THE ASCENDANCY -- The Den - Day 2

  I wasn't sure how I felt about the announcement. Kyle was right about the target on our backs, but something about the system's wording bothered me. First detected participant.

  Why say it like that? The system could have just said first participant, or first champion. But it didn't. It added that extra word, and I couldn't shake the feeling it meant something.

  If we hadn't seen any announcements about the other teams hitting milestones, maybe we really were ahead. That should have been reassuring.

  It wasn't.

  We'd decided to take a break for a couple of hours so everyone could relax and grab something to eat. The girls were sitting at the table, talking about something, though I caught ARi throwing random glances in my direction. She kept smiling and blushing, enough that I could see it from across the room. The other girls giggled.

  Tim and Kyle were still sitting over by the fire. Kyle was talking a million miles an hour about phase technology and quantum physics. From where I was lying, it looked like Tim's eyes were glazing over, but I was pretty sure he was actually reading windows. Tim had gone over some of his options, but he'd been vague about the details. He said he'd share more later, but right now he needed time to think. These weren't temporary skills or abilities we'd lose when we left the Ascendancy. Whatever we chose, we'd keep. Permanently. That kind of weight deserved careful consideration.

  I had a feeling some of Tim's options were a little more personal, and if he wanted to keep them to himself for now, that was fine. We weren't going to push him. If he wanted our input, he'd ask. From what he did tell us, though, a lot of what he was looking at leaned less toward phase abilities and more toward frontline fighter.

  Kyle, of course, completely oblivious, kept rambling while pulling random things in and out of his inventory, like he was trying to show Tim something.

  I let myself relax for a minute, letting it all set in. With the revelation that we weren't gonna be running around this forest with pokey wooden sticks, I couldn't help but feel a little bit of hope.

  I thought about this whole Ascendancy thing. I was starting to realize it was more than pitting five individuals from Earth against others from different worlds, or even entire worlds against each other. The Ascendancy literally put whole societies and whole civilizations against multiple others: their culture, their history, their myths, their legends, their people.

  Fighting over this world not only put us on a primitive footing; it was gonna do the same to the others too.

  But one thought kept scratching at the back of my mind. Actually, scratching isn't the right word. It was stabbing, kicking, screaming. And I was trying not to be overwhelmed by it.

  ARi had said that anything we summon or spawn into this world that has any kind of sentience, anything alive, comes of the earth. But it doesn't come from the living Earth, because anything living from Earth that participates has to be brought in via a cradle.

  I've never been religious, honestly. And this whole thing from the start has wrecked me over topics I'd never thought about before. Souls. Do we have them? When I summon one of these cohorts, are they powered by a soul from Earth, someone no longer on the same plane of existence as the living?

  I had to stop myself. Thoughts like that are like chewing sand. It's not fun, it's hard to stop once you start, and there are always lingering bits after you think you're done. It's a terrible analogy, I know, but that's how my brain works when it comes to spirituality, religion, and faith.

  And if that's the case, these other worlds are doing the same thing. When I think about how these Ascendant Tier One civilizations are literally pitting entire worlds against each other, mind body and soul, it's hard not to feel the weight of it.

  Enough of that. I decided to check out my new Architect interface.

  I brought up the Kobold Shieldbearer.

  The interface wasn't that complicated. On the left side was an image of the creature, and I had to admit it looked like the kobolds from every game I'd ever played. Sometimes they're rat like with tufts of fur; other times they're gross little dungeon mobs.

  But these kobolds weren't like that at all. They looked reptilian, with snouts, muscular tails, and solid builds. They were sturdy but short, only about waist high to me, and surprisingly they had feathers instead of hair. Not a full mane like that monster, but rows of small feathers running from their shoulders down the spine and partway along the tail. The feathers were colored, and their scales were shiny and refractive, almost like they reflected their own colors.

  That probably explained why the Rogue class description mentioned muted scales for stealth.

  On the right side of the interface was the same basic description I'd seen on my skill selection sheet. Underneath that were options for how to bring a kobold into this world.

  Right now the image showed it wearing nothing but a ragged loincloth--the default without assigned equipment. I opened the armor tab and found the same simple woven clothing we were wearing. Selecting it instantly put the outfit on the kobold's image. I tried the padded armor instead and realized we'd need to rethink that. Our armor was only padded bracers and shoulder pieces. It worked for us but looked ridiculous on the kobold, like a tiny Michelin man.

