Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

He knew what he needed to do now. In order for his idea to work, he'd have to make some quick changes to his mostly empty moonlet.

Without talking to anyone, Walker pulled up the Entity subsystem and planted four two-year-old mana trees on Sonata. He placed them in a grid encircling the Tree of the Gods at exacting ratios so they were all equidistant from each other, while also having a safe distance.

He didn't know what kind of fuckery that tree had, but he needed to make sure his trees didn't interact with it. Walker stepped into the Landmass system and placed some of his remaining steel in a shell just under the dirt as well. It took him several hours, wherein he ignored everyone asking about why Mana Trees were suddenly popping up on their moonlet. It wasn't easy, but it was a little fun to ignore them. After he had the shell up, and just below where he eyeballed the roots would take hold, Walker clicked out of the landmass system and called a group meeting.

It took a moment, but once everyone had gathered up, including Dionysus, Walker broke the silence.

"Hello everyone. So, here's what's going on. I've placed four mana trees across Sonata so I can use them to test things out here. It's..."

"You placed the wrong ones!" Virgil yelled out, interrupting him.

"No, I didn't. See, I knew they were the originals. I need these to be battery packs for what I have planned, and it won't work unless we have a metric boatload of magic on Sonata. Sonata will keep growing, and I didn't advance the Mana Tree's ages, so they'll grow with it. Plus, nobody here has a kernel, so, nobody here is going to go through crazed amounts of magical evolutions. Wait, can you guys even use evolutions?" Walker asked as he turned to the group of Primigenials.

Each turned to Zeus, who in turn looked at Athena. She looked at each of them and then shook her head in the negative. "Not without seeding I don't believe. Technically, we are moored here and unchanged from when we were imprisoned on Earth."

"Great!" He said with a smile, "I mean, not great you were imprisoned, but great that you won't go through mass evolutions. I can't evolve unless I attach myself to the system, which I'm not doing." Walker pointed at the multicolored squirrel cadre, "You four can't evolve either because you're all assistants. So...why not have them?" He asked as he looked at Virgil.

The great brown squirrel shrugged as he was at a complete loss.

"Alright, so that problems solved." Walker paused for a moment as the atmosphere over Sonata started to equalize, turning a light cyan coloring. How pretty!

"Anyways, the reason I did this is because I want to test the Territory system here with Neus. Specifically, I want to use it ourselves to create some simple creature comforts. You'll see all kinds of things randomly pop up here as we get moving."

Virgil coughed, "Hrmm, yes, but you don't have an item system yet."

Walker snapped his fingers, "Exactly right, and the Leveling system will finish in not too long. I had to get the item system up before I could ever move on to territories anyway, so it's a win-win situation for me. We get some fun, the item system gets made, and we finally have beds! We need beds, Virgil!" He dramatically dropped to his knees, "Virgil! I'm tired of laying in the grass."

Virgil grumbled quietly, although everyone still heard him, "Humans..."

"Okay then" He said with another smile as he hopped back up. "What is something everyone wants so we can get to work on it?" Walker asked.

Athena, naturally, raised her hand first. "I would like a library."

Walker nodded, "Not only a library, but a book-making system as well."

She nodded slowly and threw him a smile.

"Okay, one library. Anyone else?"

They all raised their hands at the same time, causing Walker to smile as he took down a list.

Zeus wanted an extremely comfortable bed to epic proportions. The king of the gods didn't sleep, so Walker was worried about what he would use it for. The Primigenial did say he would help Walker design a bed so soft it felt like he was sleeping on clouds. Walker made a note of that.

Minos, it turned out, wanted a garden, rather than the blacksmith Walker thought he would ask for. Dionysus laughed pretty hard at that one. Walker didn't even need the item system, he just popped some random vegetation from his entity subsystem, roots and all, right in front of the Bronze Battler, and watched as the powerfully built man squealed and ran off with them toward the Tree of the Gods.

Okay then

Echidna said she didn't want anything, which he found strange. The yellow-eyed woman walked off after Minos to help him design his garden.

Dionysus asked for wine. Not a shocker to him in the slightest. At least he was more polite in the way he was speaking now.

Rimi asked for a big telescope, which Walker said would take him some time to make. He left right away to finally finish his starter monsters.

