last bit to consider was full on tool replacement. Because some things RWBY did, RWBY did VERY well.

Fuel analysis in this Realm was needed everywhere, with Dust being so unreliable, with fuel being so flimsy. The sensors for determining structural integrity and wear and tear were amazing, more powerful and smaller than anything he had seen so far. Heck, sensors in general here were BETTER than the ones from a space traveling society! That was unusual all on its own.

Even after replacing the components reliant on Dust to operate, the sensors were still heads and shoulders above the competition. They were so good that Simmy had started having Drones upgrade each other even as Adam began attempting to improve the sensors themselves. And the improvements were minimal, they were just that well implemented.

Mecha-shifting was very interesting as well. Used not only in weaponry, but in some machinery and vehicles, even some buildings took advantage of the stuff.

As mentioned before, it didn't really go outside of the third dimension, just pushed really hard against reality in small areas. That said, the designs used clever joint designs and sliding shafts such that when transformed into other modes, the weapons would have components sync together and partially disassemble themselves.

Basically, when going from a gun to a sword the parts would slightly fall apart and then interlock with their new neighbors, creating a structural integrity and stability unexpected from anything that needed to change form. The faith metals helped as well, as currents of energy made the embedded Dust modify the physical form: Some parts bent more than possible, or became more sturdy (but only when firing or given energy), springs failed more slowly... it was fascinating.

With a pause... Adam pulled out his weapon from the initial Grimm fight.

The 'staff', or 'stick', or 'I wanna hit something with it' thing he had basically slapped together and stuffed with power.

It was... a mess.

Basically, the staff/mallet/wand thing was only a spell framework supported by a faith matrix. It was the raw energy he kept stuffing into the thing that allowed it to create the illusion of being made of physical materials, and it was the faith imbued within that kept it from randomly exploding.

Mostly. That did explain why his assaults kept spewing magic everywhere when the Grimm were struck.

Aside from the danger of using this thing in a future world with low magic or faith, which was substantial, the spells were badly designed as they were. Able to handle high energy loads safely, these same energies were NOT being handled efficiently. At all.

So yeah, it was strong enough for Adam to swing without tearing itself apart and stable enough to not explode a city block when touching the air, but it wasted his power like a screen door installed in a boat bottom.

His limbs carefully rotated the thing.

The stick, first of all. It was almost unrelated to the massive stone of magic attached to the end. It just gathered all kinds of energy, forced it into a tornado pattern, passed the energy back through the center of the rod and stuffed it into the rock.

That same rock accepted power and swirled like water into a drain... except the drain was in the center. So it was a spherical swirl that forced power into a single point... and that was it.

Any impact would disturb the power stability, causing the explosions.

And uh... Adam wasn't sure exactly where the energy from the Magic rock went. It could be sent to his soul, lost to the Abyss, or (worse case) be building up for an explosion. A big one.

So yeah, crappy design.

Glyphs, fueled by his Aura and forced to stay stable, began to materialize in metal like shapes in the air. Stability, Reinforcement, and Momentum Conversion began to carefully duplicate themselves and be slightly bent, the blue metal designs being nudged into a rod form.

The bottom tip would have a small set of Glyphs, focused on energy attraction and conversion. The power would run through the center as expected, but would also feed energy to the Glyphs composing the external shaft of the weapon. You know, so you could hold the damn thing.

A very thin Transportation Glyph string would exist on the outside of the rod, spiraling down to connect both ends. Theoretically, this would allow energy to loop between ends to prevent any power leakage and to encourage stability even if no additional power was available in the system. An emergency feedback loop, one Adam carefully designed to be regulated and modified based on the other Glyph's energy use. Should be fine.

The magic stone design on the other hand was a loss. No idea what it was trying to do, but it was a waste to use that energy in such a weak way. Just tossing the power at the target would be more powerful and less wasteful than forcing it into a ball and having someone mess up the energy flow to 'attack'.

So the center of the new orb was now an energy gathering array, one that would take any excess fuel and compress it into a solidified form for removal. No more 'It goes somewhere and I hope it is safe' for Adam, he could just collect the raw magic stones it generated and relax a little.

Then he included a complicated analysis array, one with a mental communication Glyph setup next to a Glyph modification matrix. They were formed around the power supply/magic stone generator, and would be the 'surface' of the rock. For now.

So... if this worked, this new 'magic stone' would feel what actions he was trying to cause, look through the supplied library of Glyphs (By connecting to his Soul Library through the communication Glyphs), and use the energy from storage to etch Aura empowered Glyphs near the surface of the rock. They could be used to enhance actions without getting in the way.

The more duplicate Glyphs needed, the larger and more stable the etched 'enhancers' would become... the less used, the smaller they would become until they vanished.

Theoretically this would allow his new wand/staff/mallet to modify itself to eventually match his personal attack/use style while still allowing him to use new spells or whatever if desired without a casting penalty. Maybe.

Adam wiped his forehead with his trunk, grinning at the black Glyph rod and the blue Glyph stone, carefully feeding his Aura into the base of it. The energy filled in the air gaps of the weapon, even as the patterns themselves grew in clarity and definition. Ever so slowly, the symbols began pulsing with power. After only a few seconds, the pattern stabilized, a steady glow of black light from the shaft and blue light from the stone implying all steps were completed, 'Soul Wand' active.

Ha, he rocked!

Right, something basic. Make a basic light source.

A gesture with the wand, and a soft green light glowed in the lab.

He barely had time to blink before the stone was covered in hundreds of thousands of Glyphs and everything exploded.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty and the rest fell into attack formations as a massive form was thrown into the bay, an explosion ripped through the town, and the new 'Workshop Facility' Adam had made spewed smoke from a new hole in the wall.

A trunk rose from the water. "I'm OK!"

Confetti and streamers fell from the sky, along with a loose banner that said 'Congratulations for making (some) progress!'... and landed on Adam's water treading form, covering him with rapidly soaking cloth.

The mound of material shifted. "Still OK! And I can fix it!"

With a sigh, Betty waved the other Hunters away from the facility. Adam would fix it soon enough, and who knows what the Faunus had been working on. She looked back at her scroll. "Sorry Boss, Adam was just stopping by. He is off on some other project again."

Ghira grumbled. "Better not be making me more work. We finally got the rough draft of the agreement together and I don't want to spend another day in the office."

She blinked. "Anything you can share?"

Ghira nodded. "Vale and Headmaster Ozpin will be the customer service department of our new venture, while Shade and Headmaster Theodore will be our major Dust supplier... and likely our largest Dust consumer afterwords. Atlas and Headmaster Ironwood will handle Research and Development, and our groups will be using their larger facilities and automation lines to lower costs where possible for any new product."

Betty glanced at the soaked Elephant Faunus slurshing his way from the sea. "And Adam?"

Ghira sighed. "His blue angel assistant made it pretty clear that he is a traveler. He goes places and does things and she makes sure his interests are taken care of. He would not do well if forced into any political or financial position or forced to shoulder such responsibilities. James has experience with some geniuses like that, says it is best to just watch them make miracles and record what goes on."

She frowned. It had felt likely, but if Adam didn't build any further attachments than... well. He would move on. And to be honest, it was not really a surprise to her... he had a more touristy attitude than a guy trying to build a home.

The question was if he was interested in bringing her along.

She firmed her stance and got back to work. If he was willing to let her follow, she would need to have her people taken care of, a replacement or four in the wings, and anything personal packed. Something inside told her that his travels went far farther than anywhere she knew.

An adventure like that was more than a little appealing... especially with Adam as company.

Best get to it then.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Right, the wand needed restrictions on that damn rock. Add the top THREE Glyphs only per casting. Not the top ALL OF THEM.

Secondly, Aura created Glyphs etched into magic and faith while orbiting a power stone: They can collide. That was... unexpected.

During testing, low power Glyphs could just... pass through each other. Like images or holograms. During experimentation, they became so solid that they could interact... and the weapon design didn't account for that, forcing two physical spells shapes to press into AND THROUGH each other.

Thus boom.

And there had been hundreds of thousands of Glyphs being created at the same time.

Thus big boom.

It took a bit of thought, but eventually Adam came up with something.

New Glyphs would be created in non-overlapping spherical shells, chosen based on which shell had which rotation and free space. AFTER casting, when the spell shells were relatively stable, they would slowly sort themselves.

Duplicates would fuse and create single larger forms, orientations would eventually line up allowing two spinning 'Shells' to merge.

Finally, the largest and most used Glyphs would sink into the innermost shell that had room while the smaller ones would orbit outwards, making said room.

The resulting rotating metal shapes were a bit mesmerizing to watch, but thankfully NOT explosive to experience!

Probably.

That said, the next twelve tests were done from behind some armored barriers. Just in case.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Her limbs held Adam's soul. Her eye watched the outside.

Within the fishbowl, her avatar reformed. A large squishy body, eight tiny limbs. No longer winged, no hats, and she only had a single eye now...

But she was stable. More so than long ago.

Her limbs felt raw, her thoughts were slow... but recovery should be swift.

Squishy bobbed along inside Adam's soul even as S̴̢̐q̷̻̣̀͗u̵̳̯̓͊ị̵̝̂̕ṣ̶̦̋̚h̷̗̚ỷ̦ watched the Abyss outside.

They would keep Adam safe.

Another explosion hurled his body through the recently repaired wall and back into the sea. "I'm STILL OK!"

...Mostly safe.

Last edited: Nov 26, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 26, 2019

#1,538

The staff/wand/mallet stopped exploding after learning a few key facts.

First, the layers between 'Shells' needed to be pushed further apart. By millimeters, sure, but more distance was required or large Glyphs would rub against each other.

Second, when Adam attempted to add 'mecha-shift' technology to the thing... there were rules. Sure, the spaces didn't intrude into other dimensions, but they DID bulge... and after a few explosions, he figured out that they needed to bulge in the same 'direction'.

Multiple dimensional bulges in one direction would sort of reinforce each other, increasing stability and how much material can be squished away. If one of them was at an odd 'angle' though, it would collapse all of them.

The angle was a fourth dimensional thing, so it was no wonder that Remnant had issues with complicated space expansion tricks. Releasing a sensor to detect the situation and a theory for why some weapons could be tripled in space compression and others couldn't made the network swarm with interest.

Simmy was watching the world test stuff after that, so Adam could focus on his (mostly explosive) testing some more.

The third and most annoying issue: Faith doped materials by default would just absorb or change based on atmospheric faith energies.

Adam had to spend literal hours making new patterns of Dust impregnating patterns, ones that could only accept energy through very restrictive patterns, because his natural Aura could overload the existing stuff at unexpected times.

Thus, more explosions.

Honestly, it might be due to the Planet's Aura. Anything too unstable reacted to the stuff and then 'Boom', another launch into the bay. Maybe he could set up something close to the limit, some sort of grenade scenario?

Anyway, space expansion and material compression. Two separate effects, both used during mechanical transformation by weapons. Passive expansion was done through Dust patterns set into the metals, compression needed Dust patterns that accepted energy.

So storing blades, accessories, and so forth? No upkeep cost. It acted like a bag of holding or undetectable expansion charm, even if it ignored outside forces like gravity or explosions. Mostly.

