SS - Chapter 13 - System Tabs

Spent most of the day yesterday working on this so I'd have time for job search stuff. Took forever cause I got distracted. T_T

The flickering firelight danced, casting long shadows around the village hall as I sat at the table, pouring through my system window. 

The village wasn’t that big, and there were only a couple places big enough to handle a crowd, so I usually left the village hall open in the evening. It was a place where people could come to either have a quiet conversation, or read through one of the few books that managed to make the trip.  

That’s why I felt kind of bad locking the place down tonight. I knew everyone probably needed a chance to decompress after both the emergency muster, and having a couple dozen visitors just appear at the edge of town, but it couldn’t be helped. I really needed some time to try and get my head around these changes, before I shared them with everyone.

I didn’t bother to look up when the door opened. Camille had set up on the stoop outside, to warn people away and make sure I got the privacy I needed, and there was only one person she would have let through.

“How are our visitors doing? DId you find a place for them?” 

Siegward quietly emerged out of the shadows at the front of the hall, nodding slightly. “We used some spare blankets to create some makeshift bedding in the stone cutting workshop. Millie delivered some stew, and Derdrie tended to their wounds. There was one young woman who asked to meet you, she was quite insistent about it; I just told her that I’d let you know.”

“Selena, I assume,” I mumbled. “I’ll go talk to her once we’re done here.”

Seigward crept forward, his normally confident strides faltering. “You know I’m not normally someone that’ll question your decisions, but are you sure this is wise? If the Skylians were willing to chase them all the way out here, who’s to say they won’t send more soldiers when the first group doesn’t report in?”

“Hopefully, that won’t be an issue for much longer,” I replied, raising my system window so he could see it. “This is what I called you here to discuss this evening.”

Siegward paused, his eyes going wide. “How?”

“Camille and I discovered a Sovereign Stone in what we thought was a dungeon. I didn’t want to announce it to everyone until I had a chance to review all the features, but I figured you might be able to provide me with some advice,” I explained. ”You did work as my mother’s steward before coming out after all.”

“You found one… in a dungeon,” Seigward replied, stunned.

“Yes, and I know how unbelievable it sounds,” I sighed. “I’ll go over the full story with everyone later, but I really want to try and get my head around these new systems, and get the basic setup done as soon as possible.”

Seigward shook his head, and took a moment to gather his wits before stepping closer. His tone much calmer than it was just seconds ago.  “Unfortunately your mother didn’t have access to many enhanced system features, but I’ll advise you the best I can,” Seigward promised.

Nodding, I rotated the window slightly so he could see the contents. “I’ve already made Camille my vassal, so I vaguely understand that part. The Citadel seems to have to do with the structure surrounding the Stone. I’ve been browsing the reference section, and it’ll probably take me weeks to go through all that information. That leaves Domain, Constructs, and Sovereign Relations.”

“I’ve never heard of Sovereign Relations, but your mother had access to Noble Relations,” Seigward said, rubbing his beard. “Iskel had numerous laws that restricted noble interactions. Marriages, feuds, even trading had to be done officially, through the system.”

“Sounds useful, just not right now,” I mumbled. “What about Domain?”

“Now, that’s an interesting one. From what I understand your mother was sent a certain amount of magic from the core, and then she could allocate that magic to different effects within the duchy. Improving crop yields, generating natural resources, accelerating skill learning, increasing the number of constructs available, and more. I think there it worked on sort of a point system, but I never really dealt with it myself.”

“Did she have access to any other systems?” I asked, rubbing my forehead.

“The duchess also had access to the Vassal, and Reference tabs. She spent countless hours going through the documentation, to find the loopholes required to sever our ties to the kingdom, so we’d be free to follow you out here,” Siegwald quietly recounted.

I leaned back in my chair, looked at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. “Mother always was a planner. You know the worst part of all this? I know those powers weren’t given to my family out of respect, or due to our years of service. It was given to us just so the royal family didn’t have to do it.”

“And your family has fulfilled your duties admirably for years,” Siegward whispered proudly.

“Even though the domain system sounds exceptionally useful, I’d like to wait until I reveal our discovery to everyone else before deciding how to allocate everything. I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion on what to prioritize,” I said, leaning forward again.

“Which leaves the Construct tab,” Siegwald solemnly declared. 

“Creating a self replicating army isn’t the most subtle way to announce our discovery to the rest of the village, but I suppose I should check it out,” I muttered, tapping the tab on my system window. 

The forest green window flashed and displayed the following:

Create Construct Template

Create Champion (Requires 5 magic) [ YES / NO ]

Enable Replication (Requires 20 magic) [ YES / NO ]

Set Behaviours 

Even though I’d flicked through this tab before this was the first time I’d actually given it a serious look. After sitting the tab for a few seconds one of the silvery grey information boxes appeared.

Congratulations, you are now the master of your own artificial army. Before you can start generating your forces, you must go through the [Create Template] process. You will have to answer several questions which will both determine both your construct’s skills, and final form. 

WARNING: You can only create a single template, and once you’ve completed the process the Construct’s final form will be permanently imprinted on the stone. Consider each question carefully before making a decision.

“I guess that’s why every kingdom’s constructs look slightly different,” I muttered. Closing the help window I stared at the tab for several seconds before looking over at Siegward. “Can you please ask Camille to step inside? I’d like to get both your opinions while going through this process.”

Before the man could even straighten up Camille burst into the room, bouncing down the side of the table before skidding to a halt right next to us. “I’m here!” 

Siegward looked the girl over. “Were you spying on us?”

“No. No, no, no, no. I was just using my wind magic to monitor the area, just in case Medea was attacked,” Camille replied.

“Isn’t that the same thing?” the old man scowled. 