  They'd should probably start off with basic clothes instead.

  I could spawn them in nothing but the loincloth, but if they were powered by souls or life energy from Earth, they deserved more respect than that. They volunteered willingly, according to ARi. I remembered how it felt when the system first dropped me in naked, and yeah, no thanks.

  Below the armor options were other tabs I hadn't expected. The shield tab showed a long rectangular wicker shield, or at least it looked wicker at first. Probably made from reeds. Kyle had mentioned Persian spearmen using something similar. Even made of reeds it might as well have been oak, solid yet light. It had two vertical black stripes down the center, and I remembered Yumi's comment about using licorice berries as dye.

  When selected, the kobold now held one of these shields, and it looked massive on him, reaching from the ground to his shoulders. It'd be a bit small for me, but perfect for him.

  Excited I checked the spears tab. There were several options, some twice the kobold's height, others around three to four feet with weighted ends. None had obsidian spearheads anymore; every one had composite tips that looked deadly.

  I selected the short weighted spear. The system labeled it an Ar?ti. I'd have to see if the others knew how to pronounce that. I also added two light javelins, which appeared strapped to its back.

  I noticed another section, Cohort Cross Training. Curious I expanded the tab labeled Martial Training and stared at the list. Wrestling, jiu jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, judo? Seriously?

  I closed the window and looked over at my team. The girls were still chatting. Kyle and Tim were still by the fire. And I couldn't help wondering if I even knew these people. What was next, nunchucks? Great. I'm trapped on an alien world underground with Steven Seagal.

  I shook the thought off and reopened the window. The martial tab also listed fencing, swordsmanship, javelin throwing, and God help me, parkour.

  I checked the next tab, available research. There were weapon options for javelins, swords, and even bows. Some swords were thin rapiers like fencing blades; others were massive two handers, and one was a wickedly curved sickle sword labeled Egyptian khopesh.

  Yeah. We were researching those. An army of kobolds with miniature khopeshes would be awesome.

  Further down were crossbows, short bows, long bows, and even slingshots and wrist rockets.

  I dismissed the window only to find Tim standing near my cot, grinning.

  "My father was an archaeologist," he said. "I spent a lot of time on digs with him. My education was weird. That's why I got into computers and artificial intelligence. I spent most of my life looking at old dead stuff. My whole family expected me to follow in his footsteps, so I rebelled."

  I waved my hand and opened the interface again, showing him the martial training tab. He smiled wider. "Yeah, I might be responsible for a couple of those. I did some wrestling in primary school, and the fencing's all me. Secret hobby. I've got a lot of swords back home. And even though I didn't follow Dad's career, I'm a little obsessed with old ones. I took fencing all through school, even into university. I even won a couple of competitions. I also collected swords and practiced with them a lot."

  His grin stretched ear to ear.

  "Okay, that answers a few questions," I said. "But it sure as hell doesn't explain--"

  Tim cut me off. "It's Tanya. You didn't know? She's super into MMA. Featherweight, I think. I've even seen her fight."

  "That Tanya?" I glanced toward her. "As in sitting right there Tanya?"

  "Gavin, remember when this all started and she got upset in the break room? When they separated her from her sister? The professor told me she broke a Marine's nose."

  "What about the javelin throwing?" I asked.

  "Varsity track," Kyle said, walking over to join us. "Tim already told me he's crap with a bow, so he's not responsible for the archery tab. That's gotta be Yumi, right?"

  "I don't know," Kyle said. "Let's go find out."

  We walked over to the table where the girls were talking. "Hey Yumi, you know anything about archery?"

  "Oh yeah. Kyudo. Way of the bow. My grandmother raised me after my parents died, super traditional type. She took one look at me bouncing off the walls and decided I needed discipline. So she stuck me in Kyudo classes thinking all that Zen ceremony stuff would straighten me out."

  She rolled her eyes. "It's like this whole choreographed performance. Bow here, breathe there, hold this posture for exactly this long. I hated every second of the ritual crap. But the actual shooting? That part was awesome. Eventually ditched the tradition and built my own crossbow at home."

  "Does it look like this?" I asked, expanding the crossbow tab.

  "Hey, look at that!" she said. "ARi, can we make those?"

  "We might have to wait until we can produce some bronze," ARi replied, "but we could probably create a version using local resources."

  "Oh, that'd be sick! My crossbow back home shoots over one hundred fifty six meters per second, that's five hundred fifteen feet per second for all you Neanderthals," she said, smiling.