Converting material into a new shape, compressing parts out of the way? If it ran out of Dust, if the embedded Dust wore out, or if the energy was disrupted it would snap back to the base form.

Many weapons relied on the user's Aura as an emergency energy source, so as long as the Hunter survived their weapon would be there by their side. That said, a badly designed weapon would suck the Aura reserves at critical moments, assuming one could survive a fight long enough for that to be an issue.

Point was, Adam felt confidant enough to consider his wand completed. It now had an expanded space with a double sided hammer heads that would be supported by the stone, so it could transform from a walking stick into a massive war hammer. One that could release magical energy and effects through the rotating floating metallic Glyphs that swirled around the stone. Without blowing Adam up. Probably.

Next, some upgrades to his spinal bone robotic limbs!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The Hunters flinched as Adam was thrown into the ocean again.

They were mostly used to it now though, and got back to work. There were a massive number of new workers that had to learn how to run the recently created facilities and handle the animals that would eventually be raised here for shipment.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Right, the limbs were covered with Aura, and using his limbs to modify his limbs had been... an energetic response.

Absently his trunk wrung out some liquid from his shirt, his mind distracted by the thoughts of alternative options. Extending arms? Easy enough, although he had to partially drop Aura coverage from one single limb while the others worked.

...Huh. Could one selectively drop Aura coverage?

Metal on, metal off. Aura on... slowly? No, it sort of spread everywhere first. Then added layers, which compressed together, since compression and refinement seemed to be the 'flavor' of his Aura in general.

In fact, even 'Off' there was a weak, soap bubble like layer that seemed to swirl along his skin.

So how the heck was he supposed to modify his limbs if the three Endbringers were holding his powers?

Well...

With a frown and a wince, Adam snapped off one of his upper left robotic bone limbs. Harder to do than he expected, even after disabling his Aura to lower the thing's resilience.

It didn't hurt exactly... but he WAS able to feel it missing. The sensors and stuff had been wired into his system, after all.

No, the crap part was forcing the break to not auto-repair. It was a low level stinging.

Adam focused his other limbs on doing the changes, the supports gaining layers so it could extend, the joint a bit more flexibility, and five tool heads that could swap between each other without needing a full redesign of the limb.

Theoretically Adam could put twelve parts on the end, probably, but the stability went up a lot if he held back and he had OTHER limbs to modify anyway. Anything attached to his body should be as stable as possible.

A few minutes later and after several tests, he used his other limbs to carefully connect the broken stump to the detached arm... and they healed together rapidly now that Aura could connect the two.

With a subconscious sigh, he began flexing and testing his modified limb, feeling the new degrees of freedom and rapidly swapping between two emitters, a grappling/manipulation unit, a good sensor, and the high energy laser. Cause lasers rocked.

It was with far LESS enthusiasm that he turned off Aura again and reached for the next arm.

This... was going to be a slow and annoying process.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty knocked on the door to Adam's lab, snacks on a tray.

She really felt lucky that years of work helped her avoid daily tasks. She had set up the various industries under herself to work mostly autonomously, albeit because she preferred to have more personal time.

Hearing another loud crackle, she looked up at his work bench... in time to see his massive arm rip one of those thin assisting limbs out by the root.

That... that looked painful.

By the time she saw him reach back and reattach the damn thing, she realized she had been staring in horror for several minutes now. Seriously, this won't be the strangest thing, suck it up girl!

She nodded to herself. "Adam, I brought some sandwiches and some cake, do you have time for a break?"

The massive man twisted, his trunk holding another limb recently torn from his own spine. "Has it been that long? Bring em over here Betty, I want to finish this upgrade process while I still have motivation. I am worried if I took a break it would be hard to keep going."

She cautiously approached... thankfully the bone limbs didn't spurt blood when torn free. "Upgrades?"

One of the far left limbs swung closer, before the claw on the end shifted into some sort of glowing tool, then into a speaker like shape... Adam absently pointed with his trunk, both arms busy repositioning the next detached limb.

The arm continued to mutate. Adam grinned. "Basic changes, but now my tools can reach farther from my back and each one has more than one form and settings. More usefulness with less reconstruction needed if I change jobs or whatever."

Betty watched the limb go through a sort of dance routine, end bits configuring through various forms and the arms stretching an compressing. "It... is very impressive."

Adam sighed. "It is all bare bones stuff, really. The important part is I can use these tools to get things done if my Summons are busy doing stuff. Normally I just reform each one with my powers directly, so this is a bit of a step down."

Looking away from the limbs modifying torn limbs showcase, Betty cleared her throat. "After... whatever this is, do you have any plans for later? We've spent a week or so in this new town as it is."

Adam blinked. "Huh. Time flies when you are exploding." He hummed, looking back at his work. "I was contacted by Squishy and she says my Semblance is available for use now, so I guess I want to go somewhere and practice it."

Betty paused. "..Any hints on what it is, exactly?"

He chuckled. "It is an extension of my Aura, which is now entwined with my Grid of Confinement, I am pretty sure that influenced Squishy's choice of self modification so..."

Seeing her confusion, he sighed. "Let's just say my Semblance helps me capture creatures or foes, to use as new summoning options or to transport things/people into my soul. No point in being able to summon if you have only three choices... ever."

She blinked. That sounded handy. Betty had seen something similar, a Semblance that allowed a guy to store tiny stuff inside his Aura like a secret pocket, but this sounded more useful... or at least, more flexible.

Betty shrugged. "Sounds neat... want to go try it out?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked, the sunlight bright after all that time stuck indoors. A flex had his robotic limbs fold back into themselves, a thin backpack of bones melding mostly into his outfit.

Right. "Simmy? We need a bus. Send us to the largest, most powerful Grimm you've detected so far. Kill any other Grimm nearby though, I just want to try out my Semblance."

The bus had already landed, ready for passengers, as Adam led the way. "I'm curious how far we will have to go for this, but if you guys get bored..."

He looked at the thirty or so Hunters and Huntresses that had gotten on board following Betty. What a strange group. "Well, the consoles on the outer edges control some energy based weaponry. Unlimited ammo, so feel free to fire at stuff as we travel."

Yep, that seemed to keep everyone happy. Betty however seemed concerned. "Adam, Grimm grow larger the older they get, the longer they live the more abilities they gain... Maybe you should just get something like a Goliath? You handled them easily enough, no reason to look for something more dangerous."

Adam chuckled. "Simmy, will it be a threat to us?"

He read the blue slip of paper... and frowned. "Right, get the bus close enough then have them pull back the rest." Seeing Betty's VERY unhappy look he sighed. "I won't even be inconvenienced, but you guys would uh... well. It would be a bad time."

He glanced at the slip. "Yeah, this thing doesn't have fire or lightning or whatever, it specializes in Gravity attacks only. Not quite black holes, but... yeah, I better try this without anyone nearby."

This led to a bit of an argument.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam nodded, cutting Betty and two of the guards off. "Right, we are almost too close to my new friend at this point, and I don't want this ship getting closer."

Betty's exasperation was clear, but she knew that her abilities weren't strong enough to solo fight a Goliath, much less something so strong that it could bash such creatures around.

She looked out the window, the guns on the side still randomly sniping flying Grimm. "Is it close?"

Adam opened the side door, wind whipping past as he stared downwards. "A bit, yeah."

Without another word he lept into space, falling rapidly towards the ridged mountain surface without a care.

Even as the armed air-bus began to pull away, Betty strained her eyes to see the cave or valley hiding the foe. Surely these Grimm minions were no threat, it had to be something bigger.

As Adam smacked into the ground...

The mountain opened, exposing a single eye.

The bus fell silent as the air began to rumble.

Apparently, something had started to draw breath.

The world... seemed to move.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam watched the exposed wet surface vanish into the distance.

At this range, the eye was too large and too close to really observe. Without satellite imagery, he wouldn't even known which direction the main body was!

The surface under his feet, below the crater he made, was stone. This beast had been asleep for so long it was basically part of the landmass now, ever so slowly spawning more Grimm from the residue that seeped to the surface.

This... this was the sole reason over half of Menagerie was desert. Because in the past, this... dragon? It looked like one. This beast just... consumed most of the continent. At least, that was Simmy's best guess.

Even as he felt Simmy continue to shift wind and water currents to help this land flourish again one day, he felt so... small.

If this beast had an eyelash, it would make trees look tiny. Skyscrapers like ants.

Even the massive crater from Adam's landing wasn't really enough. This beast, this Ancient Grimm, probably didn't even feel the actual impact from his fall.

No, it was reacting to the sense of danger. Of the unknown.

Adam glared at the ground, still covering so many layers of dirt before one reached the Grimm far below that was even now slowly awakening. His Aura flashed into blue metal over his skin... then grew layer by layer. Ridge after ridge of solidified faith... that would crumple through compression back to a single ever darkening material over his being. Slowly, a blue eye made of circuitry began to open on his forehead.

It too, was focused forward.

"Squishy, I hope you are ready..."

Grid of Confinement.

And night fell over the land.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

H̲u̝s̞̳̲̤h̲̗͉ ̢͔̯l̷͓̯̹̥̲̥̬i̧t̳̟̹̣̀tl̝͉̟̞̣ẹ̥̞̮͈̭̲ ̺̩̤̖̪̖ͅb̫̼͚͍a̗̲͕̫̯̤ͅbỵ͎͖͟.̫͕̩̭.̠̟ͅ.̖̗̲ͅ

D̛̰͎̱̕on̷̝̭̱͇'̗͎̜̤̫t̨̫̱̟̹̤͙͔̳̀ ̣̯̪̕ s͕̤͇̣̱̫ḁ̷̲̗͍̩͡͞y̯̹̣̠̣̫̹̮͞͠ ̷̼̯͖͝ ḁ͈͇͈̦̘̣̠ ̢̪̖̰́͢w̴̨̱̦̘͚̭̺ͅớ͕͎̖͜ͅr̦d̶̝̠.̘̹.̦̜̮.̢̞͟

Sq̵̡͈͎̜͕̯͖̠̬̪͙̪͡ú̴̹̙̦̹͡is̢h̛̹̝̺̳̝̯̰̖͔͍̟̟͝ͅy̷̵̵̗͈̖̝̼̖͓̱̝͔̞̟͚̖͕͙ͅͅ'̷̴̛̗̲̣̮̳̝̳̟͟͝s̵̢̖̬̙̬͉̗̹̲̻̗̖̱̳̠̥͉̰̺̻ ̵̷̮̠̩̦̣̩̥̖̝̤̮͙͘ ģ̶̘̜͉͔̭̠͉̬̯͞ó̢̹̗̦̻͙̗̺̺͎̦̱̲́͘i̷̘̥͚͎͓͕̠͎̯̻͚͓̳̮̩͖̣̕͠ń̶̗̝͖͢͝g̨͔̩̲̙͙̙̱̰̜̝̬̗̀͘͜͡ ̶̫͇̰͚̖̣̙͔̮̠̳͚̪͇̠͜͡t̨̳͍̫̤̭̻̰̤̬͚̮͎ͅó̵̧̫̳͍͍̥̝̻̭͇͇̩͚͘ ̴͇͖̝͚͈͈̬͇͍̠̠̼̝͉͡͠ bu̟̙̺̬̪̝̜̕͟ỵ̶̨̯̗̺̹̠̣ ͈͍̭̞̫̱̥̖̱̺̟̝̀̕ yo̵̡̢͈͙̹̗̹̩̹ư̖̯̙̥̲͖̤͍͔̯͘͞ͅ ̶̛͏̙̖̺̭͍̳̦̟͍̲̙̻̜̳ a̢̛̫̝̪̙̺̩̼̞̤̫͍̭͈͔̰͎̹̜͞ ̰͕͍̕͘ ḿ̷̡͖̣̮͈͇͙͚̼͕̼̫͚͈͢ͅǫ͚̦͈͍͇̘͎͕̫̞̭͕̯͙͝c̘͓̲̳̤͈̫͎̟̲͖͞͠͡k̦͇͈͈̲̼̤͙͚̬͔i͏̧̭̘͓̱̻͙̞͈̖̀͜ng̛҉̶͓̬͚̦̙͓̙̝͙̪͚̕ ̡̭̺͇̀̀b̶̨̛͍̳̩͇͓̫̯͉͈̙i͝͝͏͘͏̞̼̘̤̠͇̩̻͈ŕ̲͔̥̬̩̝͜͟d̷̨̲̼̗̝͕̗̥̞́.̷̢͈̱̖͚̹̖̮̼̙͚̳̦̞̯͉̞͇̰́͡.҉̘̘̳̗̙̪͇̼̤̀ͅ.̦͇̭̤̟̬̞̤̘͉

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Tentacles reached from the sky. Too many to count.