“Of course not. Monitoring is done by guards trying to protect their charge, while spying is done by perverts and, well, spies. I’m definitely sitting more on the bodyguard side of that equation,” Camille declared.

“It’s fine Sieg,” I said, patting Siegward on the arm. “It was Camille’s job to protect me back in the dutchy, she’s just falling back into old habits now that she’s got her magic back. Just leave it, we have something more important to focus on right now.”

When the pair focused on my window I tapped the ‘Create Construct Template’ button. The screen flashed, replacing everything on the screen with a single question.

What would you like your constructs to be specialized in?

[ Offense / Defense / Siege / Magical / Ranged / Utility ]

“Going straight to the big decisions, huh?” Camille exclaimed “I think most of these speak for themselves, but what’s utility?”

I held my finger on utility for several seconds to bring up the description. 

Utility - Utility constructs can perform pretty much any role the kingdom requires, but are not as effective as the primary specializations in combat. They are mostly effective when used in advanced devices and mixed magic/physical formations.

“Strange… I’m not familiar with any kingdoms that used mix force tactics,” Siegward mumbled. “Most just create mass ranks of melee constructs to throw at other forces.” 

“That’s because most of them aren’t willing to put the time, and effort, into arranging anything more complex,” I muttered. “I’m not afraid of a little extra management in exchange for flexibility.”

My eyes passed over the description several times before zeroing in on one word. “Do you think advanced devices could include rifles?”

“The Sovereign Stones are ancient devices, which existed long before the discovery of gunpowder,” Siegward explained. “It’s probably referring to siege weapons, and maybe crossbows.”

“Which is still useful!” Camille exclaimed.

“That’s true…” I whispered. “Opinions?”

“I don’t have a preference, no matter which type you choose our situation here will improve,” Camille started. “I do think that magical and siege troops would be a lot less practical than just a melee or ranged option in the short term. We don’t need to burn down the forest while fighting wolves.”

Siegward smiled. “I already know which way you’re leaning, young lady. You hate to be locked into a single strategy, and love playing with technology. Go with your heart.”

I nodded, hesitating for just a moment before tapping ‘Utility.’

The screen refreshed:

What would you like your construct’s primary and secondary weapons to be?

Primary: [ — ]

Secondary: [ — ]

[Submit]

I tapped on the selection field next to primary, and it displayed an absolutely colossal list. It had every weapon I could think of, both held and integrated, so even scrolling through the entire list was a chore. Thankfully, after a little experimentation, I found that I could double tap the selection field and do a rudimentary search. The first thing I tried was to put in ‘Rifle.’

“How?” Siegward hissed. “Rifles were only invented fifty years ago, how could a Stone possibly know about them?”

“It was monitoring us when we were fighting the Skylians,” Camille explained. “And then Medea used rifles in a simulation that the Stone set up, so I’m not surprised that it recognized the rifle as an effective weapon.”

Siegward looked over, a bewildered expression crossing his face. “A simulation?”

“That’s a long story, better left for when I explain the situation to everyone else,” I said, as I browsed the secondary weapons. I settled on the most common weapon used in the duchy, pikes, then after a moment swapped the two weapons around.

“Why’d you do that?” Camille asked, befuddled. “You try to promote the advantages of rifles to people every chance you get. I’d thought you’d be thrilled to arm your entire force with them.”

“I do, and I am,” I grumbled. “But I’m also extremely familiar with their weaknesses too. Powerful punch, with an extremely long reload speed. Even though I use the rifle for dealing with hard targets, I default to my rapier in most engagements. I’d rather have our forces have a reliable front line, then have rifles as backup, instead of the other way around.”

Touching submit brought up a third screen.

Final question: What advantage / ability would you like to give your constructs?

[ — ]

[Submit]

Touching the selection field brought up a huge list of random skills. It was easy to determine the purpose of some of them, like Heavily Armored, but others were far more esoteric. 

“What the heck is ‘Cat’s Curiosity?” Camille asked.

“I don’t know, I can’t bring up an info window on any of these skills,” I replied helplessly.

“Then I supposed the safest choice would be to select something with a very apparent effect. ‘Perfect Formation’ for example,” Siegward explained. “That being said, I know the Ashbornes don’t like to take the easy way out. There’s something to be said for trusting your intuition.”

I nodded as I scrolled through the various options. ‘Bull’s Charge’, ‘Flickers in the Dark’, ‘Fount of power’, and many more. They all started to blur together until one random option caught my eye. ‘Many hands make light work’. I didn’t know why, but I tapped it.

“What do you think that does?” Camille asked, leaning in close to my screen.

“No idea. I just didn’t want to choose something that just strapped the constructs in a layer of armor, and ‘An Elephant’s Memory’ really didn’t hold any appeal to me. Thoughts?” I said, glancing over at her.

“I think you’re the boss! Sieg said to trust your intuition, so go for it!” she exclaimed.

I stared at the screen for a couple seconds before slowly reaching up and tapping the submit button. 

The screen immediately flashed.

Generating prototype champion, stand-by… stand-by… complete.

Manifesting.

Construct generated.

Pattern will now be etched into the stone for mass fabrication. 

Returning to the main menu.

I didn’t even register when the screen refreshed, I was too distracted by what was happening in front of me.

A doll-like figure appeared before me in a flash of light. Just over three feet tall, wearing a maid’s dress with a breastplate and helmet over top. Pike leaning against one shoulder, rifle on the other, the little thing snapped an adorable little salute, making a tiny ‘hup!’ noise.

Camille started emitting a high pitched sound of joy, vibrating in place, but I somehow couldn’t share her excitement.

Instead I looked the tiny construct up and down before slowly lowering my face into my hands. “What the hell is this?”