Cagna asked for a comfortable chair, which Walker fully agreed to do right away. Everyone deserves a comfortable chair in life.

Neus didn't really understand what was happening, with his mind still developing as it took in the environment. Walker told him to think on it and he'd bother him later.

Virgil had already walked away. Walker wasn't surprised. The workaholic just wanted to finish his humans. Walker asked for an update as he left and the great brown squirrel called back, saying it'd be another few weeks.

So Walker spent some time writing down what he, himself, wanted. A bed was obvious, as it was just comfortable and a staple for human beings. He may not be fully human anymore, but it didn't mean he was completely walking away from the idea of who he was in his former life. He tried not to think about what it would be like to go back to Earth as an awakened.

He also planned on setting up a couch, a small house, and several other commodities that were necessary for daily life. Once this thing finished, would he have to eat and go to the bathroom again? He had a lot of questions about that. What about showering? Cleanliness is next to creatorness.

Also, a ping pong table. For uhhh, obvious reasons. Walker wondered if Virgil would play. That would be a sight to see. Would he use his tail for the paddle? Who knew?

Smiling to himself, he worked on his soul and got both of his shoulders done in the next several hours. He had stopped watching the citizens of Symphony as they were all still trapped in slow motion after the protocol council member sped things up. he thought Phil was still swinging its tail at a slightly smaller black manticore since he'd looked in on him yesterday. Nothing interesting on his tv lately...monitor. He meant monitor.

Finally, after he was talking to Minos about what made a warrior...a warrior....his timer finished. Walker's overlay lit up and, after a hasty goodbye, he ran over to his Creation Instrument while the information downloaded.

.....Scanning....

System task complete: Design a system: Series 3

System requirements:

System is found to be balanced and consistent: Yes

System allows for growth: Yes

System is applied to world continuously without calamity: 7/7 Days

Reward for completion: Gain the ability to create unlimited systems.

- - -

Reward for completing the third system designer task:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the ability to create unlimited systems!

Few Creators have focused on creating systems. Due to your hard work, and completing the final task in the system designer series, you now have the ability to create as many systems as you choose.

Limit: You may create one new system per day

"Hey Virgil!" Walker yelled out.

"One day for you, not for Symphony." The brown squirrel yelled back, already anticipating his question.

"Yes!" Walker said with a pumped first, getting a glare from Rimi for stealing his signature move. "Wait, why is this one day when the Conductor system is a week?"

Virgil sighed without turning around. It was so loud Walker could hear from around a hundred feet away, "Because that is being analyzed by the advanced assistants who help run the protocol, not just you creating one. They're merging it all into one for a new type of system entirely. That will also happen each time you decide to add more systems to the supreme."

"Soooo, why do I get the option to make so many systems now?"

"Well, you have seen, I am assuming, that the alpha protocol copies whatever systems you make?"

"Yep."

"Okay." Virgil said, looking directly at him. "Now, the training wheels come off. Why limit the Creators who know what they're doing? The more systems you make, the more the protocol gains in new ideas and programs for future renditions. Simple." Virgil turned back to the small boy he was working on.

"Uhhh, oh. Okay, thanks." Walker said with a thumbs up, getting Rimi to finally look away from him.

What a glare! Walker thought, deciding not to fist pump anymore.

Walker clicked on the system designer and scrolled through the options. He thought he'd seen it before, and he needed to make sure. He found it after only a few minutes.

The Permanent Magical Conjuration System:

A system designed by Creator Fienias in the Alpha protocol of 2JM.

This system allows for the creation of materials by synthesizing magic and solidifying it within reality.

Flexibility: High

Difficulty to modify: Medium

Resources used: Ambient magic

Limits: The Permanent Magical Conjuration System is limited by what materials the Creator has discovered within their rendition

Note: This system is based upon the Cosmic Genesis system as well as the Far-eye system

Looking at all of the information provided, Walker guessed this was the final update to system designing he could look forward to. It still felt like it wasn't enough to work with, but he'd do the best he could. Looking at who created the program, he said to himself, "Thank youuuu Creator Fienias. Oof, that's hard to say." He skipped the merger question and created the system for himself. Walker renamed it to Items and clicked into it.

As he did so, his world faded away, and just like the Cosmic Genesis System, he found himself in a dark space occupied with only text floating in the sky.

