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Do What You Can (Worm x Celestial Forge V3) by Throwaway1971

Books » Private Rated: M, English, Sci-Fi, Words: 324k+, Favs: 238, Follows: 272, Published: Jun 9, 2024 Updated: Jun 10, 2024

20Chapter 4 - The Snotty-Boy Glow UP

A/N: So yeah, apparently the free Grammarly I was using has a word limit of 18,000 words. Prrreetttyyy interesting.

So I had to pick a better stopping point for it and settle for 17k words instead. I was hoping to get to the Super Soldier Serum and the building of the first T-Doll this chapter, but I suppose you'll all just have to suffer and wait until tomorrow. Considering I've been awake for over 24 hours at this point writing I'm going to go pass out for a few hours and then come back and finish this chapter off.

Trust me, I was super ampd to write, but when I saw the "Oops! Looks like you've exceeded the document size, Tee-hee!" message I wanted to scream. LOL But I guess some sleep wouldn't be amiss- I think I started slipping, but I don't know if it was bad or not. Let me know if it descends into unreadable gibberish will yah? My eyes see it as fine, but I've been wrong before (so has Grammarly).

[January 6th, 2011]

[Jason Wilke]

I woke up.

Well, it would be more accurate to say that I glowed up.

It was instant, really, the moment my eyes opened up I felt just how different my body was, and I instinctively knew just how much Subee had changed me since I went to sleep last night. A lot of that was due to the implant feeding me tons of information about my current physical state- everything in my body was linked together through the implant. If I broke, tore, or damaged something I wouldn't know that I was injured beyond pain, however, now I would know the exactly what the damage was and given a rough timeframe on when my new healing factor would repair the damage; if what the implant was telling me was true then most injuries would be self-correcting as my body now had a genetic memory as to what the state of my body should be- bones and things should realign as long as the damage wasn't too severe.

I could also now see color. I could see all the colors. I struggled with my Red/Green colorblindness since I was a boy, and had to compensate for differentiating them by telling apart the shades of gray- it was what allowed me to stay in the army as long as I did; when I was going in they were being very picky with who they accepted. So I spent a few hours every so often with the pre-made painter's sticks that had differing shades just so I could pass the in-processing tests. That and I managed to get one of the colorblindness tests that I'd failed previously at another civilian optometrist's office, so knowing the answers to the pages made all of the difference.

However, those days were far gone. I could see. I could see everything. My vision was stellar- easily three times sharper and clear, though it did fall short of my expectations; but I guessed that this is the genetic limit of the tools I currently had. I remember Gunny Buck talking about being able to read the fine print on paperwork from the opposite side of the room after his SPARTAN-IV augmentations, and while my sight was drastically improved, I was a good bit away from that.

I walked into the bathroom and I saw myself for the very first time; the hints of subcutaneous baby fat on my face that I hid with my beard were still there, which was annoying but I figured that there would be a reason for it. Just like there would be a reason for the fact that the fat on my gut was still present even though I was absolutely muscular as fuck. My volume or size didn't increase at all, and the fat that was under my skin was still present, but with the way my musculature changed it really stood out. My muscles were less bodybuilder and more like steel cables- they even had a texture to them that felt corded and ribbed.

I took a long, hot shower, taking time to run through my mind literally every single modification that Subee documented and downloaded into my implant. I was a little surprised that she added some sort of modified bio-lichen film to my lungs, but she stated in her notes that it greatly aided in aerobic and anaerobic respiration, could capture toxins and smoke, and synthesize them into harmless products that I could hawk up at a later time. It also protected me against drowning, though I wouldn't be able to breathe water, the lichen could synthesize enough oxygen to keep my brain going even after my body perished; extending any potential rescue party hours to save me instead of mere minutes.

The fat was kept on my body to serve as a caloric buffer- my body was incredibly enhanced now, but despite that my daily caloric intake was only about 40% higher due to how efficient my new body's design was; I was easily four times stronger than another man at my body weight, and my reflexes were five times faster due to the fact Subee completely redesigned my neurological systems along with everything else. The weird thing was that I wasn't experiencing any sort of slow-motion effect like I would have expected, but that was because my body and brain were in perfect (near-perfect, it was still meatware) synchronicity, so there was no jarring disconnect between what I was seeing and how my brain was processing the signals.

