49 Game Time
The decision to play giant robot basketball had evolved from a simple issue. Namely the fact that any actual attempts to hold a sparring match was a pretty much complete waste of time. Any war vehicle I made had a level of resistance that meant even live fire exercises would be about as threatening as a game of dodgeball. I had some weapons that might be able to punch through the insane durability afforded by my enhanced materials and layered defensive fields, but none that I'd want to even think about deploying inside the Workshop.
Furthermore, simulated giant robot fights really only trained you for fights against giant robots, and that wasn't that valuable a skill. I'd need to deal with Dragon at some point, but really, her best suits would have been considered quaint three days ago. Frankly, I would bet on an unmodified Gun-EZ mobile suit against most of her best combat mechs. The only other opponents who operated in the same size class were extremely powerful changer capes and Endbringers. While I was by no means ruling out the prospect of a counter-Endbringer strike force, anti-Endbringer tactics would be very different from what would be developed in a giant robot showdown.
Really, all that was fluff and justification. The real reason giant robot basketball was a thing was because it could be a thing. It was something new, unique, and exciting. Something that made holding onto the feeling of Spiral easier than it would otherwise be. It was much more natural to summon will and determination for a sick dunk than it was channeling the same emotions to direct violence against Fleet, Tetra, or the Matrix. Even if it was just sport fighting for points, or the equivalent of giant robot laser tag, I couldn't get worked up about attacking them.
At least not the way I could while launching my mech into a one-handed dunk right over the Matrix's head. Green light blazed from the joints of my mech as the oversized ball slammed into the oversized hoop and net. It was the consequence of running a suit from spiral energy. It may have been infinite, but it wasn't exactly clean, sensible, or inclined to follow any particular known laws of physics. The ball was handed over and the Workshop team began their offensive as I considered the mechanics of the spiral power.
Really, the closest equivalent in terms of power mechanics was energon, and that was really just a superficial parallel. Energon was condensed energy in a form that didn't really make sense under conventional physics. At least when Cybertronian technology was concerned you didn't really draw from a source or circulate the power, you kind of saturated whatever you wanted to power with the stuff, and that did the trick. I knew how it worked, but I had the sense that trying to explain it to a scientist would be an exercise in frustration.
You know, compared to explaining spiral energy, which would just be a straight up lost cause. It wasn't like Spiral didn't follow any rules, it's just the rules were more like guidelines, really. That was the nature of the beast, limits were things that happened to people without fundamental wells of constantly expanding power fueled by willpower and determination. That's what was happening here. The three of us were running mechs powered by a fundamental source of power, one capable of bringing out the full potential of the masterful technology integrated into our suits and, at critical moments, pushing further than any part of the design should allow.
Really, the unpredictability of our performance and the heights of power our suits could reach were the only reason we were holding our own. The mechs were masterful projections, the result of high thaumaturgy conducted by masters of the art. They held the most advanced designs and technology I was capable of producing and emulations of mystical and theoretical materials the likes of which the outside world had never seen. They were without a doubt the greatest works that could be formed by magecraft.
It's just too bad our opponents were piloting the greatest works that could be crafted by hand. Our mechs were impressive. Our opponent's mechs were works of art. Tetra blazed across the court, moving with the same disregard for physics that I'd experienced firsthand while working with her in the field. The suit pulsed with crimson energy as clusters of fibers shifted and adapted to new challenges. Life fibers were capable of technological emulation and Tetra was pushing herself for all she was worth, bringing out every system imaginable the moment it was needed.
The Matrix was less reactionary and focused less about having the perfect loadout for any specific situation, and more on having the perfect loadout for every situation. A combination of element zero and gravitational manipulation allowed the Matrix's mecha form to move with near human grace, if not the blazing speed of Tetra. Whatever was lost in agility was more than made up for by having nearly my entire arsenal of offensive, defensive, and support technology on hand at a moment's notice.
They were challenging opponents, but it was Fleet that really took things to another level. The Veritech may have lacked the versatility of the other mechs, but it was a testament to specialization. Focused construction had granted it a base level of performance beyond what could be achieved by either Tetra or Matrix in most areas of general operation. Additionally, the command vehicle upgrade performed on the Veritech hadn't just been an upgrade in sensors and communications systems. It was intended for advanced tactical coordination. That meant the best predictive systems we could build. That meant a ZERO system.
The system was based on technology that was still in its infancy. Assembly might be a rounding error of effort for me, but research and development still took time. Not every idea I received from my powers came ready to be used. A lot of it was concepts, ideas, and theories. Most of Star Trek's technology, or at least the specific forms of it found in the show, was beyond my reach. Not because of any lack of understanding, but because there was a period of trial, error, and incremental development involved in rolling out technology like that. Taking the science behind every component of a car and teaching them to someone isn't going to let that start churning out engines, and any that they develop in a vacuum would probably have some major deviations from the technology we were familiar with.
That's where the problem with the ZERO system came from. I understood the principles of the Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted System. I understood it's potential and the broad strokes of how it functioned, but getting a working model was something of a challenge. In an ideal state it would take in all information from the battleground and analyze it against records, and project every possible outcome of potential actions. In its ideal form it could provide a form of combat precognition, an ability to select any potential outcome from a fight that you desired.
In practice it wasn't quite there. There were elements to the system that were difficult for Fleet to manage, even with auxiliary support from Survey. Really, Fleet was the only one who could handle a system like this. His capacity to discard any information deemed irrelevant actually allowed him to pull some useful analysis from the system, while trials with Survey had resulted in nothing but malicious loops of analysis of near infinite possible futures.
The other 'downside' was that the system was terrible at predicting spiral energy, particularly the surges of power that came during critical moments. It was a downside in terms of the development of the system, but in terms of encouraging the development of Spiral it couldn't have been better. I was in a situation where the only way to guarantee that I could obstruct the prophecies of the precognitive battle computer was to go all in on Spiral and be as extra as I possibly could.
And it wasn't hard to be extra in this match. This might be obvious, but you don't bring a set of heavily armed, flight capable, magically enhanced giant robots to a basketball game and then try to hold them to the NCAA rulebook. I mean, the court was in no way regulation, and that was probably just the start of our violations. No, we're weren't playing by professional rules. Really, this was closer to Globetrotter basketball than anything else.
In other words, while there was a general adherence to the superficial elements of the game we weren't exactly tracking fouls or rule violations. There was an informal acceptance that if someone wanted to try out something new the rules could be bent to allow it, with Survey and Garment acting as arbiters. Garment's evaluation of style and artistry of display was enough to override a lot of the more restrictive aspects of the game.
The only problem was the escalation that tended to result. I mean, who would have thought a game with a rapidly evolving alien, an exponentially progressing nano-intelligence, and three giant robots powered by spiral energy would be prone to getting out of hand? It really says something when the multidimensional powered precognitive transformed command ship was the most restrained part of the game.