  Yumi turned to ARi. "Actually, I meant to ask, why's everything measured in feet and yards in the system?"

  "That's a simple answer," ARi said. "My original design was by the U.S. military, and the engineers who worked on that portion of my code didn't like doing conversions. I've long since evolved past that, but I guess some old habits stuck."

  "The point," I said, "is that I can add all this training to different versions of the kobolds. The Shieldbearers can take some martial arts. The Rogues can pick up sword training. But as soon as we start doing that, I bet I'll either unlock a new kobold variant or get a sword type specialization at the next level."

  "I'm not taking that bet," Kyle said.

  "In fact, I can almost guarantee it."

  "I know our original plan was to stay hidden as long as we could," I said, looking around at everyone. "But the longer we stick to that strategy, the more we might be shooting ourselves in the foot.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "For example, these cohorts. They get stronger the more they learn and the more experience they gain. It might not be a bad idea to spawn a few of them, say three, outfit them, and send them out hunting. The faster we can get them leveled up, the better."

  "That's a good strategy, Gavin," ARi said. "From what I understand about how this system works, if you spawn a Level One cohort and they gain enough experience to level up on their own, that level up belongs to them. You don't pay a penalty from your control points.

  "However," she added, "be aware the higher they level the more advanced they become. The smarter they get. Eventually we might start running into issues with that Command Presence skill."

  "Yeah, I was thinking about that too, Ari," I said, nodding. "But you know what? I bet they'd be fine for the first few levels, and that could make a huge difference.

  "The way it's worded though, I think we could make that whole process a lot smoother if we give them proper accommodations. You guys, I think it's time to start building above ground.

  "We do a little off schedule research, and jump right back on those miners. In the meantime we rebuild the utility constructs and send one out with Bishop so he can start ranking up too, along with a small squad of the kobold cohorts, the Shieldbearers. Let them help protect the construct.

  "We've got a ton of new territory we can harvest from now, so we should be able to spot if something big comes after them. If it's too large, something like that monster we killed before, we instruct them to flee. Even leave the construct behind if they have to."

  "Baryocheirus. That's what that creature was called," ARi said, pulling up the bestiary appendix.

  "Yeah, ARi, that's a mouthful. Let's call it a bary."

  "Whatever," she said.

  "Works for me."

  "Anyway," I continued, "I'm thinking we start gathering a heap of resources. But what I'd like to do, if ARi has the energy reserves for it, is create a big flat parking lot, basically. A huge area where we can start stacking supplies. Like those construction yards back home where they pile up all the metal, pipe, and materials before building something massive. What's that called again?"

  "You mean a staging area?" Kyle said. "And aren't you supposed to be the engineer?"

  "I'm not that kind of engineer."

  "That's funny, Gav," he shot back. "Your new class announcement said you're an Architect. Wouldn't that make you an expert on this sort of thing?"

  "I'm not that kind of architect either," I muttered. "Seriously though, let's stockpile a ton of supplies. We can take the stone and materials we gather and scale up some bricks. How heavy can we go before the utility constructs start struggling to move them?"

  "Honestly, I was looking at their specs," Yumi cut in. "That phase technology makes them way stronger than they'd be if they were built traditionally, like back on Earth. I bet they could move a little over half a ton if they had to."

  "That'd be pretty slow going though," I said, scratching my chin. "Maybe we go smaller. I'm thinking giant cinder block style. I want to build wall sections, but I want them to be hollow."

  Tim laughed, not even trying to hide it. "Looking to do a little cost cutting there, Gav?"

  "That's funny, real funny," I said. "No, I want them hollow because I'm gonna have ARi fill in the gaps and spaces inside the wall with solid stone, the hardest stuff she can source. When she absorbs material she can pretty much kick it back out anywhere in our territory in whatever shape she wants. What'd you call it, ARi? It was like filament for your 3D printer?"

  "Yeah, pretty much." She shrugged.

  "So we create these walls out of large cinder block style shapes," I continued. "We build hollow sections with them before ARi fills the walls solid. Twenty feet tall, seventy yards squared around the rock formation. And I want the walls slanted outward."

  "If we're gonna do that, Gav," Kyle said, "I could practice with my phase skill while we're at it. Dig a nice shallow moat around the areas we don't plan to occupy. Fill it with some sharp spiky stuff."

  "Kind of sounds like you're trying to build a castle or something," Tanya said.