Welcome to the Permanent Magical Conjuration System Dante

Use of this system has a cost: Ambient magical potential

What would you like to create?

"ah, another one of you." Walker said after he finished reading.

I do not understand what you mean Dante

"Don't worry about it. Question for you, my permanent magical conjuration friend. Am I the only one who can use you, or can I assign a subsystem assistant to also work with you?"

You may assign any amount of protocol-bound entities to this system as you please.

Walker grew very excited at hearing that, "You mean I can give you multiple assistants."

That is correct, you-

Walker exited the system and pulled up his overlay. He quickly dragged Virgil, Rimi, and Cagna over to the Item system without considering a spare moment for thought. All three of them froze for a moment, but Walker wasn't watching as he stepped back into the Item system. "Please rename yourself to the Item system." He said without pausing.

Command recognized.

This system is now named the Item system.

To Walker's left, Rimi and Cagna popped up in the darkness. They instantly started looking around in confusion before spotting Walker. Rimi's little feet skipped to him faster than he thought possible, and the small blue squirrel began smacking his Creator's leg with one small blue paw.

"Don't. Just. Add. Us. To. Systems!" He said as he hit Walker with each new word.

"Sorry! I just got excited. Hey, wait a second." He said, noticing a change in the two. "You both grew again." Rimi was now even taller than before. If they were on Earth, he'd be considered some kind of mega-squirrel. Cagna had also finally reached Rimi's former height from when he got access to the Entity and Ecology subsystems.

"Yes, well, that is only natural." The blue squirrel said after he had caught his breath. "Step out for a moment and you will understand, Creator."

Walker was confused, but did as he asked. The moment he stepped out, his overlay updated and he stumbled for a moment as it felt like Sonata was changing in front of his eyes. The ground shook and trembled, and as he watched, everything seemed to stretch before him and grow further away.

.....Scanning.....

Congratulations Dante! Your subsystem assistant has upgraded to a full assistant!

Unknown changes occurring.

The Tree of the Gods is maturing!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Tree of the Gods has borne fruit.

"Son of a bitch..." Walker said as he read the updates, but when he looked to the left, he was in for a surprise. The golden-haired Athena was currently yelling at a darkly-dressed man with a stern visage, while a younger boy and an absolutely stunning woman stood behind him. From what he could hear, the argument seemed to be focused on him. Of course it was.

"Because he'll come to you when he can! You are not to approach him Hades. I already told you."

"Oh come on now love, he'll be so excited to meet us." The beautiful woman in the green diaphanous robe said behind the stern man.

"No, sister. He's working on something that you'll approve of, I'm sure." She held up a finger in front of the man again, "Not a word to him. You've always been patient Hades, please stay that way."

The darkly-dressed man didn't respond with anything, just continued to stand in place and look at her. Eventually, he moved his head and looked around the area. Athena took that as an accord and walked over to speak with her father. Walker smiled.

He pulled up the world editor and looked at Sonata. The size increase this time was much more drastic than the last two. The first time it'd increased a little, the second it'd upped the size of the moonlet by around twenty percent. This time, Walker guessed it had increased by another fifty percent overall. Walker was worried about it, so he stepped into the Cosmic Genesis system to see if the elliptical orbit was off.

It was in fact, and he had to spend a full two months of temporal resources to alter their placement around Symphony for a habitable orbit. That wasn't chump change and he mentally cursed out the Creator of Earth for their short-sighted thinking.

He stepped out then immediately stepped back into the Item system, assuming Athena would keep an eye on their new residents. To Echidna who was watching from not far away, it looked like Walker appeared then vanished right after.

When the Item system re-materialized around him, he found Cagna and Rimi discussing what to make first.

"Rimi, how's your monster making going?" Walker said, interrupting their discussion.

The medium-sized squirrel blew air out of his mouth, "I'm about an hour away from being done. You know you've pulled me away from it multiple times."

Walker nodded, "Yep, and I'm sorry. If you'd like, you can go ahead and finish up. The Item system isn't going anywhere and you can work in here anytime you'd like."

Rimi said, "Okay" and shortly after, faded away.

Walker turned to Cagna, "You on the other hand can help me right now. What do you want to make first!"