Twisted limbs pulled from the ground. An unheard of amount.

A Grimm size unseen... was soon no longer found.

And deep in that darkness...

Two blue eyes glowed true...

For Confinement of Self can be confinement of you.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The flying sky vehicle was dead silent. The few Hunters who had been recording forgot to end their video capture, though several men and women had dropped their Scrolls somewhere between reality opening up and the limbs of a corrupted octopus reaching forth.

Betty watched the raw power displayed, breathing a bit quickly.

She TOTALLY called dibs.

Spoiler: Translation

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theaceoffire

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Nov 27, 2019

#1,553

So, personal thoughts.

First of all, Adam was correct: He could capture the massive Grimm with little to no effort.

What he did NOT expect was the cool down time. It would take a few weeks before Squishy was done 'reprogramming' the beast. And for the power to stabilize.

The 'Grid of Confinement' was oozing black smoke... and sucking it back in. The black lines of the grid pulsed with Adam's Aura even as it adjusted.

Oh there was no risk of escape or danger, the massive dragon beast was captured just as firmly as the Endbringers. No, the changes were more subtle.

Each of the cells were slowly changing to allow Adam access to the energies said prisoners emitted. Simmy's cell was slowly offering a psychic energy, Levy's power oozed like a liquid, and Benny's power was a source of 'change'.

The new Grimm? A source of corruption and gravity.

Could be useful.

His powers aside, there were some other significant issues that the recent capture had caused.

Adam looked up at the sky.

So... so far up.

Like Simmy suggested, having companions would have been near lethal levels of dangerous... but honestly he assumed it was due to the Grimm struggling to escape capture. Or having some last minute suicide attack or something. Maybe an army of minions or acidic blood or who knew what.

No, any companions would have died falling with Adam into the massive hole left behind by the captured Dragon.

How deep WAS he!?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira gripped his Scroll so tightly the structure creaked. "I'm sorry, what?"

Betty's holographic face winced. "The entire mountain range, it was a single Grimm."

Deep. Breath. Slow. Calm.

Ghira nodded. "Right, and you say 'was', so I assume Adam handled it somehow?"

She glanced out the window. "He summoned something with lots of limbs and the Grimm sort of collapsed into itself."

Ghira groaned. Of course he did. "Well, at least this won't cause me more diplomatic bull crap."

The silence was concerning.

He glared at Betty. "Right?"

She looked away and sighed. "The Grimm not only took up lots of space, but he seemed to emit dark energy. For thousands of years."

Her Scroll turned, video showing an unending ravine of unheard of size... all edges glittering with MASSIVE Dust crystals, of all colors.

Ghira was too stunned to notice the Headmasters had snuck up behind him... and that they had also seen the massive new Dust deposit in Menagerie territory.

A hand fell onto his shoulder. "Ghira my friend, we over at Shade have many years of experience extracting Dust without setting off complex crystal structures like this one." Professor Theodore smirked. "I'm sure Ozpin has a form or two, we can knock out some contracts in no time."

The Headmasters and lawyers ignored Ghira's gnashing teeth, already starting up the glorious art of the deal. Again.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam quickly found out that the closer he got to the surface, the more Dust crystals were in the way. Dangerous combinations of it too, hitting one slightly wrong would detonate a massive amount of the area. Not that it would bother him at all, but it could put others at risk.

So he had to give up on escaping without assistance and have Simmy send him a Drone to fly out with.

...That had been twelve minutes ago. Even with flight, the path to get out without setting off an explosion was slow and squiggly.

So Adam was wasting time meandering on Skyword Networking, seeing what was new.

It only took a few minutes before he watched with dropped jaw some of the thousands of fan made videos. Of himself.

Simmy had made an entire subsection of the video streaming service for high quality footage of Adam. And highlights. And for fans to download clips of the stream for their OWN video projects.

Crap.

...Had Ghira seen this already? Probably not. Right? He was busy doing political junk, so it was probably fine for now.

Adam shifted to the left, a razor sharp shard of glowing black Dust moving past. It couldn't cut his skin, but it COULD fracture and set off a small 'Everything splody' which would be awkward.

So yeah, he was going to go full ignorance mode and scrub his brain. Ignoring that whole section of the internet, he moved on to the highlights from the 'researching' web services, the interactive Wiki that was being carefully recorded by Simmy as the whole planet shared ideas, plans, issues, and more. True, eighty percent of it was garbage, but a small chunk of the provided concepts and advancements were pure gold really.

For example: Pistols were most popular. Long range, but sacrificing volume of fire for overall stopping power. Why NOT use a pistol? If you needed more bullets, you are using the wrong gun anyway.

Anyway, the new design that was gaining in the popularity polls was a pistol that abused a newly found flaw in 'Mecha-shifting' thanks to the sensors that Adam had shared online, allowing others to see 'Dimensional Bulges' as they were being called. The flaw was found thanks to someone saying 'Instead of fixing my exploding weapon problem, can I make it worse?'

The answer was a resounding 'Yes!', an explosive, dangerous 'Yes.'

The pistol would have four barrels, all stored within the user space of one gun. When fired, four bullets would escape from four barrels... and interact poorly with each other.

It consumed four bullets per shot, but the explosion was closer to a much higher caliber weapon while the strange interactions from the collapsed colliding bullets forced them to stay roughly in direct lines of fire rather than following Gravity to arc downwards. It was nearly as accurate as laser weaponry thanks to this one quirk!

The video's showing off the prototypes were fairly clear: One shot from the new gun would fire a linear round that exploded along the entire path to the target. MISSING the Grimm would theoretically cause more damage than hitting, as it could kill dozens of targets just by passing by on the way to delivery! The concept of 'Sniper Pistols' was lighting imaginations on fire all over the place now.

Of course, after one shot the test guns exploded, the other ammo vanished somewhere, and sometimes strange issues would occur during testing. The strangest example was when the bullets somehow synced up instead of explosively clashing... there was a new hole through the target, the back plate, the hill, and several rocks. No clue where the bullet itself ended up. They were still eagerly trying to duplicate that result.

More than four barrels? Gun was likely to blow up instantly. So far, anyway, the whole idea was being tested by people on all four continents right now.

Less than four? Barely any change in shot effect, maybe a bit more impact than three or less bullets individually, but none of the explosions that had been so interesting. There was some interest from the machine gun groups, the idea of tripling a weapon's fire rate was not something to ignore after all, but it was less amazing than magical explosion sniper bullets.

Oh, and using any elemental shots was... explosively dangerous with this four barrel design. All testing of that was put on hold after eight people almost died. WHILE behind reinforced barriers. Over thirty feet away.

The crater was epic! But testing from Simmy showed that standard Dust was too irregular to give standard results, not unless they used Adam's refined product. So advancements on that front would come much later.

Adam blinked. Oh dear... someone was trying to use the 'Overlapping Launch' trick with rockets. BIG rockets. And live streaming the tests.

He glared at the slowly moving Drone. He needed popcorn for this, darn it!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy hummed away as she had more drones exploring 'Menagerie Mines' as they were rapidly being called. Each Dust Crystal cluster scanned, indexed, and marked on the map application online. Even now, there were users online tallying cost estimations as she progressed, showing how many Lien this treasure mine was worth.

Some of this stuff was impossible to make without constant exposure to the corrupt Grimm energies, so there was some really rare materials that were carefully marked and scanned by Simmy as progress continued. Literally priceless, they had to be left out of the running total... but that same total had reached stupid levels hours ago.

One crystal seemed to generate a VERY sticky acid when empowered, which she was trying to modify to only dissolve clothing. For reasons.

How 'fortunate' that Adam's contract (written by her, of course!) would give him a percentage of any found new materials. It should keep his projects running here for years even if he had to head off on another adventure.

She absently used Gather beams to expose hidden explosive clusters, here and there using Construction beams to reinforce certain layers or separate incompatible sections.

It just wouldn't do for future workers to get killed collecting her husband's riches, right? Probably right.

The most dangerous materials at the bottom of the new canyon were even now being covered by seawater, the redirected oceanic currents keeping those dangerous materials from being exposed to air any longer than needed.

The rest could theoretically be harvested, but that stuff deep down?

That was fragile, dangerous stuff. Esoteric materials with strange effects too.

She made sure to get good scans of them for later.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam grinned. "FINALLY!" He quickly turned off the Scroll on his bone limb and directed the Drone towards the floating bus, which had also seemed to notice him. Playing solitaire on his Scroll could only entertain him for so long, and he was DONE with this place. And dark caverns, no matter how sparkly.

He hopped into the side hatch of the ship, Betty launching herself into a hug around his left leg. "Whoever is flying this bucket of bolts, let's get out of here! I've been stuck down there for hours!"

Betty looked up from her death grip. "We have to leave an away party then. Ghira wants a forward base and future mining supply camp set up since we are in the area."

Crud, that meant he knew about his recent pet collection. Maybe... maybe the online video stream as well? Either way, he was trying to get Adam to fix the mess himself, which sounded really tedious.

Yeah, no. "Simmy, figure out what Ghira wants built here, upgrade the designs a bit, and send some Drones to whip it up." There.

He grinned. "Now let's head back to 'The Docks', I need a nap and some snacks after that mess."

Adam walked to an unoccupied section of the bus, Betty gripping his leg so she could ride along. Seriously, that experience wasn't tiring, but it felt SO STRANGE. Eating (Capturing) that Grimm had left him breathing out black smoke for several minutes, an odd taste of cave water and smog left in his mouth.

Seriously, he wanted a hot dog or something. And a nap.