But that was part of the fun. The game would start with something largely in line with conventional basketball, then someone would bring out a new feature, idea, tactic, or weapon. Someone else would try something to counter that. Then the first team would escalate again, and so on, building until Survey and Garment decided it was enough, assigned a free throw, and set everyone back to normal basketball.
At least until it started again.
For instance, the Matrix decided to compensate for the lack of reaction speed compared to Fleet and Tetra by subdividing into multiple units. A quick ruling form Survey allowed the maneuver, providing the total volume remained constant and no additional nanobots were drawn from subspace. A half dozen spindly versions of Matrix's Gun-EZ suit covering the court presented a real challenge until my second duplicate decided to compensate with his own maneuver.
The towering combiner suit was half again as tall as any other mech on the field. It was also slower than the Matrix, horrible at offense, but a terrifying guardsman, at least when we weren't outnumbered more than two to one. Which is how he got the bright idea to separate his suit.
Simultaneously piloting five suits at once was a difficult task. Simultaneously powering five suits that aren't even connected to each other should not have been possible. Of course, Spiral didn't really care about that, and was perfectly happy to keep each of the five suits charged as they ran into the fray.
The individual suits were half the size of my own. That's half the mass, not half the height. Thanks to that lovely square-cube law we've stopped caring about, that meant they were about 80% as tall. My second duplicate had thoroughly abused Shipping the Product to squeeze out an incredible exploit. Bulky and comparatively short projected suits ran out to cover spindly nanotech constructs. The clash became progressively more aggressive until it turned into what looked like a free-for-all between a pack of metallic scarecrows and a gang of muscular armored dwarves.
The Toolkits constellation missed a connection as I pushed down the court, dodging and weaving through the combiner mechs and Matrix iterations that were only just managing not to descend into a full-on professional hockey level brawl. I dribbled the ball with grace that would have been borderline impossible with any conventional mech, still marveling at how fine the control was on a robot the size of a small office block.
Really, the ball and court were equally marvelous. Probably more so, since they had to be developed independently rather than just plucked from a technical database. The ball in particular was less a basketball and more of a mobile power core sheathed in mass fields and holographic effects. Its movement had little to do with collision physics since it was closer to a small craft designed to emulate the movements of a basketball on a court of conventional scale. That involved things like higher gravitational acceleration, more reaction force than would be capable from the bounce of any object of that scale, powering through wind resistance, and emulating friction interactions with the court surface and backboards of the hoops. Oh, and being able to be manhandled by a team of giant robots without being ripped apart instantly.
It was a huge amount of effort needed to get the 'ball' to behave like a ball, but it was worth it for the feeling as I spun to pass it to my first duplicate as he soared over the midcourt melee.
Flight was a difficult thing to regulate in terms of Basketball regulations. After a single attempt in the first game to leverage the quote 'There's nothing in the rule book that says one team can't jump higher than the other.' it was clear a gentleman's agreement was necessary if we wanted the game to resemble basketball rather than airborne battle rugby. Basically, outside of any show-off moments, it was ruled that jumping was fine, but flight was against the spirit of the game. Namely, you could launch yourself however you wanted, but you were stuck on that trajectory outside of what changes you could make without any additional thrust. Given the speed at which the suits could move, being on an easily projected trajectory wasn't typically a good idea.
Of course, that was assuming you didn't cheat. All the suits had some degree of mass control, but some people took that further. Some people built incredibly slight suits with element zero cores that allowed near weightlessness on a jump. Some people designed suits with a set of glowing blue mass field airfoils projecting from their back. Some people specialized to the point where they could treat the sky as a damn extension of the court.
The duplicates wings flared with spiral energy as he pumped them, gaining much more height much faster than should have been possible according to any of the physics involved and launching him out of the path of a flying leap from Fleet's mech that would have seen the ball stolen and sent the Veritech on a straight shot for our undefended net. I was trying not to abuse the awareness it granted me, but I could feel the ZERO system chugging to recalibrate thousands of projected futures. I could feel Survey's annoyance at the turn of events, despite only being tangentially involved, but felt that countered by Fleet's easy acceptance as he spun into a landing and raced back down the court.
The ZERO system was still basic and experimental, not nearly the kind of beast it had the potential to be. Even in its rough and unpolished state it was still an incredible asset and a frustrating thing to try to counter. Early uses of the system had seen Fleet's mech weave between defenders like a leaf on the wind, using any attempt to stop him as part of his strategy. Grabs were deflected, collisions resulted in rebounds, and even moving into more exotic counter measures either saw Fleet nimbly slip between them or just pass the ball, setting up an easy basket for Tetra or the Matrix. You only needed a handful of instances of Fleet singlehandedly covering the entire court for a perfect dunk to harden your resolve.
The ability to throw off those insufferable predictions was really a fantastic motivator for embracing spiral energy. Like with Aura my duplicates had an easier time accessing the power than I did, but I was improving. Improving on both fronts. Spiral was currently limited to instances where I had extensive machinery to channel it through, but Aura had promise that could apply to almost any situation. And my control of it was improving.
Some of that was familiarity with the power, but there was still a serious mental component. Not the blind determination that fueled Spiral, but something more personal. The 'light of your soul' was a poetic way it had been described, and despite the flowery words it was largely true. Closing yourself off and shutting down expressing and feeling didn't help you channel your soul into a protective field. If you weren't in touch with yourself and couldn't express it, then you really had no hope of being able to draw something that personal out into the world.
The Iconic Outfit had helped with that. I had been patching things in terms of Aura use since the point where my duplicates had beaten me over the head with it. Somewhat literally, considering how that demonstration went. Embracing the use of my weapon, of Trauma, had helped, as had adding elements to my costume that I previously would have shied away from, but it had been a slapdash, piecemeal exercise. Patch jobs compared to the Iconic Outfit's overhaul.
Even so, that was just bringing me up to a base level. I could use Aura consistently now, but only the standard functions. Defense and personal enhancement were actually reliable, but the power was capable of so much more. I didn't really realize how much more until my duplicate had decided to experiment and verified that Aura might qualify as a contagious trump power. You know, the kind of thing that gets cities walled off from the world.
It would be more concerning if I actually had the capacity to repeat the event that granted Chen what would probably be considered a decent set of parahuman abilities even before you factored in his equipment. No, that was something that would require patience, training, and a better sense of self identity than I currently had. I could work through the issues at my own pace, which would also give us time to properly investigate the mechanics and implications of granting Aura to another person.
My duplicates didn't have that issue, and it was only the agreement that Aura unlocking needed more study that kept them from diving into experimentation with additional unlocks. Instead, they were happy to focus on more dramatic aspects of Aura use, like the potential applications of Aura reinforcement of material that was playing out before us.
My second duplicate was still in a scrum with the Matrix while Fleet and I tried to cross the court. That left my first duplicate free to dive towards the opposing team's net from his elevated position. It would have been a slam dunk, but Tetra was on hand to defend it. The time was ticking down, both for the game and for the duplicates' duration, meaning we were unlikely to see another reset of play. Everything was on the table for this final push. As such, the weapons were coming out.
