ebookpocket.com 4:11 System
4:11 System
I stared blankly at the box floating in front of the Celestial Empress while she, as well, stared at it. Technically I was not there. I was seeing through her eyes and through the eyes of the Will of the One World, as Curie did...well, whatever the hell she'd just done.{[Welcome to the One World!]
[Please enter your name to continue:]
[OWS Mark 0.01. Thank you for participating in the beta test.]}
I rubbed my eyes, while Alanna hesitated. All across the army laid out before her, millions of souls that belonged to the Four Realms, similar boxes were appearing as the army slid out of the Four Realms and into the One World on their massive space ships, no matter whether they were mortal or immortal or gods. The only exceptions were the Pillars who were accompanying the war party, and Keilan and Alexander, who were as well. Xing Wu, Kei, Solana, and Gilles were the four leaving, the other Pillars staying behind as defense.
Their power was too great to need to see these messages as mere boxes. Kind of like how I saw through Mr. Boxes’ messages from time to time.
"What in Heaven's name is this?" Alanna muttered, reaching out and touching the box. I narrowed my eyes as I observed the simple intelligence behind it, acting like an incredibly smart, yet simple AI that had yet to fully develop. It pressed against Alanna's finger questioningly, as if asking permission...
Wait, no. That was exactly what it was doing. Asking for her to approve the permissions to access some of her personal information, to fill in the blanks for her. It essentially wanted to read her aura for basics, a surface scan, nothing invasive. I wouldn’t have allowed anything too invasive.
"Curie, what did you create?" I asked aloud, pinching the bridge of my nose. As I watched, Alanna gave subtle permission, and a title appeared above her head.
{[Alanna - The God Empress of the Celestial Empire
"What?" The Rival asked beside me, pulling me partially back to the present and my physical form.
"Curie made a system. Y'know, the whole video game thing?" I explained, reaching out and examining the nascent thing. It held traces of Curie's mind and Will, her authority running through it, and targeting only those from the Four Realms. I didn't quite trust it - I would be stupid to, considering everything that's happened so far, but it was very forthcoming with everything.
Blatantly honest. At least to me. The source itself remained hidden, woven into the fabric of reality, but what it was, was no mystery. There was nothing blinding me this time, especially now that I knew what to look for.
{[Quest Alert: March on the Capital of Art.
Step 1: Meet with the God of Law in the Nexus. Establish contact with sympathizers.]}
I raised an eyebrow, mentally following what she was talking about. There, in one of the holes leading up to the surface of the universe, was a God of Law. One I vaguely recognized as someone who had helped Astraea flee to the Four Realms.
I had been out of it during that time, but I could still somewhat recall the event. I mused, sending my attention deeper into the One World, tracing the path Curie had charted for my children. It was visible to my eyes as a little blue line, winding through the surface of the world, hitting a few fortresses that glistened with rot and showed as beacons of power, all the way to the very end of the line.
The Capital of Art, and Yueya's seat of power. It still shone so brightly with beauty I could barely look at it, a beacon of raw power. I needed to be ready by then. Before then. But, I focused mostly on the path. It would likely change the closer they got to the Capital, but it also didn't account for the resistance they would come across. Alala and Atreum were both still out there, not to mention however many other secret cards there were left for them to play...
I huffed and steeled myself, pressing against the Will of the One World and pressing my own intelligence into the AI for just a moment. The path wavered as the new information processed, likely running my orders by Curie for verification. It didn't matter if it was verified or not, I would -
{[Query: The suggested route invites more danger and bypasses key power nodes. Logical reasoning requested? Safety in original route.]}
"No, not safety, unnecessary caution. The key is to get to Yueya and kill the heart of this thing. Then, afterwards, when the main power source is cut off, we can take our time and clean up the rest." I reasoned. This was the best way. A blitzkrieg. The Four Realms and what little of the uninfected, loyal caste of the One World could be summoned in time for this campaign was still not enough to wage a proper war. We had to focus on the main objective, prioritize, and then spend what time we could rooting out the rot after cutting off the head of the proverbial snake. As Curie herself had said, the primary goal had to be separating the Rot from Yueya and Alala's divinity.
I now viewed Alala's retreat as a loss. Had we managed to capture her, that would have been another being out from under the control of the Rot, and half of its Authority freed. Plus, I had still sensed some of Alala in there. Capturing her and freeing her of the Rot's control may have given us another ally...even if all the Oshun sisters had to answer for what they did. I sighed heavily.