Subee's notes included an explanation that over the next few weeks I would continue to improve until the cellular replacement process had completed itself.

There was probably some sort of 'Ship of Theseus' dilemma that I could trip over, but honestly? I didn't really care about that shit. As long as my mind was my mind, then it didn't matter if the old body was gone. The experiences of Dr. Gero and the Dead Space Engineer were separate from mine- there was a wall between me and them, and that allowed me to gain their knowledge and experience without allowing them to color who I was. As long as that barrier was maintained then I wouldn't mind waking up in an objectively better, faster, stronger, sexier body.

Though I was disappointed that my cock and balls remained exceptionally average. I mean, sure, I understand that average means average, but if I was going to have a super-human body, then the carpets should match the drapes!

I utilized the functions of the implant to ping my resident Lifegiver and scheduled an appointment with my healthcare provider to get a dick upgrade. She sort of blew it off, stating that it was more than adequate for reproductive purposes. I insisted. Then she reminded me that the Ersk- Sufficiently Buoyant formula would more than likely solve those problems to begin with, and if I enhanced my baseline now then I might grow to be too large for females to accommodate.

It was a valid point.

Also, she was incredibly smug about the renaming of the formula, but honestly? I didn't really care- we were working on it together, but unlike her, I couldn't directly synthesize the formula molecule by molecule by 'hand' so to speak.

It was pretty neat though, being able to talk to my Hurgoks through the implant versus reading their sign language; they didn't so much speak through the link as there were impressions, ideas, and data. I could understand it though, so it wasn't much of a barrier.

I walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist and threw another few cups of rice into the pot so that I could start on the Huragok's breakfast while I re-heated the half of the steak I didn't eat last night in the kitchen's lone pan; while the food was re-heating I moved back into the bedroom and got dressed into some more modest work-related clothes- a simple blue t-shirt, some blue jeans, and my work boots. When the steak was hot again I cracked a half-dozen eggs into the pan and stirred them up, adding a splash of milk to make them nice and fluffy.

The yeasty meal for the Huragoks was put together again, though I cut the yeast in half and doubled the sugar- Enbee was happy to report that the colony that the three of them had ingested was performing wonderfully in aiding in the regulation of their gasses, but some additional microbes wouldn't go amiss; soon we would be able to cut out the yeast entirely once their floatation ballasts reached capacity- then they would be prepared to create more Huragoks.

I thought about possibly putting that on hold simply because I didn't have enough work for a bunch of 'Goks to do to keep them from getting bored, but Enbee assured me that everything would be fine; things would only get better with more Engineers. He did say that more Lifegivers would only bring complications, but I had a feeling that it was just because Subee was a touch snooty, but in a cute pink-gas-bag sort of way and wouldn't cause any problems. I could handle a little sass.

The stirring of the slop was monumentally easier this time around, and my forearms were only slightly sore instead of being borderline dead. I rang the mental breakfast bell and Enbee, Subee, and BB puttered into the kitchen with a trill of greetings that I responded to by giving the Engineers a gentle pat on the head while the pink Lifegiver stretched her neck out for a nose-to-nose boop. "Pllllbbtt!"

Enbee complained about her familiarity but she tutted and signed that her station as my primary caregiver gave her certain privileges as outlined by the Lifegiver Codex- a codex approved by the Librarian herself. If he had problems with that then he could float off into the stratosphere and pop.

Judging from the context I could only interpret that as an analog for 'go jump off a bridge' considering what a low-pressure environment like the upper atmosphere would do to his floatation ballasts.

BB though was content to ignore the byplay and eat his breakfast- he was super chill. I liked him.

I heard a knock on the backdoor just as I sat down with my plate, and I stood up from the chair that had been fixed sometime during the night and walked over to the door; I cracked it and saw Tiffany.

"Good morning, 'Auntie'," I smiled as I opened the door wide and admitted her inside, the old woman wearing a powder blue dress along with a hand-knitted coat that came down to her ankles.