Well, it was a gray area in terms of weapons. Long fibers were a natural part of Tetra. The simulated hair on her mech's head trailed so naturally it was easy to forget it was at least twenty-five feet long. The question of what counted as deployed equipment vs a natural part of her or her mech could be a contentious one, particularly when she used tethers of life fibers to slap away free throws or land a dunk from mid court.
The blaze of crackling fibers she deployed against my first duplicate's suit shot out at terrifying speed and volume. It was a technique we had deployed in our duel against Oni Lee. I had barely been aware of what was happening at the time, really unsure of how much of that had been my own actions and how much had been Tetra. It seemed Tetra, despite being even more overwhelmed with rage than I'd been, had managed to commit the tactic to memory and was able to deploy an absolutely staggering field of crackling red death whipping towards the sky.
It was the kind of offensive that no evasive action would avoid, and my duplicate didn't even try. Instead, the ball was shielded behind the mech's body as he took a defensive position in the air. Projected mechs might be strictly inferior to masterfully constructed ones, but they had the advantage of versatility and customization. That meant new and experimental designs could be tried out, including application of Arcane Craft.
Arcane Craft could make devices for directing, channeling, or even amplifying mysterious forces. Aura was a mysterious force. The mech was a device. The effects were clear. The air filled with gray ripples as the mech's arm blurred with Aura, contemptuously slapping away supersonic lashes from Tetra, using the impact to build more height until he hung high above the court, sitting out of even Tetra's impressive reach.
She wasn't about to let that stop her. Tetra's suit threw back its arms and the masses of tethers flowed behind her, then wove together. They twisted into four vaguely conic shapes protruding from her back, then flared out, forming the meshed, membranous outlines of two pairs of giant insect wings.
The wings stretched as the space between the mesh was filled with crimson kinetic fields. With a leap Tetra shot into the air, stretching the definition of our unassisted flight rule as life fiber wings propelled her into the sky.
Meanwhile I found myself caught in the midcourt scrum as the spindly copies of the Matrix began shifting into specialized roles, deploying force fields, gravity wells, or just disassembling themselves to cover more ground. Even with my second duplicate opposing them the Matrix had turned the center court into a no man's land that was hell for me to cross, but child's play for Fleet. I suspected the ZERO system might have played a hand in how coordinated the two of them were, and how the individual components of my second duplicate's suit had been pushed to the fringes, split off to where they couldn't support each other.
In the sky above us it was clear my first duplicate was at a disadvantage compared to Tetra's maneuverability. With Fleet poised to slip past mid court it looked like a last-minute reversal was almost certain. Or would have been, if the opposing team had bothered to properly account for the second duplicate.
The combiner suit was an absolute terror when in its consolidated form. Even when things devolved into a borderline melee it was the kind of beast that was capable of grabbing another mech by the leg and hurling it the full length of the court, as Fleet could personally attest. Even when disassembled the individual mechs could operate with shocking levels of teamwork, supporting each other in a manner that more than made up for their size disadvantage. It was why there had been such a push to break up the core and separate the individual mechs. Of course, that just created a new problem for the opposing team.
The ZERO system was incredible, but it could only predict futures based on what it knew about a situation. It was something that projected mechs were a natural check to, as their individual capacities wouldn't be known until they had been demonstrated in the field. It meant that any final trump cards could be held in reserve to swing the match at a critical moment.
The disassembled mechs had been separated and spread out. What Fleet didn't seem to recognize was the fact that they had been specifically spread out, equidistant from each other around the center court. I could practically feel the ZERO system recalibrate as each mech lifted its right arm and a spike sprang forth, only to be jammed down into the surface of the court.
My second duplicate had used the Arcane Craft as well, but instead of focusing on Aura he had elected to design a focus for the amplification of alchemy. Five master crafted alchemical relays staked into the surface of the ground in a perfect alkahestric array. A pentagram of blue lightning more than a hundred meters across flashed into existence, completely surrounding me, Fleet, and all of the Matrix's iterations. Then the ground began to move.
A hand the size of a building formed under Fleet's mech and launched up with speed that would have been impressive if it was operating on human scale. At its size I could see the atmospheric distortions and shockwaves created as it moved. An arm followed, twisting and slamming into the ground. It pressed down, seemingly for leverage, but really to pin Fleet's suit under thousands of tons of alchemically formed stone.
And because style was a thing that Garment was scoring us on, and also because it was fun, the transmutation continued in a way that made it appear that a giant version of my second duplicate's suit was pulling itself out of the crackling circle. Considering the scale that we were already playing at, the significance of the use of the word 'giant' in this situation cannot be understated. The hand that emerged was large enough to hold Fleet's Veritech pinned in its palm, and the rest of the emerging body was proportional to it. It created the spectacle of an unfathomably enormous being pulling himself out of the surface of the ground.
Only the top third of the figure formed, but that still towered a hundred meters over the court. Continuous transmutation kept the form animated and a broad sweep cleared the area of Matrix's forms. The attention shifted to the aerial dogfight my first duplicate was losing to Tetra when Matrix decided to remind everyone why sapient, replicating nanotech is considered an S-Class threat.
Silvery lines began spreading across the massive figure, rapidly widening into cracks that either cleaved into its structure or caused massive portions of stone to slough off. The duplicate directing the transmutation linked up with me as he struggled against Matrix's disassembly of his work.
"Might need to hand this off to you. Think you can bring it home for us?"
I grinned and tightened the grips on the controls of my mech. "Don't worry, I got this."
With a burst of speed, I sprinted towards the open arm of the animated colossus. The rest of the body turned into position, then froze as all of my duplicate's efforts shifted to the final act. I leapt up onto the arm at the elbow as my duplicate began to move it in a shot-putter's motion. I ran up the forearm towards the hand, dancing over the rapidly spreading web of silver signifying the Matrix's attempts to tear apart the structure before it could complete its final act. With the living statue disintegrating beneath me I reached the hand and positioned myself and my duplicate completed his throw.
In a surge of spiral energy, I launched myself forward at the exact peak of the arms thrust. The reaction force sent a shockwave through the entire structure, causing it to crumble in my wake, but sending me soaring into the sky like a cannon shot. As I rose towards the vicious aerial battle for possession of the ball I linked to my first duplicate and called out.
"I'm open!"
I could practically feel his smile as he spun in midair and launched the ball towards me, just as Tetra closed for the steal. I caught the giant orange simulation of a basketball and felt the impact send my trajectory askew. Tetra was quickly rounding for another pass and I was stuck in an airborne position with no way of regulating my movement.
Or so it would seem.
I focused and concentrated, doing what I could to steady my mech. Like my duplicates, I had also used the Arcane Craft in my projection, but instead of focusing on more exotic aspects of my power, I reinforced what I was already using. As such, my entire suit was a focus for transmutative magecraft.
I shifted the ball to my mech's left hand and began to chant.
"Brought forth from the light of stars and the fire of heaven."
The transmutation focus had allowed the use of reinforcement magic to strengthen and enhance my suit. It had allowed new aspects to be added to the materials of the mech during the match. And now it was allowing masterful channeling of projection magic mid combat.