As he settled into the chair, he checked his Scroll to verify the Drones deployment. A defensible position, some food production, connected to the power grid, it would need employee housing, some facilities to refuel ships and to store harvested Dust. Adam absently added a few extra things, odds and ends. And a few turrets. Should keep Ghira from complaining too much. Probably. Hopefully.

How long was it going to take for this bus to head back to town? With a sigh, he forced himself to stand again and head to the cockpit.

It took time, but eventually he convinced the pilot to head back to The Docks. Not sure why she was so jumpy though.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked. "Wow. Lots of people showed up here."

Betty chuckled. "Still showing up, and now more people will have to be sent to your new Dust Mine. Might be the start of a new village there too." She pointed to the edge of town. "The new residential areas you included have really increased the number of people that can safely stay in the area, especially considering the defenses you included."

He frowned. "Well, there should still be an open room or two. And food. Heck, maybe more food with all these people showing up." Blue lines pulsed into visibility on his skin before fading away. "And I could really use a nap at this point." Should Grimm taste spicy? Do ALL Grimm taste spicy? Mental note, test that later.

Betty felt the pure power from the man brush against her Aura. Nice. "The cafeteria you set up is already running, should we head over there?"

Adam chuckled as he felt the woman leap onto his shoulders again. "Why not? Lead on!"

They ignored the other Hunters and Huntresses, still careful to stay out of sight and out of the way as they watched Adam walk off. Not everyone could handle the extreme or bizarre as well as others.

More importantly, he was pretty sure he smelled waffles. Or at least some sort of maple syrup equivalent. And after falling into a hole full of explosive treasures, he really could use some waffles.

Spoiler: In case Media URLs change in the future

Last edited: Nov 27, 2019

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theaceoffire

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Nov 29, 2019

#1,566

Narwhal blinked, her mental half having received a virtual call from an impossible number.

Literally, the number was a series of letters.

Recognizing Simmy's humor, she chuckled and answered, Cyber Narwhal having had nothing but paperwork so far. A break was more than welcome.

Her smile was huge! "ADAM!"

...Uh. "Why do you have a trunk?"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam sighed, Betty and Narwhal now on conference call having a strange conversation. Considering how outgoing and brazen Betty was normally, seeing Narwhal turn her into a stuttering blushing mess was sort of adorable.

Still, the connection was up and running so he wasn't needed here.

Sitting in a meditative pose, Adam mentally focused inward.

The Grid of Confinement was slowly pulsing. But stable.

On the edges were a series of colored lines, each connected to one of the various prisons and slowly oozing different flavors of power.

Actual flavors. Corruption tasted spicy, for example. Gravity was a heavy chocolate mix, like a too dense cake.

Squishy's cute octopus form was bouncing around, only the finest line of power connecting her avatar to the massive blue eye in the sky and the black tentacles holding his soul. She seemed fine.

He walked out of the lab and headed to the shore. The Docks were busy even with no ships in sight, as Faunus ran to and fro checking things out, moving equipment, and so forth. Simmy's drones had done good work though, everything was pretty much ready to go once a few ships arrived to be loaded/unloaded.

Finding a spot to sit over the sea without being in the way took a few tries, but eventually he was able to relax and watch the waves. The water was clearing up thanks to Levy and Simmy's purification circles, but the crisp salt air was relaxing right now.

A limb bent forward, showing the Scroll attachment and opening up more videos about experimental weapons and dust tricks. The entire video category gave the Frat Boys/Sorority Girls 'Dumb Idea' vibe to them, where a group of friends were daring each other to do more and more stupid crap.

Entertaining to watch though.

The trending video right now was a group trying to make the largest sword possible that was both structurally sound and doped with enough gravity dust to still be usable in conflict.

Thankfully they were independently wealthy, as each attempt was stupid expensive. They didn't even have Adam's recycling machines to try more than once per supply run. The most recent attempt somehow caused the blade to implode vertically, possibly sending blade fragments up into orbit.

It had caused a lot of interest online, as there was NOT enough Dust to cause the effect directly. Several videos showed that concentrated Gravity Dust could make that amount of metal float... but fly?

So yeah, it was being investigated. Although some groups were just idiots with some junk in a garage, many others had professional labs and equipment. So progress was still being made.

Another interesting new application on the 'Skyword Networking' System was 'Drone Exploration', where users could pay Lien to rent control of a Drone from Simmy and explore places through remote control. Even now, a small army of Drones were exploring the new Dust Canyon left by that Dragon Grimm Adam captured. The massive beast was being refereed to as 'Mister G' online, and seeing such a large monster 'handled' had given a surprisingly large boost to moral online.

Point was, hundreds of thousands of people were renting Drone time from Adam, giving him a vast, growing bank account to work with.

Which was... odd. At first he was going to invest his new funds into charity work, when he stumbled into an oddity.

Remnant had NO orphanages. Nada. Zilch.

Children were such a precious resource that there was literally a 100% adoption rate. Child abuse was punished more harshly than attempted murder, and even past terror attacks avoided including the children.

It seemed... statistically unlikely. But Remnant was 100% pro-kids, pro-adoption, and pro-any-family-possible. Gay couples? Go for it. Harem? Why not? As long as they were consenting, nearly anything went. Life was too short otherwise.

In the end, he had donated the massive increase in funding towards supporting new farms and renovating low income area defenses. At least kids would benefit from safer areas to live and cheaper food.

Seriously, anything Adam needed he could make at this point. Money was just wasted sitting in his account if he didn't use it somewhere.

Speaking of money, Adam added a feature to the Drones where people could claim territory (for a fee, part of which went to the land owner), use the 'Gather' beam to harvest (For a percentage of whatever was collected), and use the 'Construction' beam to deliver the product to their location (No fee on this part). Basically turning the wealthy and the bored into Adam's personal work force.

He blinked at the sudden surge in interest. Oh, right, Simmy was still broadcasting his actions. Talk about free publicity.

Well, if they were going to be going nuts anyway...

It took only a few seconds to put up the 'Virtual Interface Connectors' devices and some Dust Testing Labs, longer for him to set up an 'About' page to explain how people could use the virtual environments to test stuff easier and for much less money.

He was barely half way through before Simmy started getting an ocean of order requests, drones delivering Construction beams of connection devices and material globally to keep up with demand.

Before he could get into trouble, he made the devices a bit expensive and free for anyone living in Kuo Kuana. And said it was all Ghira's idea. And to ask him for details.

Adam carefully ignored the new messages from Ghira himself. They probably weren't important. And Betty was too busy being teased by Narwhal to answer her scroll.

So technically he wasn't in trouble yet.

He took over a Drone using the new app and began exploring the nearby ocean bed. If the view count was any indication, the internet found it interesting too.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ghira snarled. "I do NOT control Skyword Networking, so that is NOT MY PROBLEM."

The lawyer tried to reach for some documents.

Ghira's spear slashed the whole damn pile. "Not. My. Problem."

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Simmy set up more online streams like Adam's popular channel. One for 'Levy' as he swam along the ocean, popping Grimm like party balloons. One for 'Benny', though as he spent most of his time underground she ended up having an outline generated to 'show' viewers his body as he randomly exploded monsters.

And more boring video streams. A dozen or so for each major city, with at least one being created per town. It would be useful for emergencies, or just knowing what the weather was like. She added an option for businesses to 'buy' their own video feed, several theaters jumping at the chance to take their work online for free, especially at such a high quality professional level.

Her own feed was carefully angled to only show the 'good stuff' when Adam was watching, all other poor users would basically be seen 'almost enough'. Mmm, the frustration of so many men (And women) tasted like pure bliss.

The more she investigated things though, the more interesting this got. She had initially considered wiping all Grimm off the planet, but from what she could tell the beasts had accidentally enhanced the Aura of the planet by many folds. Getting rid of them all could damage the planet itself if she wasn't careful.

In much the same way a human would develop a fever, Dust was formed from the planet's Aura as a self-defense mechanism.

Still, no reason for the Grimm to have so many numbers or be so large or powerful.

A slight build up... and anther spear of dense energy incinerated a massive Grimm, this one a serpent underwater that was several miles long. She would have to destroy the next five heads it formed before it would finally run out of energy to recover though.

What a lovely day for a light hunt.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam carefully held his right arm back, wand held by the stone and shaft pointing towards the water.

Wait.

The tip of the wand was sharp, a dull layer of Aura enhancing the material. It wouldn't stay once thrown, but it would allow the weapon to handle the intense forces he was about to subject it to.

Wait.

Adjusting his vision was easier, as his Aura covering his eyes could be modified. By the very nature, the layers of Aura had to allow visible light to pass through... so he could add filters or data layers to those thin shells.

It was how he was tracking the fish.

His eyes flickered as he watched one of the larger meals swim closer to the surface, about to dash in to eat some smaller aquatic life form.

NOW!

His arm snapped forward, hand releasing the speeding wand as it stabbed through the water, nearly piercing all the way through the fish victim.

Before the death throes had even started, the wand lifted the entire catch into the air and began floating back to his hand.

Hmm. Less blood than expected.

His bone tools reached the fish before it touched his hand, scales and fins removed, innards pulled out, and two large fish fillets were stacked on his palm even as the wand returned to his soul.

...Had it always been able to do that? Just... enter his soul?

He hadn't even washed it. Would his soul smell fishy now?

Whatever, he had something to cook with.

A Constructor crafted bowl was given some seasonings to dredge the fish in, another with batter, and the third was already starting to boil with oil. It wasn't up to Robo or Boro's standards, but fried fish wasn't the most complicated of dishes.

Adam frowned. He needed sauce. Simmy?

Over fifty pounds of Tartar sauce splashed over his body.

...Close enough.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty gasped, her new friend Narwhal already laughing over her shoulder from the Scroll as they watched Adam get covered in white goo. "Is... is he alright?"

Narwhal snorted. "Considering how often he does that to us, he better be."

The cow Faunus's blush was epic. "Shush you. So inappropriate."

Her eyebrows waggled. "Oh I don't know, Simmy's notes here say you have a few thoughts and dreams of your own, 'Size Queen'."

Betty eeped! "That... shut up! I just like a man who has certain... proportions. It's not my fault that my smaller size attracts a certain type of male attention."

The Guild leader looked on in sympathy. "I know what you mean. I have a very outgoing personality, and I am willing to try a lot of things... but I still want respect from those in a relationship with me. My lifestyle and costume encouraged a lot of shallow one night stands, but finding a guy like Adam was a rare thing. Even if he seems to have a thing for girls with horns."

Betty blinked. "Aren't you a Faunus? I thought Narwhal was a code word thing."

Narwhal chuckled, for a moment looking like a tall nude goddess. "The horn is part of my power, like my Semblance if that helps you understand it. Nightmare Moon however is an actual Unicorn and CD is a digital life form."

She paused. "That sounds like... quite the group."

Narwhal smirked, pulling up an image.

A purple haired seducer was posed next to an innocent digital wet dream, Narwhal and... a twin sister? Sitting at front, with a non-Faunus that looked surprisingly similar to Adam resting in front.

The woman's finger pointed at the purple haired beauty. "This is Nightmare Moon, a literal Goddess of Dreams whom followed Adam from her world for a new life. That same world turned some dreams into my digital twin and this lovely lady."