{[Command acknowledged. Revising Route. Revising...route revised. Give command?]}
I stared at the box for a moment, then gave a simple pulse of affirmation. The system stuttered for a second, loading my command. Then the screen blinked, and the route adjusted, adding in a few more commands that I had missed, now that it had my full intent. Well...perhaps I hadn't missed them in the truest sense of the word. I wasn't quite as familiar with the One World's intricacies yet, despite all my power, and as such I was not aware of some of the paths.
"What kind of allies can they expect?" I wondered, stretching my senses deeper into the One World.
{[Minimal allies available for this timeframe. Curie's [SystemGuardians] will meet at the Capital when ready. A few will accompany your troops. Approximately 80% complete on MK1. The God of Law's troops will aid. As will a few other loyalist factions. Word has spread.]}
This time, the reply didn't strike me quite so botlike. It had to be Curie speaking, despite the way it felt like third person. I fell quiet, extending my senses more as the ships began their perilous flight out of the Four Realms and into the One World's afterlife; the Celestial Empress and my children beginning their march to war.
And I sought for those who would aid my children.
Their numbers were few. Scattered. stretching far and wide, struggling to defend their own holds. But a few would make it. A few gods, loyal to Curie, perhaps, and a few tribes of powerful beings. My heart clenched as I pushed myself into a sitting position, feeling how I was healing. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.
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For now, I could lessen the pressure upon them. Free up their movements more.
Until I could truly move, my children would have to hold on, and not worry about the Four Realms. Atreum and Alala would likely attack while they were gone. But I was here. And what other defense did they need? Even with over half of our forces gone.
***
The Celestial Empress drummed her fingers on the railing of the ship that carried her, her divine power still flooding through her in ways unfamiliar. Dao Progenitors stood arrayed about her, helping to maintain the massive contraption, while most of their power came from the spirit stone ore held in the belly of the ship.
Slipping through the veil between the Four Realms and the One World had been weird. The comforting embrace of the natural qi of the Four Realms had slid away like water from the skin, allowing them to step out into the void of space. There was nothing in the One World. The magical energy in the afterlife was thin and useless, the souls that traverse here few and far between. Perhaps it was because of the battle that had occurred.
Alanna doubted it.
With her new divine sights, she could see Lord Keilan's handiwork in the afterlife struts that now lay shattered in the seemingly empty space. Their ships had to weave around the wreckage, shards of a giant, glass-like material as thick or thicker than some planets. She realized. Lord Keilan's handiwork was not visible in the project itself, but rather in the way his intent was layered into the material. What little she had seen of him, and the handiwork was still so painfully clear.
But all this was to merely avoid the strangest thing about the One World.
The moment they had slid from the Four Realms into the foreign universe, she had been visually assaulted by a strange, green rectangle that floated in front of her vision. It had taken the entire army an entire week to get over the initial confusion and mayhem that came with this sudden change, despite reassurances from the gods themselves, though that included her now, she supposed, and yet, it still baffled her and everyone else. Who would make something like this? Why?
{[Proceed to the God of Law's Domain.]}
The notification was so simple, and yet it raised even more questions than it answered. Who became a god of law? It was silly. It sounded like that person was going to be a really aggressive taxman. Not even the Dao Progenitors had come up with a path as silly as that. A god of wind? A god of fire? Those sounded like real divine beings. Aspects of primal nature, not metaphorical foolishness like what mortals came up with. "Law?" Not so much.
That was why, despite her newly empowered divinity, she didn’t consider herself a god yet. Even Xing Wu had a domain of the literal Stars. Her? Her path was that of the leader, of the ruler, but she didn't consider that to be something you could become a god of. Maybe a patron for.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Ma'am," the Mad Scientist said, sidling up beside her and bowing with a flourish. She glared at her longtime friend.
"You seem utterly unfazed, as always." she grumbled, casting her senses almost obsessively over the ship beneath her. It was a massive galleon-style ship easily as big as an entire continent, which was, admittedly, far smaller than the truly massive warships the One World had employed, and only one of three being sent out. They had enough space within to not only house all the troops, but grow their own food, clean their own water, and even provide cultivation spaces for those who needed it. They weren't luxurious, really, but it was spacious enough. The ones who were most cramped were gods and immortals.
She counted over a dozen gods on her ship alone, all elemental in nature, and ready for war.
"What do you want?" Alanna asked the Mad Scientist, watching an Immortal clean one of the magic cannons said Scientist had designed. She puffed up her chest, wings flaring.