"Attuned and impermanent, for purpose and task I call you forth."
A blue glow was beginning to form centered on my right hand and angled towards the ground. Tetra recognized it and furiously beat her dragonfly wings, dodging around the first duplicate's interception attempts. On the court below me there was an explosion as hundreds of tons of rubble liquified around Fleet's Veritech as he used a fraction of the suit's munitions to free himself from the alchemical debris. Additional crackles of transmutation lightning from my second duplicate were countered by Matrix's disassembly as Fleet angled himself for interception and prepared for launch.
I focused harder on my spell. The form was burning in my mind, ready to use. Simpler than a complete mech, three lines were sufficient. In my mind the hammer was raised, ready to trigger my magic circuits. I activated my mass fields, dialing down the weight of my suit to its absolute minimum. With a final surge of power, the hammer dropped, striking the anvil in my mind with a holy tone and triggering a surge of magic through my body.
"Gradation Air!"
The weapon that formed in my grip was a spear aimed at the heart of my goal. The lance was oversized, technically complex, and extremely powerful. A masterpiece of projected craftsmanship, it bore runes and enchantments interfaced with technology from a dozen worlds. It shaped itself out of the raw magic of the aether in such a way that the speed of its formation drove it towards the ground, and dragged me after it. Mass engines within the lance strained, maximizing the inertia of the weapon as it guided me towards my target.
Tetra and Fleet launched themselves at my position, but were met with nothing but my fiery wake as the blazing spear shot towards the court. Fleet might have intercepted me if not for the extra force from the spiral powered helical drill incorporated in the head of the spear. The red flames of Hestia burned through masterfully shaped runes, reducing the air around me to swirling plasma as I descended like a pyrokineticly-assisted comet. As the court approached I raised the basketball in my free hand and, with perfect alignment of every force at my command, slammed it into the net like a meteor strike.
Anything less than divine craftsmanship would have been annihilated by the impact, but with my workmanship behind them the net and hoop held. The force of the dunk nearly tore the arm off my mech, but the reinforcement magic flowing through it held the structure together, though just barely. Without expanded talent in enchantment I probably would have been taking my victory pose with one arm. I killed the mass fields of the spear at the last minute, meaning the weapon was buried halfway into a molten pool of rock rather than shooting through every level of my base like a bunker buster.
Tetra, Fleet, and my first duplicate touched down while Matrix and my second duplicate reformed their suits. A quick check showed we were frighteningly close to the end of the duplicates' durations, enough so that Survey was willing to call the game. That meant we were able to transition to a series of giant robot high-fives or good sportsman handshakes rather than the salvage and recovery operation that had ended the first game, the result of me losing spiral power at a bad time and ending up careening down the mountain.
The damage to the court was already being reversed by the mantic conductors powering the workshop, saving us the trouble. Instead, the impromptu celebration moved back to the elevator where Garment met us. As we descended back towards the hangars Garment guided Survey through a compilation of moments from the game that she decided were worthy of additional style points.
My duplicates and I dropped our mechs into kneeling positions and watched the projected screens covering the game while perched on the shoulders or knees of our suits. Tetra used the opportunity to begin detangling herself from the mobile suit while the Matrix began the slow process of stowing excess nanobots back into subspace.
In terms of the game itself, even with the dramatic finish the workshop team remained slightly ahead in terms of baskets, but the style points brought things around in our favor. Fleet and the Matrix were fine with that arrangement, seeing it as confirmation of technical skills, though Tetra was a little put off. That was probably because she was the clear leader in style points for the workshop team, though I couldn't help but think that was probably the result of Garment's personal coaching and a degree of favoritism.
As we descended the Forge made a connection to the Knowledge constellation, to a mid-sized mote called The Divine Machines. As was typical of powers from that constellation it granted understanding of a technology base, though this one had an interesting twist. The technology itself was fairly advanced. There wasn't much in the way of exotic principles, but the mastery of the physical universe was quite impressive. It brought in new fields of power generation, micro circuitry, material control, and biotech.
The quirk it all seemed to share was a design aesthetic that seemed geared to dress up the technology as anything but. Rather than actual magitech it was a theme of technology designed to appear as mystical as possible. Divine Machines, after all. While it wouldn't stand up to any serious examination, every piece of technology was designed to appear as either a mystical or ritual object, rather than something deliberately engineered.
There may have been some cause for that. While the technology didn't have that many exotic principles, the one it did embrace was significant. A significant portion of the technology seemed to be based around the mapping of the bioelectric patterns of a person's body and then extrapolating some frighteningly high-level applications from that principle.
The complete analysis of the physical energy patterns of a person gave a more complete map of their 'self' than any level of brain scan that I was capable of. Really any level of brain scan anybody could be capable of. This was comprehension of the union of body and mind that actually made a person who they were. Not a collection of information, but their actual self on a level that I could never replicate. I had technology advanced enough that I could scan someone's brain, copy their memories, and implant them in a new body, but it wouldn't be them. This technology? It could transfer a person's pattern into a new body and it wouldn't be a new body with their memories, it would be them in a new body.
Really, there was no getting around it. Functionally, it was a scientific map of the soul. The equivalence wasn't exact, but I had enough experience dealing with souls to know what I was looking at. Okay, I can add that to the list of phrases I never considered possible. I'm going to count that as a quarter just for good measure. The insanity of the concept aside, that was the secret of this technology. It was limited on higher physics and somehow laughably deficient in computer science, but had managed to crack the theoretical basis for the soul.
You could see that in the item that had accompanied the power. It was called the Bright Spear, and was a weapon of incredible technology. The spearhead was a silver blade one and a half span long. For people unfamiliar with measurements used in Mesopotamian trading markets, a span was the length from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger on a spread hand. It was usually standardized to nine inches, which put the blade at a little over a foot long. It was closer to what you'd find on a pike even though the rest of the weapon was designed more like a javelin. Like everything designed with this system of technology, it was far more advanced than its appearance suggested.
The body of the spear concealed engines capable of manipulating gravitational and electromagnetic forces to an incredible degree. The spear could fly with no visible means of propulsion, moving with incredible speed and precision. It could instantly accelerate to over two hundred and fifty miles per hour, striking with incredible force assisted by its own advanced version of HF blade technology. It could move with precision to block blows or even carry a person aloft under its own power. It was a legitimately impressive weapon, even without considering the aspect unique to this type of technology.
The spear was attuned to my brainwaves. Not through some remote scanning system or neural link but through a sympathetic connection between the balances of energy that fundamentally made me who I was. I could control the movements and flight of the spear as easily as a part of my own body, because it may as well have been a part of my body. I could feel the spear in its locker alongside the rest of the items I had in storage, and I could direct it. With a single thought it could pull itself free and fly to my hand. Given its ability to penetrate defenses, if I wanted the spear then it could probably manage a direct path through any intervening walls or equipment.