"Heh, the truck started right up this morning, no problems whatsoever! The air conditioning and heater also work- did you fix them last night?" Tiffany stepped inside out of the chilly morning air and walked into the kitchen, the woman was somehow unsurprised at the sight of two more Huragoks, "What's the deal with the pink one?"

Subee raised a tentacle and gave her a little wave, which Tiffany returned with a bemused lilt on her lips.

"To answer your questions in order: Yes, Enbee tooted around your truck and fixed everything on it, and even improved it quite a bit; nothing that will stand out to the average mechanic if you went to go get it serviced, so you shouldn't have any worries on that front. Secondly, that is Sufficiently Buoyant, or 'Subee' for short. She is what is called a 'Lifegiver'," I walked around her and headed towards the kitchen counter, "Coffe? Tea?"

She shook her head, "No thanks, I already had some."

"Anyways, the purple ones are Engineers- they work on mechanical things and can deconstruct, understand, and repair virtually anything they get their tendrils on. The Lifegiver is just the organic version of an Engineer-" Subee chirped in indignation, as if I was suggesting that the Lifegiver line was merely an organic Engineer, "She refers to herself as an artisan, a sculptor, a steward, and a caretaker of all organic life. She has a bit of an ego, but that's something I can deal with; she does do good work."

The pink and white snakey head bobbed up and down, pleased with the description, meanwhile, Enbee spluttered and rolled his head in exasperation. Tiffany crossed her arms underneath her chest, "So she's a bit of a pretty princess that can do no wrong?"

The sarcasm was impossible to miss, but Huragoks did not care to understand it- Subee nodded her head happily at her words.

The princess quickly finished off her meal before she pooted around her progenitor's body, making sure to bump against him, and extended her tentacles out to the elderly woman. Tiffany arched an eyebrow but allowed herself to be pulled towards the couch where the Huragok sat her down and then pulled the lever to raise the legs and lower the back so that she was fully stretched out. "She going to heal me or something? Like Panacea?"

"I don't know who Panacea is, but yes, she wants to at least examine you," I said between bites of my steak and eggs, "I don't know if you want to be healed or not, made younger, stronger, etc, etc."

"Heh, that tickles a little bit," Tiffany muttered as she laid still and calmly let the tendrils feather over her body with her eyes closed, "Well, I never thought about it before. I'm old. I've lived a long time. Outlived my ex-husband and all three of my children; only got my granddaughter left now. My sister is still kicking, but it's pretty much the same for her as well. Don't got much to live for, if I'm being honest."

I felt my stomach dip a little bit at her words. Can't say I didn't feel the same before. Natural, I suppose.

"Been just living every day like I'm waiting to die." She huffed a little bit, "Sort of sad when you think about it, but it's not like it changes anything; you are born, you grow up, you grow old, and then you die. It's how it's always been and it's how it always will be; there is no changing that simple fact."

I felt the Forge spool up and latch onto a small star from the "Small Scale Mundane" constellation, but I shoved it off to the side so that I could pay attention to my elder's words.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 9.0060 - Nanomaterials Sieve - 100CP - Arpeggio of Blue Steel - Mundane Small Scale]

[Re-Forge Successful]

[Purchased: 200 CP Remaining]

"It's not like I don't want to be young and beautiful again, but at this point I've lived more years as a crone than I have as the gorgeous lass; I frankly don't know what I'd do if I'd woke up one morning and found myself young again," Her head moved from side to side as Subee's tendrils left her face, her eyes were still closed, "Other than cause you some troubles; there would be no explanation as to how I reverted again, and that? Well, I don't think I could do that to you- you've been a good young man from what I can tell, and I think I have your measure."

"We've only known each other like two days though- is that really enough time?"

Tiffany barked a small laugh, "Come on, you should know that your first impressions of people are more often than not right; you have a sixth sense as a person that can help you sniff out troublesome people- its only those that are really good at deceiving that can surprise you. If you meet someone and instantly hate them because they feel sleazy or untrustworthy then that's just how you feel. You have to try and suppress that on purpose, to look the other way when your instincts are telling you that the person you're talking to is trouble. Do you understand? If I'm just an old woman rambling then let me know, but I think I've lived long enough on this earth to know a thing or two."