The pointer moved to the cybernetic beauty. "Cyber Dragon, or CD for short, has the body of a temptress and the heart of an angel. She is the emotional support of our group, and we all love her dearly. My twin on the other hand decided to merge with me directly, so I can be we when we wish."

Betty gulped, mouth dry. "And... the guy in front is Adam?"

Her smirk was devious. "Yeah, he changes bodies and forms at will. Any kink you desire, any shape you wish, simplicity for him to provide." Her eyebrows rose. "Any size as well."

Was it hot in here? It felt hot in here. "A...Anything I should bring over if I make the trip?"

Dimensional travel? Fine. Unknown world? No problem. To join this sex heaven, there was no doubt in her mind about her decisions.

Narwhal's eyes glittered as they slowly examined every inch of the well formed cow Faunus. "Hmm... do you have a saddle?"

She laughed at Betty's needy whimper. Adam had good taste.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam tried to ignore the strange squishy sounds. Even jumping in the sea didn't make him feel clean enough.

He leaned into his lab. "Betty, I am going to take a shower really quick. Let me know if Narwhal needs anything."

She looked up at him... and zoned out, slightly drooling.

Oh. He had forgotten to replace the shirt after jumping in the ocean. And was wearing shorts.

Oops.

Narwhal's face was barely visible at this angle, but her voice was loud. "Damn girl, no wonder you want in. That elephant body is damn fine!"

Adam blinked. "I don't need to be objectified like this. I have standards."

He proceeded to swing his hips like a young lady with something to prove on his way to the bathroom, hearing Betty groan and Narwhal chuckle.

His chuckle and thoughts made the shower far less annoying. Seriously Simmy, this stupid sauce got everywhere!

Last edited: Dec 17, 2019

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Dec 2, 2019

#1,586

...Damn, Adam was bored.

After Sienna and the other girls showed up, Betty and Narwhal got into a huge argument/discussion/girl talk/whatever and he ended up without a companion and nothing super important to do.

It was fine at first. He wandered down various roads, road the bus around, gave random orders to the Trio to build things or whatever as he explored.

He found a second port city, and partially due to the ever annoyed messages Ghira was sending him, decided to upgrade THIS one too. Didn't matter much since the design had already been set up previously, but at least Ghira would have more to actually complain about rather than those 'Stop Doing Things' messages.

Other than that? You built one road/power supply route you've seen them all. It would take a while before the many tiny villages and such found out their electricity was free, most were distracted by the secured warehouses Adam built and the new defensive walls.

For a while, Adam had just... made stuff. There was a whole glass city in the desert now, with imperfections in the glass reflecting most of the heat away. Had a whole light and shadow theme going on to it, even if he had to artificially build some 'stones' to redirect wind away from the roads and walls.

He only built a couple before he felt restless and had Simmy take over.

So he went into the mountains. Designed a few defensible trade routes and passages, hooked them up to power, had some water generators inside, yadda yadda.

Being alone made everything more boring somehow. Less important.

Making 'Variance Villa' had been fun because of other peoples reactions and the people living there, making these huge empty places however... lost appeal.

More than a bit frustrated, Adam decided to go a bit over the top with something.

He headed to the center of Menagerie's desert.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Kali blinked at Ghira slouching in through the door. "Honey?"

He groaned. "I don't care anymore. I've been forced to show up for discussions every day for a month now! I'm taking time off."

Kali rocked the sleeping baby, Blake having been changed just after breakfast. "Was it Adam again?"

Ghira slumped into the couch. "That... jerk."

Kali chuckled. "What did he do now?"

Her husband glared at the ceiling. "For a while, he was just fixing stuff up. Betty was following along, and his new network stream was slowly losing followers because of how repetitive he was being."

Kali nodded. The channel (Free unlike some online media) was more than a little popular. It was harder for her to follow it because Blake came first and she had a lot of work to do recovering from the Grimm assault, but even checking in every day or so had been entertaining.

Ghira sighed. "Then he somehow got Betty sidetracked with Sienna, her girls, and some online Narwhal Faunus I don't recognize. Now the network has a channel just dedicated to their conversations and arguments. Like a sitcom or whatever."

He waved a weary hand. "Problem was, they ignored Adam. And thus separated the crazy elephant from the cow of reason."

The man grunted as Blake was pushed onto his chest before cooing the sleeping girl. The conversation took a short break as her husband relaxed with love and better thoughts.

Kali gave him some baby time before nudging him back to topic.

He sighed. "Right, well... He started off simple enough. A few rest stops with power and facilities along the roads, street lights for night travel, defensive walls for villages and cities, and so forth."

His hand gently patted Blake's furry head. "Then the odd stuff. Reshuffling a town to make it have better 'Feng Shui', some sort of shrine to a fluffy elephant tiger thing, something called a 'Hot Dog' stand that serves all kinds of foods I've never heard of. Run by a robot. I asked him to stop and he retaliated by upgrading our second port like the first one, which meant me having to find even more people to man more places."

She snickered. THAT had been a hilarious broadcast, a big manly elephant Faunus stomping around, building a prosperous city, while grouching. Adam had been a grumpy pants the whole time! He would build a massive structure, telling her man to 'Take that!' in the process, then stomp elsewhere. Apparently there were several murals there of her husband posing, with speech bubbles about 'Be responsible' and 'Eat your veggies' and so forth.

He'd seen those, right?

...Better not bring it up.

Ghira sighed. "Things got stranger after that. for a while he started building huge glass cities in the desert itself, with water generators that just spew water in fountains as if it wasn't hard to transport or store there. Which I guess for him it isn't. Jerk."

She giggled. "You can always ignore them, our people hasn't had an overpopulation issue or anything."

He shook his head. "Can't, the immigration of Faunus to our cities has only increased from previous numbers. Somehow jerks and racists across the globe have been donating absurd amounts of money to give the downtrodden and homeless tickets and immigration packets here. Not sure how that happened, but it helps that the cities we checked out so far are fully inhabitable. Power, water, they have automated restaurants and underground farms that are starting to grow. More underground pastures... is that a thing of his?"

She shrugged, taking Blake back from her father so he could relax a bit more. "I know he made some more mountain passages after I messaged him about it, never asked about the underground habit."

He blinked. "That was YOU!? I wondered why I suddenly had dozens of tunnels and paths pop up on those maps."

Kali chuckled. "Don't worry, I didn't ask for anything else. Everything should calm down soon and you can get back to that glorious boring paperwork you always complained about."

His smile was angelic. "Oh, glorious forms a3b12 and a2b04. How I missed thee!"

He missed his wife checking her Scroll after she got an alert. "Yeah, he did seem to be slowing down. No one can keep doing crazy crap like this forever."

Today was surely the start of 'normality.'

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

This was awesome! It actually strained his abilities a bit, especially since the Trio was out Grimm pruning using his main powers.

Adam flexed his massive form, blue Aura metal coating his limbs even as he rose back to thirty feet tall.

He felt less... real like this. Unless he invested some energy, his mass didn't expand like it should have, his material was mostly being 'faked' thanks to his Aura, like some sort of growth spell. Temporary.

Not that he cared, energy was not really an issue at the moment.

No, right now he was focusing on his massive bone limbs, which had scaled up with his own body. Gather beam emitters the size of a car, Construction beam emitters already twisting to angle better, and a few others with manipulation tools to hold him above the sand, to scan terrain.

Each step forward rocked the sand, his extra limbs preventing him from sinking deep, as a dedicated pair of emitters Gathered sand and Constructed the 'power roads' behind him, leading deeper into the dry expanse.

The roads were modified. This sand was too deep, too far from bedrock, and if he hard set the roads to a fixed height they would have grown massive gaps below or get covered by the endless sand above.

So they were designed more like... boats. Segments that had repulsorlifts and sensors built in, that would raise and lower to handle terrain height change. They could force a height level during storms or massive land shifts then slowly sink or rise to the 'surface' once the situation was under control.

A few emergency shelters were built with the same idea, so these roads should handle the chaotic surface with little issue. The Glyphs written would keep sand off the road itself, acting like a tunnel during bad weather, and used little power since they didn't have to react to Grimm or attacks or whatever.

Adam left that automation to his back limbs, the important part was his destination.

He was going to build a park. In the desert. Because he Simmy-Damned could.

Step one: foundation. Oh, it would work similar to the roads, with a built in power station to allow the entire rock bowl (Actually a type of stone-foam) to float if needed. But more than that, this would NOT be a farm. It would NOT be a boring grid or city or herb garden.

He was going to build a place with different biomes, habitats, and plants. So anyone theoretically could visit and explore nature safely, no Grimm dangers or whatever.

Step by step, he swept his beams, gathering sand and creating blocks of foamed rock many meters long and wide. This wasn't going to be done by the Drones, he wanted to have something entertaining to do!

Simmy would handle researching the plants needed, the animals, what proportions were needed for a healthy life cycle, and so forth. She loved that stuff anyway.

Adam however would build some recreational facilities in the foundation. A lot of them. Beaches, pools, restaurants, gambling places, theaters, stores (Vending machines again), hotels, and more! Unlike other areas he designed, no Humans or Faunus would be working here, anywhere. All would be Droids with various tasks.

People would come to visit, get in one of the virtual reality pods, and could then invisibly fly around the habitats above ground invisibly! No bothering the animals, no interfering with their lives. If you wanted to pet something fluffy, go to the foundation's underground petting zoo: This was for nature!

Not that it WOULD be 100% nature, Adam knew that true wilderness was not really as nice as some would expect. There would be safe areas for herbivores, extra food for carnivores if starvation becomes an issue. The biggest cheat would be the devices that could add to the various populations of plants and creatures if any were in danger of extinction or simply running low population wise.

Simmy was helping Adam by doing the (REALLY) complicated math involved. It was not uncommon for a random species to be eaten entirely by another, and it wouldn't be much of a display floor if one really lucky species figured out how to eat all the others.

Meh, it was nature-ish. Birth, gathering, hunting, breeding, aging, death, and all that. Maybe it would be a bit more clean than it should be, maybe corpses wouldn't stay around as long as they should, water sources would be cleaner than expected, and so forth.

With a sigh, Adam shifted a massive slab of rock foam to the side. This 'park' was a zoo basically, even if it was a very impressive and almost zero interaction zoo. Just a zoo built on a massive hotel/resort/etc.

Should still be fun.

Adam absently consumed more and more sand for conversion, watching his limb's Scroll as Simmy updated his current design plans in a virtual map.

Huh... the viewers from his live stream were making suggestions.

Well... Why not?

Adam began adding the water park, roller coasters, and golf courses being suggested to the online schematic, even as the ideas or past creations were being suggested by the massive crowds. The suggested 'Laser Battle' facility suggestion alone was already becoming ever more complex.

The zoo would have to be even larger than designed to handle all this mess, but he was trying to keep busy anyway.

Wait what? Red light district?

Before he could react, he suddenly had a video feed pop up with Betty, Narwhal, Sienna, and a whole bunch of girls staring at him.

Adam held his hands up. "I didn't suggest it! I don't even know who did!"

Sienna tried to look small and nonchalant.

Narwhal hummed. "Maybe not whore houses... but what about sex shops and strip joints?"