The rumination on new technology had distracted me and my duplicates from Garment's presentation, to her clear annoyance. She indicated that she understood the merits of the new ability, particularly with respect to its design potential in avoiding making everything look like an industrial nightmare trying at fashion, but it was really no excuse to ignore her compilation of Tetra's five best post-basket victory poses.
"Sorry, Garment. We can go over this later." I assured her as the Magic constellation passed by.
"Well, you can." My first duplicate said. "We're almost out of time here, and I know you don't like seeing the vanish point." The elevator settled into the hangar floor and Fleet began returning the Veritech to its service bay. "Why don't you go get started? We'll square things away here."
He dismissed the projected mech, smoothly dropping to the floor in a manner only my combination of posing and efficiency powers could manage. The second duplicate followed his example and, after a brief spell of conflicted feelings, I followed suit. I didn't like leaving them with any part of the cleanup, but they were right about the experience of watching them disappear. They had the same number of experiences with it as I did, and probably wanted to save me and future duplicates the trouble.
"Got it. I'll head out." I said. To my left Tetra finally finished extracting herself from the suit and bounded over to me. As she took her usual place on my shoulder, a portion of Matrix's body began to separate from the rest of the mass and move towards me. The way the thinner version of the armored form strode out of the bulkier one it was like its skeleton had decided to go for a walk.
Despite that disturbing image I understood the intent and extended a hand towards the mass of nanobots. Blue lines flowed across the form before it suddenly rippled and surged. With a very organic motion the entire mass was absorbed into my body.
It was standard procedure when creating new duplicates and an extension of my Nanite Removal and Control power. I could absorb Matrix's nanobots into an internal reservoir that would be copied along with my other equipment when the duplicates were formed. It effectively tripled the volume of Matrix's body, but more importantly tripled the number of tier-one nanobots. Given how heavily they were used in forming the Matrix's programming and thought processes it was an essential part of preparing to take the duplication potion.
The mass of nanobots that remained in the hangar to assist with cleanup would vanish along with the two duplicates, but my original along with any new tier ones that had been produced were returned to my reserves.
With a signal from Garment showing that she was ready to leave, I turned to my duplicates one last time. "All set. And thanks for all this." I gestured at the hangar as well as up to where the court was still pulling itself together. They just grinned at me.
"Hey, we should be congratulating you." The first said.
"Yeah. Big improvement on Spiral. That's going to be important going forward and we all know it." The second nodded. "No, go on. I'm sure the next set will feel the same way too."
I nodded and left with a wave. As we made our way out I distracted myself from dwelling on the end of the previous duplicate's duration by focusing on preparations for the next set. The potion would duplicate any equipment I had on me at the time I drank it. As the durations of the duplicates extended it became more important to cover every possibility and ensure every piece of gear that could possibly be needed was copied and thus available for them. The consequence of that was me basically doing one of those 'suiting up' montages from an old action movie every three hours. With my duplicates on their way out I was set for another one.
As we walked back to the central storage area of my Workshop I took a moment to review Survey's reports through my implant. It was now late enough that the early risers were starting to send emails and make arrangements, giving us some developments on various active projects that were excluded from my 'downtime'.
"Looks like the charity auction is coming together well." I assured Garment. "Arrival is confirmed, and the auction fees are going to be waived." Garment made a skeptical gesture. "Yes, it's a tax write-off for them, but it'll help things come together and ensure a larger percentage goes to charity." I reviewed the rest of the report. "They want to do a series of photoshoots in the outfits first. Looks like there's public interest in seeing them on actual people, so it should help for promotion. They're going to be making the arrangements today-"
Garment frantically gestured and Survey was good enough to provide the list she had compiled. I looked over it and couldn't help but feel a little unsure of the situation.
"Alright, that will certainly help speed things along, but are you sure you want to reveal that part of your powers?" I asked.
Survey had already anticipated this and gone over the possibility with Garment the previous evening. Garment knew the fit of her clothes, but more importantly Garment knew the size of absolutely everyone. It was one of her more frightening abilities, and had significant possibilities for abuse. The point was, by leveraging that ability she had been able to match up each outfit with specific models working in the New York fashion scene. Specifically matched, not just on size but style and complexion. Garment had a ready list of the ideal model for each outfit, along with a sub list of acceptable substitutes.
Despite Garment indicating her comfort with the idea if it resulted in better presentation I shook my head. "Setting aside the fact that you're not likely to get separate models for each outfit… Not now, not for charity. Maybe, probably someday, but not now. Setting that aside, this is a major reveal, and will probably distract from the event." Garment wavered on the idea. "It will pull attention from the clothes."
Reminding her of that was enough to convince her. She agreed to revise the list down to a handful of recommendations that would be acceptable without giving away the presence of a substantial thinker power. I had a sense that the ideal models for the major outfits, particularly the ballgowns, would be prioritized with compromise allowed for other items.
Outside of that item there wasn't much that demanded action. The morning news cycle had dropped, with a few more mentions of 'exceptionally generous public donations from the Docks'. A couple of the articles had a bit of a shame angle to them, given that the anonymous donations were all relatively cheap items and delivered to drops within the docks and surrounding areas rather than to any official sites or charity headquarters in the other half of the city. I had taken that approach merely to make sure the items would see near-immediate use rather than filtering through the levels of bureaucracy you got from the more administrative side of charity work.
However, the impression seemed to be that the Docks had rallied to look after their own while the rest of the city was ignoring the problem as much as possible. I had a sense there were years of semi-related frustrations coming out through the various opinion pieces, blog posts, and comments. I mean, the dichotomy between the sides of the city was a real problem, but I hadn't meant to hit that nerve with my donations. I probably should have spread them around a bit wider rather than just focus on the active shelters, soup kitchens, and community centers.
Really, now that we were hitting sane hours of the morning, or at least borderline sane… Still not a time I would have ever willingly gotten out of bed before my power took that choice away from me. Anyway, since it was hitting sane hours I could get out into the city and see for myself. It would be good to stop by the gym again, though if they needed any mechanical help it would be a dance to keep my powers from being too obvious.
I took a moment to check on the status of the city. The Dust trails were still present, and would be until at least this evening. Still wasn't sure how much the restoration effect was going to negate them, but even in the worst situation it should help to some degree. Most of the trails in the city were fairly benign, and they had largely been bypassed through the previous day's efforts, leaving them more as inconveniences than anything else.
The I-field was still a persistent issue, but it looked like Dragon and Armsmaster had made some progress on it. Well, there was no statement from the Protectorate yet, but apparently there was some massive display of light near eastern edge of the field and afterwards Dragon and Armsmaster were spotted leaving the area and a portion of the field near the coast had been cleared. It was encouraging to know the local heroes had been able to make strides into managing the situation without my help.
It was equally good to know that Armsmaster was back on his feet. I didn't have a full medical workup, but things had seemed pretty serious. I wouldn't be surprised if he was on reduced duty for a while, but having him back in the field would definitely help with the aftermath. Whatever issues my passenger had with him, Armsmaster was an incredibly experienced cape and a major stabilizing force in the city. If he was active again then maybe I wouldn't need to fix absolutely everything wrong with the situation by myself.