Cagna raised both arms in the air excitedly, "Oh oh, a chair!"

Walker snapped his fingers, "That's right! Your first request was for a chair. Let's take a look here." The text floating in the air showed several options to them.

Only non-living items are currently available:

This may be changed within limits

Currently available options built into the Item system:

More options become available as they are created

Raw Materials: Basic crafting material, Basic building material, Basic enchanting material, Basic food

Generic items: Tools, Utility, Infrastructure, Furniture, Transportation, Leisure

Weapons: Swords, Axes, Maces, Ranged weapons, Daggers, Staves, Exotics

Clothing and Armor: Casual wear, Formal wear, Magical wear, Light armor, Medium armor, Heavy armor

Structures: Housing, Workshops, Mercantile Structures, Defensive structures, Offensive structures, Portals (restricted by the Alpha Protocol)

Looking over the options, he clicked the second one and watched as a series of choices came up with different images. Raw materials was a piece of meat, Tools was a blacksmith's hammer, utility a coiled rope, infrastructure showed itself as a pipe, furniture a bed, transportation a cart, and leisure was a weird board with a hundred different symbols on it. Walker clicked on Furniture and a list populated on his large screen with search and filter options to the right.

Basic armchair

Basic bed

Basic bookshelf

Basic cabinet

...

There were a ton of options, but Walker didn't like the look of the word "basic." He clicked on the armchair and another image came up. It showed a functional and straightforward design. No embroidery or special stitching could be found, just a standard armchair anyone on Earth could buy for a modestly low price at a nearby store.

A hand-me down store maybe Walker thought.

Still, it was an armchair, and though he might wish it was so, he was not a very good designer. To the right of the image was a bar slowly filling up as he watched, with another bar above the image showing his overall localized magical saturation. The top bar wasn't very filled, but it would get there overtime as the tree's matured. Walker and Cagna stood there without speaking and watched as the bar to the right filled. Once it completed, it started pulsing and a screen appeared.

Would you like to conjure a basic armchair?

"Instead of conjure, please use create for now on." Walker told the system operator.

Command recognized.

All future communications will be updated.

...

Would you like to create a basic armchair?

Before he clicked accept, he found an option in the corner that offered different colors and styles, so he chose pink and adjusted the brightness until it came as close as it could to Cagna's natural coloring. After he clicked confirm, Walker asked Cagna to exit with him.

Just next to where they faded into view sat a perfectly basic pink armchair. Cagna squealed upon seeing it.

"I love it! Thank you thank you thank you Creator!" She said as she hugged his leg before leaping into it, easily clearing the bottom of the chair to its maximum height of two feet. She sat herself down, almost but not quite blending in with the color of the chair. Cagna squirmed her rear, digging into the chair a bit as she did so. Once she found a comfortable spot, she leaned back and stared at a screen in front of her. "Much better." She said with a sigh.

Basic armchair that it was, Walker didn't have the heart to tell her how uncomfortable that chair would be for him. Too small, narrow, and it looked pretty tough to sit in. It was true what they said, ignorance was bliss.

Now that he had a better understanding of the Item system, he stepped back in and started a conversation with the AI within.

"Why are there only basic items?"

"How do you make more items?......Permanent conjurations?"

"Why can't you take living things?"

"Are there any tasks for this system?"

It turned out that the Permanent Magical Conjuration system only came with basic items from the start. Any new categories or items you wanted, you had to make yourself. That fit in line with what Walker wanted from the system in the first place, as he needed to have this working for his profession system. The problem arose, however, in that you couldn't actually design within the system. To add more to the system, you had to go in and add them yourself. Testing this, Walker created a few quick pieces of pine wood, a basic hammer and some basic nails.

It only took a few minutes to hammer the wood into a fairly boxish shape, then he held onto it as he clicked Item. Rather than take him to the system, a different prompt appeared.

Would you like to add this to the Item system registry?

Walker chose yes and watched as it disappeared. When he stepped back into the system and searched for boxes, he found his shitty creation sitting there. He chose the option to make another one when the bar filled up, then did so again and stepped out. Now, there were two exactly duplicate shitty boxes that matched the one he'd just made a moment ago.