  "Maybe at some point," I replied. "But castles were for keeping a whole population safe inside. Right now I'm trying to design the outer walls of a keep."

  "What about the cohorts?" Kyle asked. "Where are they gonna stay?"

  "Well," I said, "if our goal's to rank these guys up, our original cohorts at least, we should keep them here in the den for now. If we can keep them alive we'll carve out a space and give them their own quarters. I don't know exactly how smart they're gonna be, but I want to do everything I can to make them part of the team. Earn their trust, you know?"

  "I think that's a good idea," Tanya said. "It'll be a little creepy at first, but still a good idea."

  "When we're done using the staging area for the build project we'll turn it into a training yard," I continued. "We'll build a barracks inside the walls adjacent to it. Meanwhile Ari will finish whatever research she needs and we'll get the miner running again. We can put the collector right off the side of the staging area to gather materials for the wall."

  "This is a good plan, Gavin," ARi said. "But I think if we take a closer look there might be a few things here that could help us out."

  She waved her hand and a projection appeared at the end of the table against the wall, displaying her skill options.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION

  Congratulations, ARi!

  You have 3 unassigned skill points to spend. Please select one of the following:

  Soul-Binder 1.

  Links the Guide’s will directly to a chosen construct, allowing it to move and react as an extension of her body. Controlled units perform focused attacks with a higher chance to bypass natural armor. Grants +2 Control Points, +1 Research Slot, and +1 Manufacturing Slot.

  Research-Sequencing 1.

  Enables automated queuing of multiple research projects. When one task completes, the next begins automatically. Reduces total research time for queued tasks by 10 percent and grants +2 Research Slots.

  Fabrication-Integration 1.

  Unlocks automated fabrication routines and a single manufacturing queue. Reduces resource use for automated builds by 10 percent and allows fabrication to continue while the interface performs other duties. Grants +2 Manufacturing Slots.

  "Wow--has anybody else noticed that ARi's skill options seem a little OP?" Kyle asked.

  "OP?" ARi asked.

  "It means overpowered," Yumi chimed in.

  "They might seem stronger because of the extra emphasis on territory infrastructure bonuses," ARi said. "But remember the other AIs can't level up through combat like I can, not unless they have something that functions like a familiar. Normally they'd have to sit back and grind manufacturing and research. Honestly it'd be a super slow grind if I couldn't sync with a familiar."

  "Right we talked about that earlier. This could be a game changer." I said. "I don't know how much of a head start it's actually gonna give us though. I have a feeling the other teams will end up with specialization options that let them progress quickly too if they take them."

  "That being said," Yumi continued, "I think your best bang for the buck's Soulbinder. And I'm gonna be honest, it's a creepy name for a skill."

  "I like it," Tanya said. "It's mysterious."

  "Well mysterious or not," ARi cut in, "the fact that it gives two extra control points plus a research slot and a manufacturing slot makes it a no brainer. I'm gonna pick that one. It should let me be more effective with a familiar and maybe squeeze out a few more level ups before the difficulty scales."

  "Those other options are good too," she admitted. "Right now I have to manage the research slots individually and while I'm decent at multitasking, combat with a familiar takes all my attention. Being able to queue research or fabrication would be huge. That kind of automation can make a big difference. Also I don't know how much I'll be able to pay attention when we're outside our territory while I'm controlling a familiar."

  "Yeah," I said. "We should look for opportunities to add some automation, at least to research. If a long campaign drags on you don't want tasks finishing with nothing queued next."

  ARi waved her hand; her body started to glow as she shifted the projection to the next window.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION

  Congratulations, ARi!

  You have 2 unassigned skill points to spend. Please select one of the following:

  Wield-Master 1.

  Links the Guide’s control to a weapon-wielding construct, allowing it to fight as if guided by a trained combatant. Bound weapon attacks deal +25 percent damage and attack cadence improves by +15 percent. Controlled units can execute advanced weapon maneuvers including angled thrusts, pommel feints, and follow-through strikes that increase the chance to pierce or disarm. Grants +1 Control Point.

  Void-Reservoir 1.

  Increases Energy Reserve by +30 and passive regeneration by +20 percent. Reduces class ability energy costs by 10 percent while active. After learning this skill, Energy Reserve doubles each time the Guide gains a character level. Each subsequent upgrade doubles regeneration and cost reduction bonuses.

  Sentinel 1.