With that dour but somehow optimistic thought I began the process of loading up with every single non-replicable item that I needed copied for the next cycle of duplicates. That was mostly limited to items granted directly by my power that held special effects that I couldn't duplicate, or unique items I had no way to recreate.
My 'Harry Potter' wand fell into the latter category. Conceivably I could tear the thing apart and reassemble it using a combination of my Scraper power, material reduction powers, and Workaholic to boost the output. I could, but that was something I would never do. The wand was special. Frankly I didn't even like thinking of it as a 'Harry Potter' wand. That seemed to cheapen it somehow. I doubted the wand was sapient, but it definitely had its own personality and desires. The feeling of connection I got from it, the certainty and trust, that was something I treasured. Treasured far too much to ever tear it apart.
The first category covered items that had extraordinary effects that just couldn't be extended to even the most masterful copies. I could recreate most of the items my power gave me, but some of them were beyond my ability to even understand, much less duplicate. Like some of my abilities, they seemed to start from effect and work backwards. Fiat effects that always functioned, despite any amount of difficulty or level of obstacle.
The Alchemy Machine had been miniaturized to the point where it could be integrated into a chest plate. The scientific aspects of the machine could be understood, as could certain elements of the Egyptian influences, but the application of them to varying fields of alchemy had to be puzzled out one at a time. The original machine would function perfectly with every form of alchemy, from potions to Evermore formulas to transmutations. Attempts to copy the machine had success with some aspects, but difficulty with others. They lacked the absolute nature of the original.
My Entanglement pin was something I didn't even know how to recreate. The psychic aspects of the device were still largely unknown to me. While I could practice and develop my skills with it, I couldn't copy it without the help of my potion. I pinned it next to the Alchemical chest plate of my armor as I continued suiting up.
I opened the most recent addition to the entryway and revealed a spear of gleaming silver. The blade flashed as the weapon spun out of its locker, floating over to my side. I may have had minimal training or applicable skills with spear fighting, but that was immaterial. The weapon moved at the speed of thought and with an almost unnatural grace. While I could recreate the technology, any recreations wouldn't have the power of the original. The ability of this spear to penetrate defenses was unquestionable. I could recreate the vibration effect, but only the original spear was guaranteed to be able to penetrate any shield. Highly durable bodies might prove an obstacle, but no barrier would hold against it, particularly once I had a chance to examine and upgrade it.
Or more likely my duplicates. At this point upgrades like that were rote busywork that they were happy to take responsibility for. Most likely they would practice on their own copied spears, then finalize the work on the original with a full rebuild and set of upgrades.
With the Bright Spear secured to my back I was ready for the next duplication potion, right up until I felt the Celestial Forge form a connection to a larger mote from the Magic constellation.
It was called Elemental Mastery and had a rather simple effect. The elemental properties of any weapon I carried would be amplified by fifty percent. Well, depending on the quality of the weapon, but everything I made was well past that threshold. Fifty percent might not sound like a lot, but it applied to everything. That flaming comet strike I had performed at the end of the Basketball game? Fifty percent more powerful, instantly, thanks to this ability.
The crazy thing was it wasn't just talking about increasing strength or damage of the elements. It amplified 'properties'. Wind runes speed boost? Now fifty percent faster. Impact runes strength boost? Hits fifty percent harder. Water control, or really any elemental control? Fifty percent more of the element, moving fifty percent faster, with fifty percent finer control. Thanks to Maliwan Intern I already had incredible control of elemental weapons. This power took that all the way up to eleven.
But it wasn't the promise of elemental power that was drawing my attention. The power came with two additional items, and I was positioned to watch the lockers for them form right before my eyes. The first was called the Balance Bangle. It had an effect that was absolutely unique in the history of my powers. It let me turn them off.
Well, not all of them, and unfortunately not the automatic crafting powers that made it so I could never do mechanical work in public without blowing my secret identity. What the simple leather wristband in the shape of two dragons chasing each other did was drop me back down to human level.
The wristband shut down my offensive and defensive powers while reducing my physical abilities to no more than peak-human. While it would leave me vulnerable it would also let me function at a level that wouldn't give myself away. I could actually go back to the gym and box without blowing my cover. Okay, I would be very worried about using it in public, but it could be easily removed or shut down with a simple code phrase. Very simple. It defaulted to 'Oh Shit', and while it could easily be changed there was a certain appeal in that. It also didn't affect my technology, so I could still go out with as many emergency defensive measures and force fields as I wanted.
It was potentially extremely useful, both for avoiding attention and possibly even for training. I'd have to leave it to my duplicates to examine before I tried it, but there was oppertunity there. I stowed it and moved on to the next item. The considerably more concerning item.
The power had also come with what it referred to as a 'Starter Weapon'. As the name suggested, it was the kind of basic weapon designed to make sure someone wasn't helpless in the face of danger. I had already seen the same thing with my dueling cloak, so the addition of basic weaponry wasn't that big of a surprise. The nature of it was.
Given the insanity that my powers gifted me under the category of 'weapons' it would take a lot to set me aback, but this managed it. This one item managed to top the rocket hammer, the grapnel lantern shield, the infinite ammo mass manipulation pistol, and the weaponized cloak. One single addition left them all in the dust, and it came with such a simple name.
'Bone Rod'
Looking at it, the thing was really more of a nine-foot-long complex polearm than a 'rod'. Whatever animal had provided the bones didn't look like the kind of thing you'd want to run into. One end was sharpened into a wicked blade while the other stood as a massive bludgeoning counterweight. Without the rudimentary ninjutsu weapons training I had I would have no idea how to even hold the thing, much less fight with it.
Upon actually picking it up I found the weapon to be exceptionally well balanced, even considering its rather primitive construction. An experimental flourish confirmed that it was actually effective as a weapon despite its excessive size.
But it wasn't the fact that it was made of the bones of some kind of monstrous beast that made it the most concerning weapon my power had given me. No, that came from the glowing patch on the blunt end of the weapon and the way it released chemicals into the air when I flourished the weapon.
There was the sound of furious wings and a flash of movement from deeper within the weapon's locker. With a leathery flapping sound, a beetle the size of a small dog launched into the air, briefly circled, and then landed on my right forearm. I stared blankly at the giant insect that had decided to use me as a perch while Garment appraised the aesthetics of the event and Tetra pulled herself up to peak over my shoulder.
"What's that?" She asked, staring at the beetle.
I shook my head slowly. "It's a mauldrone." I could feel her confusion through the Dragon's Pulse and frankly didn't blame her. "It's a kind of kinsect. My last power gave me this weapon." I flourished the bone rod again. "It's called an insect glaive. Apparently the trained insect is part of the weapon package."
"So, does it get to help you fight?" She asked, looking at the creature critically. There may have been a hint of envy in her voice.
"Maybe?" I furrowed my brow. "I mean, probably not. It's not like I can just roll out with this on my wrist, to say nothing of the implications people will jump to."