And... a very odd discussion took over. Sex toys were different in this Realm, probably due to how many people had non-human features.

Adam cautiously closed the video feed. He was busy enough without trying to avoid social landmines from TWO societies.

He ignored the Scroll for now, focusing on the waves of sand falling into the pit he was forming even as more slabs of stone foam formed. Simmy would show him the winning design patterns for him to consider later, for now it would take a long while just getting the basic 'Foundation' layer built anyway.

Did Ghira own the whole desert? Meh, whatever.

If he got grumpy, Adam could just fly the whole Zoo away. Put it in the sea or something.

It wouldn't need Human or Faunus workers anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal to those guys.

He hummed in satisfaction even as Simmy's drones began constructing more floating roads leading to the other mountain passes he built.

Road building was boring, Super Theme Park Resort Zoo's were where it's at!

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#1,604

Uh.

When one thinks 'Desert', one thinks 'Lots of sand' usually.

It wasn't always true, in fact the Sahara desert is only 25% covered with sand for example. And some areas have thicker and thinner layers of the stuff, which changes with the wind and so forth.

But usually, when one begins construction in a sandy desert one does not expect to run out of sand.

Adam was currently at the bottom of a WIDE bowl, sand walls getting more and more annoying to access and the floor some sort of super compressed sand stone substance. His poor roads dangled like sad strings off the edges.

He stomped on the sandstone. This overly dense layer he had only vaguely heard of before, supposedly the water table was under this thing? Annoying anyway.

Either way, sand converted into super strong rock-foam requires WAY more sand as fodder. He wasn't even 10% done building the foundation of his future creation and well... yeah.

Unless he wanted to make lots of strolls around the rim of the growing hole in the sand, he would need more material.

Thankfully, this Realm gave him access to Dust, and the strange way it grew when exposed to pure faith. That said, all the Dust samples he had found were basically the Planet's anti-Grimm attack method.

It was more than a bit aggressive, and explosive. Making a mound of it under his future city/park/zoo thing seemed very unwise.

But to do better, he would need his abilities back.

With a sigh, Adam held out his palm.

"Summon:Leviathan."

A circle of blue metal Glyphs formed as Levy fell onto the sandstone, cracks spreading over the surface.

Adam sighed. "Sorry Levy, but I need your abilities. Did you have fun?"

The massive aquatic god nodded, even as he began to mist apart as the Summon was canceled. The feeling of his 'spirit' socket returning was... very nice. Warm.

He flexed his massive shoulders, then pushed his wand into staff form and tapped the sandstone. "Bind."

The floor and falling sand walls flashed briefly with black ropes... then stilled, as if perfectly leveled. That should keep the area clear.

Absently he formed a single reinforced, enhanced Dust Crystal. Using Fire dust, because why not. It was five feet tall due to his current height, but it would work well enough.

His massive hand began to glow. "Purification."

Layer by layer, slow yet visible, Adam examined the crystal and replaced the emotions, the belief, the rage, the depression... the conceptual concept of Dust itself.

White 'Purification' slowly etched itself into reality, creeping up the crystal at a crawl. The thing didn't turn clear, or bright white exactly, but more like a combination. A clear crystal with exotic bright white threads woven throughout, not quite Glyphs and not quite scribbles.

The tiniest fragment had the pattern, and the pattern only grew in stability and strength as it consumed the Fire Dust. Even as it spread, Adam continued to use Purification on not only the Dust itself, but on the air in contact with the thing.

No contamination was allowed, no desecration would be permitted.

When the last of the former flames had been purged, Adam walked to the center of the massive pit and gently placed the Dust Crystal into the stone.

If this had gone well, it should be... stable. Not explosive at least.

But if he was going to test it, why not do something a bit stupid?

The drone filming Adam had a few seconds to film his goofy smile before a mound of white peanuts fell from the sky onto the Dust.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Headmaster Ozpin flinched on the Bullhead flying home, something resonating with a part of his sensing that no mortal Hunter could feel. It wasn't the usual black corruption he always felt, or the spike of rage or joy that Salem would send into the darkness... but it was a massive wave in the Planet's Aura.

Something... big had happened.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty and the girls paused as a thin wave of... white? Some sort of field passed over the group, sending Sienna and the other 'on the clock' Hunters and Huntresses into battle assessment mode.

Narwhal watched everyone just... leap into 'Chicken with head cut off' mode. "Uh... is everything alright?"

Betty was frantically sending messages on her Scroll. "I DON'T KNOW!"

She blinked. "Well alright then. Call me back when everything settles down."

Betty had already ran towards the nearest bus, still frantically operating her scroll.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Well.

Adam cleared enough crystal to change his sitting position. It was trying to grow back constantly, forcing his Gather beams to just work full time.

Not sure what he expected, honestly.

Dust plus kami equals growth. Modified, super-refined Purification Dust plus Kami equals 'I really should have done this from farther away'.

With effort, Adam gathered material in a stair shaped pattern, even as the tunnel he slowly cut grew full again after every movement.

Thank goodness he didn't need to breathe, it was going to take a while to get back up to the surface.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty just... stared.

The girls had watched Adam preparing for his new 'whatever you call it' for several hours, even set up a network poll and so forth while debating new features this 'Automated Fun Facility' would have.

It had been relaxing, and a chance for her to bond with Narwhal, a woman who seemed fun and interested in all kinds of neat things. And perverted as all git out, as most cool women and men were.

Then Adam had Summoned his sea monster, created some sort of Dust no one had heard of before, and blew everything up. On camera.

By the time Betty had arrived on the site, many hours had passed (It was WAY out in the desert), but finding the place was easy.

Head towards the massive glimmering Crystal.

It had filled in the enormous pit, reached far into the sky, then slowly spread outwards in the sand. They had to pause attempts getting closer until some could be analyzed, as if this mass was explosive a good chunk of EVERYTHING would blow.

It was... odd.

There was no explosions or random effects being set off, all the crystals were just... emitting a field. Like an Aura field, but weaker.

Anything that got inside that field was slowly cleaned.

Sand was evaporated from weapon hinges, clothing was sweat free, hair was almost freshly shampooed, even her sinuses felt free and clear.

It was terrible ammunition, but several Hunters had reported Grimm turning away from the effect. Didn't react well to their bodies, as it tried to 'clean them' away.

Ghira wasn't answering his Scroll right now, something about being asleep, but Kali Belladonna had already started scientific teams to research the stuff and engineering teams to discover any possible alloys or methods to embed the new effects into the walls.

Betty on the other hand was stuck... watching. Even now, thousands of drones were trying to harvest the enormous mountain of crystal away, even as Adam's network stream showed him slowly tunneling his way to the surface.

No one was willing to fly too close to this new, untested Dust. Not if Adam was just inconvenienced instead of trapped in a crystal tomb as originally expected.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The Soul of Remnant sang an old song.

And within the tunes of lost voices, a new note... a path not followed.

A soul harbored, a being of unknown origin and unknown future, had taken her attempts at self defense and created structure. Order.

Purity.

This new pattern was more stable, required less resources, and harmed her foes while benefiting her children.

Under the soil and in clusters of potential, white Purification Dust began to form.

The Soul of Remnant sang an old song... with new hope.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Well crap baskets, all his work was now stuck under a mountain.

Like... two days of walking, of designing, of building sand into usable resources... and it was thousands of meters under this junk.

This was BEYOND frustrating.

Adam sighed, and waved a hand.

"Summon:Simurgh."

He ignored her grin. "Yeah, yeah. Could you please get some drones to clear this mountain down to a mostly level surface to the sand? Maybe a bit higher I guess."

She nodded, before floating to his shoulders and sat in Betty's spot, smirking towards the desert for some reason.

Adam watched the thousands of silver specks drop from the heavens. "I still want to do the whole 'floating structure' scenario. We'll just pretend the top of the crystal cliffs is the floor and construct the foundation up there I guess."

It was going to be a while, the stupid mountain was still growing even as more drones came down to help harvest the damn thing.

He glanced up at the nude blue angel. "Any use for this stuff?"

She passed him some blue paper. Hmm.

Not strong structurally, not normally, but she did design a stone-Dust-foam pattern that was fairly durable, could handle shocks well, and wouldn't cause issues with the wiring. This stuff was safe enough to grind up into powder and dump it into drinking water with no issue, although you could still choke on the stuff if you just ate the rocks like a moron.

He would use the original sandstone dust-foam as an outer layer, for appearances if nothing else, then use this new 'Purification Foam' structure for the actual insides of the place. The radiation like field Simmy had analyzed had only positive reactions to living creatures, so there was no reason NOT to when he had this much material to work with. Even better than most Dust when it came to stuff like crop growth, so maybe another small farm? Farms were fun.

Adam nodded. "Pass Betty the details on the structures and stuff you came up with, I'm sure her people would love to test this Dust out later." He glanced at the still spreading mountain. "And we got enough of it to share."

Watching the slow progress of digesting the new mountain, Adam reluctantly went back to design work, slender legs dangling around his neck.

Huh... When had he shrunk back down so much? Oh well.

The bottom most floor would be for structural support, with repulsorlifts overly distributed into two separate networks of anti-gravity structure so one could be down for maintenance without landing the zoo. These would be the maintenance levels, with vertical lifts through hidden paths so worker droid platforms could reach all the floors of the building and materials could be moved around without using the customer reachable levels. Some tubes would only be large enough for maintenance droids or drones, but that was fine.

Speaking of droids, he was not going to force hundreds of thousands of living artificial beings to be stuck in one city. Down here, in the core of the facility, he would be building one hell of a massive droid server platform. Layers and layers of electronics that supported a supersized and optimized General Purpose Cognitive Module, one designed to be enhanced as much as possible using Dust doped materials. A single entity with astounding self repair abilities and the potential for growth.

One AI would control everything. The droid platforms, the weapons, the defenses, and so forth. Like Shirley Temple back in the Star Wars Realm, the new AI would rule here as Goddess to the Town.

Simmy was already 'raising' the AI destined to take over. Considering that her name was already chosen to be 'Ada Lovelace', the woman considered to be the FIRST computer programmer, it was probably too late for him to have any input. At least the new 'owner' would be qualified, based on the massive amount of learning material Simmy was forcing on her growing AI. Not just stuff from this Realm either, Simmy was creating a genius with outside knowledge to run the hospitals, libraries, restaurants, bowling centers, etc and etc.

He still made sure Simmy knew to let him know any requests the new woman would have. IF she was going to be born as a massive city/zoo/theme park, she deserved an opinion on the subject.

Anyway, the power center and AI core would be down here, away from people and defended. Then came layers of armor and structure, then the many civilian layers, some more armor, then the zoo, then a transparent dome covered in defenses.

It would look like a massive crystal ball on a sandstone pillar at the end, at least until someone submitted designs the internet liked better.

To be honest, Adam didn't find it crazy that so many people were working together online with this project. He DID find it crazy that so many people were already willing to MOVE to this continent, just to get free internet access and to try out this new park he was building.

Hmm. He wouldn't get in trouble for attracting other countries populations, right? Bah, he wouldn't stay long enough to find out. Though if he got transporting people down safely, he may bring them over here to try out the new facilities.

Poke.