"Neat." He said as he looked at them both. He stepped back in yet again to the item system, and started combing through the book options. None of them were filled out, with just basic and empty forms encased in shitty covers. Even the paper was rough, but it was a start. He needed to find a way to make high quality paper and then create a book binding press if he wanted to fulfill Athena's library requirement. Not to mention...you know...making a library. The bookshelves in the Item system left a lot to the imagination as they were simply pieces of wood hammered together.

Walker clicked on structures and looked at what was available. On impulse, he combed through defensive options, finding walls and barracks. Curiosity getting the better of him, he clicked on the barracks and watched as the magic meter on the right expanded a huge amount. When it finally stopped, the bar on his right was almost as tall as he was, whereas the armchair was only as long as the distance from his wrist to his elbow. It seemed the more complicated a structure, and the greater the size, the longer it would take to reserve the magic. Then a notice hit his screen.

Magical potential within the area is not high enough to produce this structure.

Please increase your magical reserves for future use of this Item.

"Well shit." Walker said as he stepped out. He guessed he would have to wait to create anything larger for when his Mana Tree's matured. Although, his foresight in choosing the overwhelming magical discharge Mana Trees would pay off in the end. Walker quick-stepped over to Athena and asked an important question.

"Yes Walker?" The beautiful woman asked with an arched eyebrow as he finally arrived in front of her. The walk from his Creation Instrument to the Tree of the Gods was taking longer and longer as Sonata expanded.

"Do you know which Primigenials are coming out next?" He asked with a hint of anxiety in his voice.

She walked over and put a hand on the tree for a moment, before coming back and saying, "The next three to be released are Apollo, Nike, and Hephaestus."

"Yes!" Walker said, although he refrained from pumping his fist out of respect for his blue friend. "The moment Hephaestus comes out, please send him to me."

The goddess of wisdom nodded her head once, "I'll see it done Creator. Do you want to meet the three recently released gods now?" She asked.

Walker tried to think of a way out of this, but couldn't. After all, they were only a dozen or so feet away. "Who are they?"

"The dark man is Hades, of course. The young woman is Aphrodite, whom you need to be careful around, and the young boy is her son, Cupid. He's not really a teenager, just so you know. That is the form he was in when we were taken."

Walker nodded, "I see. Well, we may as well get this over with," he said in a resigned voice.

Athena put her arm through his, surprising him for a moment, before he recovered and they walked over together. When they stopped in front of the three, and Aphrodite caught Walker's eye, he felt the goddess beside him tighten her grip for a moment before slowly letting go.

"Whooo, do we have here?" The beautiful woman in the diaphanous gown said in a sultry voice before she walked over. Each step she took seemed like part of a choregraphed dance, light and full of grace. Step spin, step leap, side-step...shuffle. But, as Walker watched, he realized something.

It was super weird.

He guessed others would find it an ephemeral and entrancing view, but to him, it looked like a woman moving from place to place with too many steps and hip gyrations. Sure she was beautiful, but it was still strange. Maybe it was something that worked well on regular people back in old Greece, but not him. It seemed like a dance he'd see someone doing in front of a camera for social media, but with the added awkwardness of nobody else being able to hear the music.

Hades just walked forward with long and efficient movements, while Cupid came in right behind him. "Stop those gyrations you damned fool." The stern man said in a voice that sounded like someone chewed on it repeatedly, "It was bad enough being trapped in that tree with you all, now we have to be released at the same time? Unbearable." He looked at the Tree of the Gods. "If only I could destroy this monstrosity here and now." Saying so, he stepped forward and threw a punch at it.

The only thing that happened was the sound of a dull thud, and Hades's cheeks turning red.

"Blast you to oblivion." He yelled at it. "Yes I hear you idiots. Keep quiet while your better works on your behalf." He turned to Walker, looking him up and down, "I know of the deal you made. I have only one request...leave me the fuck alone." After saying so, he turned around and walked away.

Cupid stepped over near his mother and tugged on her, she looked down and whispered something he couldn't hear. The small boy responded in a light voice, Walker only able to pick out the words, "I don't think so..", before he ran off after Hades, laughing all the while.

"What did you two talk about?" Walker asked the beautiful goddess.

"Oh, I asked him if he thought you would make love to me." She said with a mischievous smile.

Walker could hear Athena's eyes roll beside him.

Contrary to what anyone expected, he smiled back.