They weren't ones I liked to think about. I noticed Garment's appraising look and immediately recognized the direction of her assessment. "Garment, no." She gestured in protest. "I don't care how well it matches the aesthetic; we're not going with Barbarian Chic." She plainly indicated towards the weapon and the insect. "I am perfectly aware of how well it matches that style and the coordination possibilities, but that doesn't matter." She gestured again. "Because I'm not going to be using it. Do you know what people would think if I showed up to a fight with something like this?"
I lifted my arm to present the mauldrone and immediately regretted it. My combo platter of senses and scanners were more than happy to inform me of the biological nightmare attached to my forearm. This wasn't just a chitinous attack dog, it was an alchemical disaster area on insect wings. I couldn't even fathom the evolutionary basis for what I was sensing and detecting from the giant insect.
I raised a hand to my forehead and sighed. Then I realized that was the hand that had the giant insect attached and quickly put it down. "Okay, I am not ready to deal with this on my own." I paused and turned to Tetra and Garment. "I mean…"
"It's okay. I understand." Tetra assured me while Garment waved the comment off. I sighed and retrieved the duplication potion. Careful not to disturb the insect perched on my arm, I quickly downed the bottle. One gulp after another my duplicates stepped out. And one after another they looked down at their own arms.
"Well, that's a thing." The first said, his face a picture of confusion.
"Weapons." The second said, "They're weapons more than they're pets. That's why they duplicate."
The first raised his arm, looking down at the copied beetle attached to it. "They're also in a kind of hibernation when perched like this. That probably helps. You can feel it through their life energy. You could probably store them for years without food or water in this state, then have them ready for combat the second you send them out." To make a point he flicked his wrist and sent the beetle fluttering into the air briefly before catching it on his arm again.
I sighed. "Uh, sorry to do this, but I don't know if I'm ready to dive into something like this right now." The forge had just handed me a living creature that was more of a bioweapon than a pet. It was the kind of thing that hit disturbingly close to home in terms of 'original trigger' territory. Fortunately, my duplicates both recognized this and were less severely impacted by it.
"Don't worry about it." The second assured me. "We'll handle the analysis. You go hit the showers, maybe get ready to head to the gym. We can manage things out here."
It was reassuring to know I could depend on myself like that. Weirdly, I actually meant it. It was consistently refreshing to interact with my duplicates, even when they were giving me a hard time about something. There might have been some sense of vindication associated with that as well. Growing up with the idea that you're insufferable to be around, then finally interacting with 'yourself' and finding it nothing but a positive, if somewhat overwhelming experience felt validating in a weird way. It was more than enough to make up for any amount of 20%-time based eccentricities.
I left the questions of the kinsects to my duplicates, along with Tetra and Garment. Thanks to the expanded durability of the improved potions Tetra could feed from either duplicate without meaningfully damaging them. Additionally, she seemed genuinely interested in the kinsect research.
Garment also stayed with them, though I doubted I could rely on them to obstruct any development of matching fashions. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I came back to discover Garment had thrown together some savage monstrosity of a costume to match the weapon. Something with too much bone and fur, probably a loincloth and finished with something truly ridiculous like a horned skull helmet.
I did my best to put that out of my mind as I returned to the housing area of the workshop. The various components of the apartments, house, and sleeping area of labs had been shuffled together into an actually rather cosey residence. In the midst of divine factories, medical bays, lava forges, and supercomputers was a sheltered space that felt like home.
Granted, that was helped considerably by the roaring red fire burning in the hearth that greeted you upon entering. The workshop might have a proper shrine to Hestia at the Skyforge, but the hearth would always be a special and unique place. The soothing effects of the hearthfire, the meaning of the tended blaze and the power that it represented permeated the entire workshop, but was unquestionably strongest here. Stress and worry just melted away in the face of it, and I could almost forget the fact that I had a call with my sister that I was deliberately putting off.
I did feel bad for the situation Alena was in, but I also knew that jumping into that call would just ruin the rest of my day. Getting out to see the state of the city, helping out at the gym, or working to get Garment set up, those were things that would help. Help the city, or at least people in it, and help my state of mind. It wasn't easy to relax, but I felt like I had done about as much as I could in my workshop for the moment. I was ready to head back out into the city.
I took some time to shower off the residue of Lava Surfing followed by Mech Basketball, both unsurprisingly quite intense sports. The fact that I had generated two duplicates with the full cost of those events clinging to them was probably not going to be that big a deal. It wasn't like they would need to explain to anyone at the gym why they smelled of volcanic ash.
After the shower I grabbed a quick breakfast as the Vehicles constellation missed a connection. With everything that had happened to my body my metabolic needs were all over the place. Half of the modifications were the kind of thing where you could eat as much as an army, and the other half were ones where you could sustain yourself for centuries off a grain of rice and morning dew. I kind of balanced out to a slightly below average appetite for my activity level, mostly thanks to the beating reactor of life energy that was my upgraded heart.
The actual meal was breakfast food mostly out of regard for the time of day, rather than any sequence of meals. Sleeping four hours at a time and being supernaturally energetic meant that my circadian rhythms were all over the place. I had conked out right after my call to Weld, been out for nearly five hours, then been on my feet ever since.
Honestly, I was probably good for sleep until tonight. Really, if I could get into the habit of sleeping sometime in the night, preferably technical morning to early morning, that would be my best chance of syncing up with the rest of society. Sleeping something like 1:30am until 6:00am would be ideal. I'd get the advantages of being a night owl and an early bird without morphing into a perpetually exhausted pigeon.
I headed back to check on my duplicates, having changed back into my civilian wear. With some work Garment had put together a line of clothing that looked good without being obviously designer. She had a certain pride at being able to accommodate clothing appropriate for any occasion, not just the uber-ritzy outfits she tended to favor. Those were really more about a chance to show off design and workmanship than any distaste for lower-class fashions. As such I had a perfectly serviceable outfit that would blend in at the gym.
Well, at least as soon as I covered my hair, eyes, build, and assorted other features with an illusion. The fox totem was in my pocket, ready to be deployed. I'd had a chance to test out the effect thoroughly, though a good portion of that was Garment enjoying the ability to prototype outfits, even technically impossible outfits through the use of transformation and illusion. Still, it was kind of fun and gave me a chance to really get a handle on the effect. As it stood Tattletale might be able to tell something was up, but for anyone else it was essentially a perfect illusion. Exactly what I needed to be able to visit the gym again.
That thought was more of a relief than I anticipated. With all the changes that had been forced upon me I was really concerned about being able to blend in anywhere, but the gym would certainly be out. Random people might overlook an Olympian build, but the guys at the gym knew me better than that. I could cover for a certain amount of development, but not what had happened to me. Knowing I could go back, that that part of my life hadn't been cut out, it reassured me in a way I didn't know I needed.
Or maybe I'd been spending too much time next to the magic hearth and had gotten sappy because of it. I grinned at the thought and pushed the idea aside as I made my way into the alchemy lab to find my duplicates, Garment, Tetra, and all three mauldrones, the original and both duplicates.