  Improves defensive coordination and durability of controlled units. Controlled constructs gain +12 percent damage resistance and reduced stagger from hits. While linked, Sentinel enables simple protective maneuvers--interpose and brace--that reduce area damage to nearby allied constructs. Grants improved control efficiency within owned territory, +25 Constitution to the Guide, and +3 Constitution to all party members.

  "Holy shit ARi. Does that Void-Reservoir skill have any kind of cap?"

  "Not that I can see Gavin."

  "Yeah that's the way to go. I can't tell you how much better I'd feel if you had that Sentinel skill though. That Constitution buff's massive."

  Yumi walked over and hugged ARi.

  "I'd feel better too if she had a massive Constitution like that," she said, squeezing ARi.

  "Yeah yeah. For the meantime I guess I'll keep playing fragile princess in the tower," ARi said. "And if things get too close I'll stab them in the face with Bishop."

  "Or break their neck," Tim chimed in.

  "That was brutal," Kyle winced.

  "It wasn't as effective as I thought it was gonna be," ARi said as she playfully pried Yumi off of her.

  "What are you talking about? It sounded like you snapped a tree in half," Tim said.

  "Well, not to get too gory, Tim, but I wasn't trying to break his neck. I was trying to remove his head," ARi replied.

  Everyone stopped and stared at her for a moment.

  "Just kidding?" ARi offered, smiling.

  "No, you're not," Tanya said.

  "Yeah no, I'm not. That thing pissed me off. I worked hard on that utility construct and it wrecked it."

  ARi selected Void Reservoir and her whole body glowed for a moment.

  "There we go. This'll help speed things up now that I don't have to constantly wait for things to recharge. Plus I got those extra research slots. All right, one more to go. Let's see what else the system has in store for me."

  ARi waved her hand and the last selection window snapped into view.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION

  Congratulations, ARi!

  You have 1 unassigned skill point to spend. Please select one of the following:

  Terrashift 1.

  Doubles passive territory expansion speed and increases each expansion increment by +25 yards. Improves control efficiency during expansion operations. Phased terrain returns 100 percent of its material value when rematerialized into raw resources.

  Harvest-Network 1.

  Enhances resource collection and logistics within owned territory. Increases collector yield by +15 percent, reduces deployment time by 20 percent, and unlocks one automated collector placement slot per mining construct.

  Echo 1.

  Grants the Guide the ability to copy one unique skill from a single party member and share it across the group. Once copied, all party members may use the skill as their own. The copied skill’s efficiency when used by the Guide scales with Cognitive Processing. +1 Cognitive Processing.

  Without saying a word ARi's body began to glow.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] NEW SKILL ACQUIRED

  You have acquired a new skill via Echo.

  You will retain access to this skill as long as the original party member from whom it was copied remains alive and in the party. If the skill is still possessed when you reach Level 10, it becomes permanently learned, and Echo may then be used again to copy a different ability.

  Quantum-Storage 1.

  Applies phase-space theory to compress matter into a stabilized quantum subspace for later retrieval. Items stored within remain in perfect stasis until withdrawn. Creates a persistent personal subspace inventory accessible through the system interface that remains active at all times and does not consume energy.

  Initial capacity: fifty slots or one hundred kilograms.

  Capacity and mass limits scale automatically with Intelligence and Willpower.

  "Wait," Kyle said, "so now everybody's got a magic bag of holding?"

  "Not everybody," ARi said, grinning. "My current Cognitive Processing's one hundred seven which means I multiply every factor of that skill by one hundred seven. That's five thousand three hundred fifty available inventory slots and a capacity of ten thousand seven hundred kilograms, twenty three thousand five hundred eighty seven point nine pounds, or about eleven point seven nine tons. I don't have a magic bag of holding. I've got a magic warehouse."

  If ARi's smile had been any bigger, the top of her head would've fallen off. She snapped her fingers and the crowded supplies, building materials, and debris that were taking up over half the den disappeared into nothing.

  "This of course doesn't mean we don't need the staging area outside for construction. However it gives me a lot more options for finished goods and materials we don't want lying out in the open."

  "ARi, with all these scaling abilities and no cap on the amount of power you can acquire, I... I just--" I started.

  ARi cut me off. In a voice so soft I wasn't sure we were meant to hear it, she whispered, "I will be a benevolent goddess." Her eyes snapped back up at us and she smiled.

  Thanks again for checking out The First Cradle. I've got other stories posted that you might enjoy as well. Feel free to check out my profile!

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