Adam blinked. Oh, Squishy was growing 'Purification' Dust Crystals around the base of the Shinto Gate in his soul. It apparently helped simplify his use of 'Purification' and made the effects more powerful.

Neat! Wonder if he could make Dust from his other abilities. Although Dust based on 'Consume', 'Conversion', or 'Transfer' may be very dangerous.

He refocused on the crystal harvesting. Which was... barely progressing.

Yeah, better just start the drones building the foundation above the mountain, it could float down once finished and it would provide a stable floor for Adam to work from.

Otherwise he would have to wait hours for this stupid mountain to get low enough to climb up safely.

Last edited: Dec 4, 2019

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Dec 4, 2019

#1,619

Fun Fact: Exposing Purification Dust Crystals as a pool surface cleans the water.

Also Fun Fact: By default, it converts salt water into a clean layer of salt and fresh water.

It took HOURS to get it to stop. For a while, Adam was sure he would have to scrap all salt water features from the park, and was having similar issues with other liquids and such.

'Oh, your water has all this junk in it! Don`t worry, I`ll fix it!' BAM, your alcohol is purified, joy to everyone.

It took some testing, but Adam found a method to 'align' Purification Dust to not just convert everything into water. A LOT of testing.

It basically involved exposing the crystals to the desired liquid while infusing the Dust with Aura AND intent. Just Aura would do nothing, thank goodness, or someone using their power in the pool could mess up the whole thing again.

Just in case, he had Simmy figure out how to encode an 'Approval' pattern for Auras to match before the Purification Dust could realign to a new base state. It was a bit complicated and who knew when others could pull it off, but he uploaded the trick (But not the pattern) to the network anyway. Have fun with it.

As for the rides and attractions, he had passed it off to the network and Simmy. The internet would use a custom voting site to choose which ideas or themes would be represented at the Zoo, Simmy would go through and make the rides less lethal (Hunters and Huntresses could handle EXTREME speed), and the drones were off building away.

He had enough issues with basic park structure.

Adam had tried to go for robustness on this build. A layer of armor, retractable Gather and Constructor emitters on remote controlled limbs, maintenance level, another layer of armor, AI level (The droid 'brain' was... massive. The empty space was filled with modules focused on data storage or processing, extra stuff that would be useful at some point), another layer of armor and reinforcement, the power supply level, more armor, the various factories, more armor, and...

Point was, this Zoo had defenses. Structural ones alone that were WAY too thick.

To make it level with the desert, he would have to have the whole dang mountain harvested AND the hole reopened.

So instead, he just had the roads hang in the air to reach the place. The bonds between road segments was strong enough even without the repulsorlifts extra support, so it should be fine.

Point was, by the time he had begun building the pools and facilities, his 'Underground Paradise' was pretty damn high off the damn ground.

Meh.

He left the pools to slowly fill with Constructed water. Part of the big reason to duplicate all the attractions with salt water alternatives were for those Faunus that needed such to feel at ease. The fact that the treated Purification Crystals would keep things clean without needing harsh chemicals was a massive bonus!

Still, Adam was trying to be smart.

All water rides, pools, wave pools, swimming lanes, age restricted swim areas, and deep water diving sections were on the lowest public floor. Did it need to be? No. Did he feel it was smart to have pools over the tourists? No.

That said, there was an aquarium over several sections of the pool areas and the 'open air' restaurants, thick floors of 'glass' allowing the people below to feel as if they were under water while watching various fish swim. That vote had been a popular one online.

In an effort to NOT cause a tragedy later, Adam had been forced to take another research break and design some Glyphs that were nearly invisible but would convert Aura, Heat, Cold, Pressure, and Vibrations into energy. Theoretically it would be VERY hard to damage the facilities at this point unless you were keyed into the defences themselves.

Unlike his other publicly published research (Purification Dust and YOU!) those Glyphs were embedded into the substances to keep people from discovering them and misusing them. Thankfully they were best on structures, using that rune on anything touching you would suck your Aura dry for conversion. And it REALLY didn't like vehicles that ran on Dust.

So a drunk Hunter was less likely to drop an ocean on a crowd of eating people. Not without a lot of warning and a large amount of effort.

With a sigh, Adam asked Simmy for more help.

Water parks? All kinds of stuff was needed. Sure, the maintenance droids would allow many issues to be handled, like paint touch ups, ride upgrade and verification, emergency handling if someone accidentally or DELIBERATELY got out of the ride during operation, yadda yadda yadda.

Bathrooms had to be available across the whole level, and rest areas, and snack areas, and location maps, and transportation to/from the hotels and the various entertainment areas, and background music (Makes it easier for some people to handle crowds, makes conversations less annoying as others are droned out by the sounds, etc), and cleaning systems, and... and... sigh.

Honestly, Adam was more a big idea man. The actual nitty gritty stuff? Thank goodness he had a competent sexy blue angel to get stuff together. Even if she insisted on riding his shoulders while he wandered around setting stuff up.

The pool level had mostly turned out well, he felt.

Each one had a different color theme, with warm colors for fresh water and cool ones for salt water. Hot colors for the ones that were kept heated, near black for the ones kept cool, if not freezing. All the pools were temperature controlled of course, although most were just given a 'comfortable temperature range' rather than 'hot' or 'cold' like the novelty pools.

The plant life was actually artificially made convincing fakes down here, designed to fit different parts of Remnant's flora while helping to divide the various features and pools from sight. Make it feel less crowded in general, really, without having to set robots to water them all the time or worry about a specific tree getting sick.

The next level (Woo! More defensive layers!) was for the more dry entertainment. Hotels, restaurants, museums, libraries, shops (Vending Machines!), roller coasters, golf courses, bowling alleys, laser gun arenas, sparing arenas, event coliseums, the list was long.

It was mostly based on technology though. That was the floor 'theme'.

Adam felt it was a bit clever. Above his Foundation, he had the Water level, Tech level, Nature level, Animal level, then the Zoo at the very top.

He was still building the technology level at the moment, but the plans for the next levels followed the 'Theme' idea.

Nature level included plant gardens and farms with vegetarian restaurants, exotic plants rarely seen, and so such. The shops sold plant related products, the Hotels featured jungles, mountain tops, and other such natural wonders as guidelines. The internet was also designing all kinds of picturesque scenes for people to visit, which would be fun.

Animal level was going to have the farms, petting zoo, animal nursery, restaurants serving some amazing meat dishes, and even museums showing various creatures through history that survived despite the Grimm.

True, it meant if you wanted seafood you needed to take a lift down to the Water level, and if your friend wanted some cultural dish the group would have to wander up to the Tech level, but part of the fun was being slightly inconvenienced while trying something new.

That said, he may be stuck on the Tech level for a while. Aside from the rides and Dust exhibits and stuff, the online polls were requesting small village recreations to show off the various cultures around Remnant with historic museums telling their many histories or selling reproduced local products.

...Yeah, the schematics for this Zoo were being modified pretty heavily and actively.

With the other levels, well, people were happy enough. But the Tech level? There was a whole section just offering public Labs, Workshops, and Furnaces! As a vacation location! 'Oh I can`t wait to go on holiday and rebuild some weapons!' That had to be a Remnant thing.

Point was, the Tech level kept expanding in focus and requests. It had already doubled from the original plans.

With a sigh, Adam began trekking back downstairs. Down-lift? Meh.

If the Zoo was going to be expanding again, he could fit some sort of slow moving water current 'river' path around the edge down there, maybe with some 'glass' windows to show the desert while people drifted in circles. Ooh, and he could build in a river side bar as well!

Who didn't like relaxing in a river while drinking? It should be popular.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty finally got approval to approach the 'Whatever the hell Adam is making' structure hours after that blue winged bitch took her spot.

Oh she knew the egg-heads had to prove the new Purification Dust crystals (which were EVERYWHERE near this area of the desert now) were safe enough to use other Dust nearby. And wouldn't evaporate their nation if someone sneezed on it.

That said, she had seen one moronic Hunter accidentally smash an entire crystal cluster with his sledge hammer when trying to 'relax' earlier, and the fact that anyone was still alive was a good indication that this stuff wasn't unstable. Probably.

She tapped her hand on the bus seat as they followed the strange road Adam had built, the lack of wind or sand making it far easier to use than simply flying through the air directly.

Yeah, Sienna had called Narwhal back a few hours ago. And yes, Betty had wanted to make a good impression on the woman, even if the long conversations earlier had been enjoyable on their own anyway.

But the urge to make SURE that Adam was alright had left her unwilling to just relax and chat like earlier. That pulse of power, probably caused by this Dust expansion, had felt VERY powerful. And he had been in the center of the damn thing when it went off.

Her eyes drifted, the white inscribed clear crystals beautifully strewn over the landscape, the glittering mountain in the distance refusing to get closer fast enough.

Once she made sure he was actually alright, she would love to see what progress he had made... these things were beautiful. And hopefully non-explosive.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam blinked. "Uh... what?"

The droid, shaped like a deer Faunus with beautiful antlers, nodded. "Master Burns, a miss Betty has reached visitor center one and is requesting your presence."

He glanced over her form, her water themed clothing matching well with the floor's theme. "Did... Did I activate you already Ada?"

She shook her head and waved up at the nude woman ridding his shoulders. "No, Master. Mistress Simurgh felt that having me assist in construction and allocating some 'Gather' and 'Construction' drones would help speed things along. So I was brought into service."

Adam frowned, glancing up at Simmy's nodding face, her legs squeezing his neck. "But... I'm not ready! I wanted to surprise you a little... it's not a gift if you have to make it yourself!"

Seriously, he had this whole reveal plan and there was going to be virtual cake and... sigh.

Ada had a soft smile and gave his shoulder a pat, ignoring Simmy's pout. "Mistress Simmy said you would likely need to return home before our projected completion time due to some... concerns she has."

He blinked... then focused on his angel's expression. "Hmm." If it wasn't urgent enough to demand him go home now, it was unlikely that the Space Whale Entity was the issue.

He waved the gynoid forward. "Lead on Ada, I'll admit I've missed Betty's company. How many platforms have you allocated towards construction?"

They moved towards the nearest lifts, her robotic form moving fluidly. "A few hundred drones are operational. As for other positions, I've only moved a hundred platforms per level for now, generic security droids. I am still designing the forms I plan to use for public interaction, most of which will be Faunus by design due to the nation we operate within."

The conversation wandered a bit as they traveled, and a few people online started some polls to ask her some questions as well, so it was an enjoyable way to pass time.

Even if his fun projects were being taken over by a sexy alien war machine crystalline woman.

He smiled as they traveled down towards the security checkpoints. At least he knew it was almost time to head home! He missed his girls.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Salem's black cocoon twitched, the ooze surface twinging even as the healing process continued.

Something was wrong, she just... knew it. But the recovery process was already proceeding faster than was optimal, and she risked deformity or weakness if she didn't allow these wounds time to recover.

The structure prevented her from giving orders or connecting to her pawns, but even with this disconnect she could feel something in the air itself shifting.

No clue what it was, all she knew was that she HATED it. Something was WRONG.

Still, those fools could probably wait. The information she had collected during the last fight against that infuriating Ozpin was enough to advance her plans by many folds! And her plans took place over decades or longer, some short term gain or minor victory wouldn't even make her blink or cause long term problems.