"Well, I don't think you're 100% right, but you're certainly not wrong; there is always grey areas here and there, and sometimes your 'sixth sense', as you put it, is wrong, but at that point it's just arguing semantics." I polished off the remainder of my breakfast and gathered up the paper bowls before stacking them back up next to the sink- they always clean and repair their plates; so cute! "Though, if living longer isn't your plan, then maybe a small tune-up or something? Repair your joints, fix your bowels, maybe remove the tar and crap from your lungs? Just some quality of life improvements?"

"Heh, then I could enjoy smoking for the first time again," She wheezed in a chuckle, "Sure, why the hell not? I haven't taken a good shit in years now, and my arthritis makes moving around hard. You think you can do that, Pinkie?"

Subee didn't even speak as her feathered tendrils worked across Tiffany's body, and in ten seconds her limbs were withdrawn, and the old woman righted the couch chair before standing up. Her joints popped, and when she straightened herself out Subee's tendrils rose up and grasped her shoulders before bracing her other tendrils against her middle back; with a sharp tug Tiffany's spine was straightened out with a loud crack, and the hunch that I hadn't even paid attention to was straightened out. "Lord almighty!"

The slight bit of apprehension that had been on her face disappeared as she raised and lowered her hands and arms; her fingers opened and closed and she flexed her knees and hips. "Why, I feel twenty years younger! Nothing hurts anymore, and-! Do you mind if I use your restroom?"

"You are more than welcome to, Tiffany," Subee sent me a report about her colon; it had been on the verge of being impacted so she loosened everything up and injected a little bit of extra water to help get everything flowing again.

Thank you, Subee. That is exactly what I wanted to know about.

The pink Huragok preened at the sarcastic praise.

I finished washing the pot and pan and set them off to dry before I walked through the doorway into the workshop and moved into the storage area where a rectangle made of a lustrous blue metal sat; the box was about six inches deep, two and a half feet long and one foot wide. As the perk stated it was indeed a sieve- there were at least twenty different mesh layers that I could see, and if this did what I think it did then... it would likely solve a lot of my material problems; at least on the small scale. Nanomaterials were the catch-all term used for building the "Fog" ships- they took on the properties of whatever material was needed, and could essentially be slathered onto a spot where repairs were needed and it would mimic whatever was missing.

It could take on the properties of all known mundane materials to my knowledge, but whether it could accurately be used to the alloys the Forerunners used was beyond me. Or even the Star Wars materials for that matter. I would have to gather some to let the 'Goks take a look at it.

The only downside of this was that it required seawater or sand to work- specifically beach sand.

I thought about the logistics of traveling down to either of the beaches but discarded it- far too open and visible. I would probably be ignored for a good while, but I would eventually attract attention if I was observed pulling a pound of nanomaterials out of every scoop of sand or water. It would be best if I instead headed east, no doubt the other road would take me someplace isolated near the coast where I could skim the waters without any hassle.

The issue I had right now was cash- I needed cash for fuel, and-

I about damn near smacked the teeth into the back of my throat with how hard I facepalmed.

I turned my head and called out to Neutrally Buoyant over my shoulder as I flipped the sieve over and examined its underside. "Hey! Enbee!? Do you have plans for the UNSC's water to hydrogen power generator? I need to get one of these vehicle hulks up and running because I'm going to have to do a lot of driving around, and I don't have a lot of cash on hand for gasoline."

The UNSC had long since figured out how to create a machine that could take water, convert it to hydrogen, and then burn that hydrogen to create electricity, and do it with an output that was significantly higher than the power needed to separate the hydrogen from the water. There were many tales of marines dumping brackish or muddy water into the tanks of their Warthogs and they continued to keep chugging until they were able to be serviced by some very unhappy technicians; no doubt removing scum and dirt from the internals was a tiring and thankless job.

If I could get my hands on that then I could simply fill the truck's tank up with water!

He tweeted at me.

No, he did not, but he did have a Forerunner model that was incredibly dated that could be modified to accept being attached to the antiquated drive train on the F100 out behind the house.

Nice. The real question was did we have the raw materials to make it?

The answer to that question was no, we did not. Fuck. Okay, the nanomaterials should fix that, right? I could only hope.