"Alright, hit me." I called. "How nuts is this?"
The second duplicate smiled. "In a word? Very." He turned towards one of the beetles and with a gesture drew it up to his arm. "The genetics of these things is nuts. They must have been nightmares of domestication."
"That bad?" I asked.
"Pheromone packs in the weapon help, but yeah, I can't even imagine the selective breeding you'd need to pull off something like this, and actually have it be reliable in combat." He continued, shaking his head. "And that's not the worst part."
"Do I want to know what's the worst part?" I asked.
Tetra perked her head up from the first duplicate's back. "They're flying drug labs!" She exclaimed.
I blinked. "Excuse me?"
The first duplicate rubbed Tetra's head, causing the life fibers of her coat to flare bright red from the additional drain. "That's not far off, really." At a command from his implant a holographic screen sprung to life, displaying anatomy scans and chemical analysis. It could have been transmitted directly between us, but this kind of display kept Garment and Tetra involved. "Survey? You want to take this?" The duplicate called.
"I would be happy to present the analysis." She replied, projecting the form of her familiar hologram next to the massive screen. "The kinsects metabolize materials obtained during combat. Directed strikes on living creatures result in acquisition of various biological compounds. A portion of the material is rapidly digested through the use of an extremely effective gastrointestinal system, while the residual matter is processed into a series of exotic compounds. Depending on the nature of the material acquired these will have a range of short duration enhancement effects on the insects master, acquired through topical application upon return."
I followed the analysis. "Right, flying drug lab." I muttered. From Survey's expression and the work of her code I could tell she wasn't a fan of that term, possibly because Tetra had used it. I elected to quickly change the subject. "Are there any other exotic chemical effects?"
Her mood instantly changed at the prospect to present analysis. "Indeed." The display flickered again. "The mauldrone is capable of deploying a concentrated cluster of chemical dust that has the effect of encouraging wound closure and increased metabolic functionality for the purposes of an improved physical state."
I blinked. "The attack bug has healing powers?"
"Well, this one does." The second duplicate explained.
"This one?" I asked.
"Survey can cover it." He said, waving me off. Despite the dismissive attitude the A.I. seemed to enjoy the opportunity. "Let's just say the genetics are a mess."
"It would be more accurate to say the genetics are highly compressed with a significant number of unexpressed genes." A breakdown scrolled past the screen that I probably wouldn't be able to follow without my recently improved medical skill. "Under the right stimulus a variety of metamorphosis effects can be triggered, severely altering the insect's morphology to the point where it could easily be mistaken for a separate species."
I scanned the analysis, both on screen and through my implant. "How many are we talking about here?" I asked.
"Seventeen separate potential expressions have been identified through genetic analysis." Survey displayed the results, including predictions about the alternate forms and potential triggering methods of the metamorphosis.
"And on top of everything they count as weapons." The second explained. "Like, fully register as weapons for the purpose of every power we have. Modification, use, and enchantment included."
I took a deep breath. "Seriously, I don't know what we're supposed to do with this." I looked at my duplicates. "Can you imagine the reaction to bringing something like this into the field?"
"Well, the beetle attacks conclusively, so at least it's marginally less deadly that some of our other options." The first quipped. "So, I imagine it would go fine, right until the moment we were inside Taylor's range."
I considered the size of the insect and what it and its other forms were capable of. "God, she would kill to get her hands on this." I suddenly realized that might be unfortunate and not entirely inaccurate phrasing. The thought of Taylor hopped up on insect-based combat drugs wasn't a pleasant one. Then another, even more concerning thought hit me. "If this gets out they'll never believe that I didn't design it specifically for her."
The duplicates nodded their heads. "Wet tinkering on top of cape drama. And the shippers will have a field day." The first quipped.
I cringed at that. "So, what next?" I asked.
"Next? We close out this analysis and hit the rest of the projects. You go to the gym, help out and socialize and wait for Tattletale to call begging for you to unlock her watch from safe mode." The second answered.
That brought a slight smile to my lips. I paused. "You're sure you'll be alright?"
"We're fine." The first assured me, rubbing Tetra's head again as the Time constellation swung past. "Go, have fun. We can manage." He glanced over to where Garment was perched with her sketchbook. "We'll even do what we can to forestall the next line of Barbarian Chic." Garment took a moment from her sketch to indicate she didn't give them good odds of that.
I let out a breath and smiled. "Alright. And thanks." I turned and prepared to make my way towards the entrance. I'd been sequestered since my injury. Now I was recovered and refreshed. It was time to leave the workshop, and reenter Brockton Bay.
Jumpchain abilities this chapter:
The Divine Machines (Lord of Light) 300:
Many and varied are the wonders of the Gods. From the Vasty Hall of Death, Yama brings forth Thunder Chariot and Bright Spear, Trident of Destruction and Wand of Universal Fire. In Heaven, there is an elegant statue with eight arms that plays the lute when addressed, and endless machines that keep all in perfect stasis. The elementary forms of these great sciences and artefacts are laid bare to you, and you may service and understand the technology of this world. While great innovations and the wonders forged by Yama might escape you, you have a solid basis that escapes the vast majority of men and gods in the world - sufficient to greatly impress those who understand the value of such things. With this you also gain one artefact costing 200CP or less for free.
Bright Spear (Lord of Light) Free:
One and one-half span of silver is this spear, attuned to your brainwaves and taking flight at your will. It strikes faster than any arrow, and vibrates through any shield - shaking clean of gore before its return to your hand. It may also move to intercept arrows and blows, as well as carry you aloft at speeds to outpace the finest horse.
Elemental Mastery (Monster Hunter) 400:
Any elemental properties your weapon carries are significantly amplified by up to 50% depending on the quality of the weapon.
Balance Bangle (Monster Hunter) Free:
A simple leather wristband depicting a Rathalos and Tathian chasing each other's tails, vaguely reminiscent of a yin-yang. Comfortable, unobtrusive, easy to remove, and can't be lost or stolen. While it is worn, all offensive and defensive supernatural skills and abilities you have acquired throughout your journey that have not been purchased from your current adventure are sealed. This does not affect passive or intrinsic skills, such as eidetic memory, intelligence or willpower boosts. Meanwhile, your physical attributes will be reduced and/or equalized to a point at the apex of your chosen species. While it is on, you may speak a programmable code word or phrase to temporarily disable the sealing effect (default phrase is 'OH SHIT!') and re-apply it at will afterwards. If you seek a challenge or simply wish to live the true Monster Hunter experience, look no further.
Starter Weapon: Bone Rod I and Mauldrone I (Monster Hunter) Free:
It would be needlessly cruel to throw you into this dangerous world unprepared. Here, this one is on the house. You may pick any on basic Rarity 1 starter weapon (bone or iron) of any type. Hunters get 1 of each type of basic starter weapon for free. Bone weapons have higher base damage, but relatively poor sharpness, while the inverse is true for iron weapons.