No matter what that optimistic failure of a man had accomplished during her brief recovery, it would be nothing once her armies rose up for the final conflict! Her plans were detailed, long termed, and unstoppable!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Qrow Branwen frowned at his unhappy team. "Well, well... yeah. But it's true damn it! Watch!"

He slug back one of his personal jugs and took a deep draft of his drink.

With a loud crackle, a small transparent crystal Dust with glowing white patterns formed at his feet.

Everyone looked down at it in shock. Well, almost everyone.

Qrow blinked. "Crud, I grabbed the wrong bottle."

Last edited: Dec 4, 2019

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Dec 5, 2019

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Betty's conflict with Simmy lasted less than thirty seconds when the blue angle telekinetically lifted the cow girl onto his shoulders and onto HER lap.

So now she was trying to ignore the fondling angel as she rode the Adam express.

...Phrasing was a bit off on that.

Point was, the trio were doing a bit of a tour while Ada's various bodies wandered off to do things.

Betty blushed but kept focused. "Last I heard, Narwhal wanted an adult section to the place?"

Adam chuckled, feeling Simmy reach around Betty and... uh. Were they still live streaming this online?

His feed was about to be VERY popular. And Simmy's feed as well. Poor Betty.

He coughed and got into the lift, watching the levels pass through the window as they headed up. "All electronic stores are on the Tech level of course, but in particular there is an actual 'Red Light District' with age restricted entrances now. Theaters showing porn, massage parlors, sex shops, restaurants with sexy droid platform waitresses, the list goes on."

He ignored the women wiggling on his neck the best he could. "They are still adding stuff to the schematics, and Simmy is more than a bit amused by the situation. Apparently Remnant is much more sexually free than our home or most I visited, the high death rate and short life spans making people more likely to experiment while they can."

Seriously, some of those sex toys were disturbing. And he had thought himself fairly well exposed to the strange and kinky from his time online! Sheesh.

He chuckled. "That area is going to be regulated carefully. I don't want anyone to accidentally show up, visitors should only see that area if they desire to and are considered adults. Or I suppose if they have their guardians permission and are chaperoned... I hope that doesn't become a thing."

Betty tried to keep her voice steady. "If Aura is unlocked then consent can be considered around 16 or so, with 18 being the standard on average. Exceptions in both directions have occurred, depending on medical review from their physician. The standards are different for civilians though."

Their conversation meandered a bit until they reached one of the observing platforms, Betty falling silent as they could see most of the Water level from here.

Adam pointed. "These see-through walkways allow people to reach farther sections of the park without fighting the crowds and businesses down below. The material is also designed to diffuse shadows, so that people walking up here would be hard to notice down below. I considered having more transport lifts or trains or something, but this method gives a good view as well as lowering foot traffic."

She didn't say much though, looking over the wandering pools, luscious 'plants', and hidden shops.

To be fair, it was a pretty awesome view. Even if it was a bit off seeing Ada's drones in the distance, modifying stuff.

Oh, the trees and bushes were being replaced with artificial kelp and underwater plant and coral sculptures! In retrospect, that would make more sense here. Oops.

He began moving again, even if Betty was being distracted by a personal-space-issue Simmy. The sushi restaurant would be fun to show off, especially with those custom Droid platforms running it. They had that whole 'Artistic Performance' thing going on, which was apparently going to be a thing now.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The network was enthralled.

First, their access to the service went from 'Costly, low connection, city only' to 'Affordable, What the Hell? Speed, Access Anywhere!' Within days whole communities sprung up in the digital world, and half the damn planet became content producers.

The quality of said content varied heavily of course, but of all the data feeds a few stood out.

The 'Conquering Trio' of monsters devastating Grimm got tons of views, each feed popular (And the feed 'Simmy' controlled almost reaching religious levels of attention). The 'How To' tutorial videos had taken off like a rocket, and the 'Drone Rental Service' was a profit machine!

But right now, the internet was focused on 'Adam`s Adventure', the stream which had shifted from fighting Grimm, to building cities, to now constructing the world's most complicated and automated relaxation resort.

At record pace.

While trying to 'go slowly'.

The debates on Adams's divinity were less 'Is he a higher power' and more 'Which one is he!?' on the net forums, and despite his lack of claims to be spiritual or some sort of angel, his actions were impressive.

There were legends about Hunters who helped build the roads into the wilderness, every foot earned through bloody battle with the Grimm. Tales were still told over the first communication towers being designed and implemented. Myths were spoken in whispers about the source of Dust and how Humans and Faunus were saved.

Now? This muscle bound attractive Elephant Faunus was rampaging through a desert, forcing Dust to grow out of nothing because he was too lazy to walk around and gather more sand. He was constructing the worlds largest park, shopping center, ride attractions, swimming pools, nature reserves, animal husbandry facilities... because he wanted something cool to do!

And he had hot women hanging around him for those viewers who got bored watching his many robotic limb tools or whatever they are building a new civilization while he absently wandered around.

His video feed showed off cutting edge technology, unheard of Glyph patterns that had the online Schnee representatives furiously demanding answers, and accomplishing impossible things per hour just to help him accomplish his current goal, whichever it may be.

Also, he was accidentally starting a food craze.

Each break he took, different dishes were being brought to him and the cow Faunus by attractive robots. Dishes that no one on Remnant had heard of and filmed as if the drone was controlled by a porn director.

Seriously, that twenty second clip showing up close footage of that well seasoned steak being carved had boosted sales at farms instantly! Not to mention that online stores selling the ingredients and needed details on the recipe would pop up on the related wiki pages thanks to the hard work of 'Winged_One', whom seemed to be Adam's biggest fan girl.

So the people of the world would tune in on the wandering 'Miracle Faunus' as he sculpted dreams and crafted imagination. Many thought his star couldn't rise any farther.

Then people discovered that not only was the schematics for the 'Zoo' changeable via voting, but that the changes could be done in REAL TIME! People who had left disappointed thinking the Zoo already past modification, found that the entire structure was being changed based on public interest at unheard of levels! Whole groups gathered to push their idea of the 'coolest' addition, and fought bitterly to prevent other options from beating their vote count. Online campaigning was hot right now.

When someone got a vote to rearrange the entire Water Level to make it easier for small groups to actually visit all attractions, the internet was further stunned to see the new layout implemented... in twenty-three minutes.

Needless to say, the internet was both thrilled and falling in love with the new possibilities. In a way, it felt like the people themselves could show off some of what made them special as they suggested more and more bizarre changes.

Downside though, Adam did get lost a couple of times on camera when the layout for the building changed while he was using the elevator.

Simmy looked incredibly innocent at the time.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam grumbled. "I... it was supposed to be here. Why did the Sushi bar move!?"

Betty giggled, far more relaxed after Adam had shooed Simmy away for messing with his head (and her body) while rearranging everything in his Zoo. "We did pass a directory a while back, it should be listed there."

His frown was unrelenting. "But it should be HERE. I picked here because it felt out of the way, like a 'hole in the wall' kind of establishment."

She grinned. "Well, you can't find it now. So it is sort of MORE out of the way, yes?"

They paused as the clothing store they were in front of began to slide across the floor to the right, an ice cream parlor exposed in the previous space.

Adam pointed. "NO! You can't just... No!"

He swept his arm. "I'm done. We're done. Let's go down to Ocean level and relax in the hot tub meditation rooms. I need a break."

Betty hugged his head as they moved to the elevators, which thankfully were easy to see as vertical tubes of clear material in the distance.

She felt he would crack if those moved around as well.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam sighed in pleasure, the hot water bubbling against his frustration.

Seriously Simmy, time and place. He had been stressed enough without looking like a moron when showing the new girl the cool stuff he had made.

Still, these 'meditation' spa's were a marvelous idea. Soft colors, dim lighting, soothing music and nature noises, and hot water in a hot tub designed to look like a natural spring.

He had begged Betty to let him have some personal space though, a bit of unwinding time. That and he didn't want to wear clothing right now and it would be a bit early in the dating process to strip down with the local company. Could have been fun though.

The hot water soothed his worries, his body relaxed, as he thought through what was left on his 'To Do' list for this Realm.

Simmy was not only stealing all the Tech Base information, but actively encouraging new ideas and experimentation by the global population through unregulated and low cost internet access. It was being copied on the fly, but the longer he stayed the more interesting the info became. It would taper of at some point, but it was a convincing reason to waste time here.

His various projects and deals was pouring money into his control, which Simmy helped him invest. Couldn't really take that with him, but what he COULD do is get interesting samples. So most of that money was being used to buy rare Dust examples... and hire criminals to steal the REALLY rare stuff from people's personal collections.

Cause some people would refuse to share stuff even if it cost nothing to them. No, they would ESPECIALLY refuse if they knew that Adam was going to duplicate it and make it no longer 'rare' and 'unique'. Ugh, collectors.

The rest of the cash was being invested into various charities and defensive organizations, cause he had no use for it. Not sure what Ada would use the Zoo's income for, since the Zoo would have infinite energy and materials thanks to his bullshit technology tricks. Maybe pay others to design cooler droid body designs.

As for personal improvement, his extra limbs no longer formed from his flesh directly. He was able to have the pattern for the arms reinforced by Aura directly, creating 'metal' fake limbs that acted like his temporary spine surgery trick. That was already a useful trick, although it took more energy than he expected.

Also: This new 'Create Stuff from Aura' trick was very anti-subtle. Shone like a beacon to all kinds of sensors and who knew what creatures or Entities. It was usable in some places like here were magic and Aura were common, but if he used it directly in Worm, it may set off the two space whales.

So only passive aura effects there. And he MIGHT get away with summoning, though it was safer to just... not.

It was physical improvement, but in the end it was done mostly through modifying the body to handle faith based energy better and in interesting ways. Not really a straight biological solution for power. Meh, maybe later he could find something like that. Not this Realm though.

He sighed with contentment, shifting slightly as the day's worries drifted away. Did the ever competent Ada Lovelace have those massage parlor droids ready yet?

Hopefully. It would be a lovely way to follow up this experience.

His trunk absently wiped water from getting into his eyes, thinking of Simmy's Dust examinations. It was a bit annoying that Dust needed an Aura field to form, like the Planet or his own in a pinch, since he didn't want to risk using it actively in the same Realm as those crystal creatures in Worm.

He might get away with a reinforced room to absorb any produced signals or ripples... but it would certainly slow production of any really neat shifting tools or weapons for the general populous.

Maybe Simmy could fake a new Entity Shard that would create Dust Crystals? He would need some way of generating a weak Aura field, providing a structured schematic, giving access to enough energy and faith to actually instantiate the material, AND prevent it from instantly exploding once the Aura is retracted.

Adam sighed. Yeah, that would need some effort. Twilight's research team would love the chance probably.

With a hand gesture, a beautiful female droid platform entered the room and passed Adam a glass containing some sort of local alcohol. Well, local to this Realm, if not to this desert.

Good times.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Betty's blush was atomic as she stared at her Scroll. At the ever increasing numbers.

She ignored the other girls frantic calls.

Adam had forgotten he was being filmed when he undressed for the meditation tubs.

His fans approved.