"I'm here to brag about my babies. Aren't the designs wonderful? Amazing? Enough space for all of us, plus various creature comforts for me, and completely self-sustaining. Statera's soul design helps us a lot here, we don't even really have to worry about qi density; the amount of energy pouring off of our souls is enough to keep everything running in tip top shape, even if the spirit stones supply runs out. Which would take, oh, a hundred thousand years."
"Yes, yes, it's all very exciting. You've also talked about it non-stop since before we even left." She said dryly.
"That's because they've finally been given a chance to breathe! And with the gods and all their resources I was able to make so many upgrades I just..." the mad Scientist shuddered gleefully, rubbing her hands together like she was, well, mad. “I could power designs I could never dream of as a mortal or Immortal! And then put those designs into the hands of mortals! It’s all so wonderfully chaotic.”
"You seem very...unaffected by all this," she complained, glancing once again at the offending box hovering just in the corner of her vision. Not always getting in the way, but...annoying.
"What, you mean the baby system that's been bugging everyone? Can't say I haven't seen them before. It's really interesting that this is essentially the open beta for a system though, I admit. I wonder if she'll eventually introduce levels and classes and such, or if this is something else?" she rambled, temporarily losing Alanna in her ramblings. Alanna turned away, looking toward the hole in the One World's wall they were heading toward. Alexander flew slowly in front of them, his great, serpentine form winding this way and that as he swam through the empty air. Somewhere in the depths of her own ship, Lord Keilan hid, a secret weapon against whatever powerful being decided to attack.
Alanna sighed.
"Focus," she told her friend. "I need you functional for what is to come."
"I know. I'm just playing," she said with a wink. The two fell into companionable silence as they continued to fly, the hole drawing nearer and nearer. Alanna stretched out her senses, feeling for anything, any sign of life as the hole loomed - easily twice the size of the entire Four Realms in diameter. It was less a hole and more a gaping chasm.
"Halt!" Alexander boomed, voice echoing in the silence just before the hole's entrance. With her untrained divine senses she couldn't see the edges of the hole, only darkness and vague shapes. Like they were made of stone.
For a moment, nothing moved. Then, slowly, she began to make out a form. Weaving his way out of the darkness, he was accompanied by two other figures. All three had green symbols floating above their heads, written in a language Alanna didn't know, but could all the same understand.
"Ah. She's using it to identify friend from foe. That'll help. Doesn't mean we can slack off on the security measures, but it does make some things easier." The Mad Scientist muttered. Alanna ignored her, levitating up off of the ship an flying forth, shooting through the air to go stand beside Alexander, her own wings flared dramatically, golden light radiating off of her.
The three figures paused a respectful distance away, and Alanna read the names floating above their heads.
The centermost man was named Balthasar, the God of Law. He had silver-grey hair and an air of nervousness about him - immediately, Alanna recognized him as more a statesman than a warrior. But a statesman wise enough to leave the warrior stuff to the warriors, even if times dictated he act in ways contrary to his usual fare.
The other two were strange, metal men with completely smooth faces and absolutely no life to them whatsoever. They read as
"Good evening," Balthasar said, waving to them nervously. He wrung his hands some, and glanced about like the shadows may leap out at him. "We do not have much time, so I will make this quick. I am Balthasar, as Lady Curie is showing you now. I would greatly appreciate it if we could hurry, I can get you up through to my city fairly quickly, but as we speak Atreum is rallying his forces and preparing for a counter attack. He has already demanded some of my troops, and, well, I cannot fend him off on my own, loathe as I am to lend him anything."
"And who are those two beside you?" Alanna asked, gesturing to the metal men.
Balthasar made a face.
"Um. It may be better for them to introduce themselves." He admitted quietly.
"We are SystemGuardians, first generation. We will be the reinforcements Lady Curie sends." The first metal man said in a tinny, deliberately uncanny voice. "We are designed to help counter the Rot by giving it nothing to latch onto. Nothing organic. Simple directives." It bowed slightly, and Alexander rumbled in interest.
"A puppet lacking freewill is only good so long as the controller remains uninfected," he judged, glancing sideways at Alanna.
"We will also be running interference. Scrambling the defenses. Alerting Atreum. The more they are focused on this new threat to the Rot, the more unlikely they are to notice you. For a time. The further you can get into the One World, the better." the second one said, sounding a little bit better.
Alanna hummed, but did not comment. It had been clear since the beginning that they were on a timer.
"Then lead the way." Alanna urged. "We do not have time to waste." Alexander nodded, providing no further insights. Clearly, the dragon, while Alanna did not dare presume he fully trusted them, he did have some faith that they were what they said they were.
Alanna turned, and returned to her ship, steeling her nerves. There was no going back now.