"Okay, I'm going to experiment! First, I need a large tank-like backpack that I can use to store the nanomaterials in, then I'm going to go down to the beach or near the water and try and collect some of this stuff." I worked up a quick design in the implant of a paper-thin steel rectangle that could fit inside a backpack that would be fabricated from my current backpack and my duffle bag. Enbee and BB looked at the plans and they went back and forth between each other with proposed design changes and reinforcements to make sure the bag's wear and tear were kept to a minimum; Subee interjected a few times to add certain features like lumbar support and better cushioning for the shoulder and waist straps. Enbee was sullen at her propositions but relented when the Lifegiver explained that comfort and reduced fatigue was important.

By the time I walked out of the warehouse the completed bag was sitting right in front of me, complete with a large pocket to hold the sieve itself as well as an insulated steel lunchbox and two 1-liter water bottles; Subee was adamant that I cook a large steak and some eggs before I left so that I could keep up the nutritional intake required for my new cells to continue their rate of reproductive growth and replacement.

I, of course, listened to my super-duper-from-the-future physician as she wasn't pushing me to take all sorts of narcotic drugs instead of treating the root cause of my ailments; Subee actually had my best health in mind, and she was just the cutest little pootie to ever tootie!

"So," I murmured to Tiffany, who had just exited the bathroom with a relieved look on her face, as I placed the pan I just washed back onto the burner and pulled out two 12oz strip steaks, "What are your plans for the day, ma'am?"

"Well, I was thinking of just sitting around the house, but since my joints don't bother me anymore I think..." She paused as I threw some salt, pepper, and garlic powder on one side before seasoning the other, "I think I'll go for a nice walk. There is a little hiking trail about a half-mile down the road I used to go to all the time; some sun, fresh air, and the sounds of nature is something I'd like to experience again."

"That is actually pretty nice," I spoke softly as I moved about the kitchen, "Maybe I'll join you on your next walk?"

We settled into a companionable silence as I cooked.

The oil in the pan sizzled as I tossed the two steaks on and gave them a good sear on both sides before I dropped the temperature. In the pot I had some water boiling- I was going to hardboil my eggs this time since I already had them scrambled this morning. I pulled out a large plastic bowl and tossed in some ice cubes from the little freezer tray before filling it with some water.

The steaks were done in ten minutes, but the eggs took a fair bit longer; not that it mattered, the meat had to rest a little bit and cool off so that the juices would congeal just a touch- didn't want those succulent juices running away once I cut it open!

Actually...

"Hey, BB, are you doing anything right now?" A soft hoot came from the lab and the purple Engineer floated into the kitchen with a poot, "Could you cut these steaks up for me? 1-inch cubes, and when the eggs are done boiling could you remove the shells and place them in the water bath?"

He whistled happily as his tendrils touched the meat and they fell apart into perfect little bite-sized pieces that didn't leak a single drop of juice; I could only guess that he did some molecular bullshittery to make that happen. I dumped the meat into the metal lunchbox and sealed it shut with the clamps before leaving the kitchen and heading into my new bedroom to grab my basketball shorts and crocs; if I was going to find a small beach or wade into the water I certainly didn't want to wear my boots and jeans.

Also, yes, I did have crocs. They might be ugly as sin but they were great shower shoes to have when you shared the same shower with twenty other dudes all year round.

The Forge grew hot and it reached out for a star within the "Time" cluster, and while it didn't have enough charges to bring it in, I was able to glean a bit of information about the perk I missed out on.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 3.0250 - Into The Future - 400CP - Galactic Civilisations II - Time]

[NOT Purchased: Insufficient Balance: 300 CP]

It essentially allowed me to look at a technology that I wanted to develop and would give me more or less an idea as to how long the research/construction/testing/production would take until I had a completed end product. It would have been incredibly useful, though it felt a touch weak for a 400CP perk; but sometimes knowing how long something took to get up and running could be the difference between success and failure in a time crunch.

I pushed the perk out of my thoughts as I took care of a few odds and ends while I waited for the meal to finish. There was a brief discussion with Subee about the proposed changes to the Erskine formula, and after that, I transcribed the processes that Dr. Erskine and Dr. Anthony Stark made to the Nitrimine formula that got it to produce the Vita Radiation. With the organic components from the fertilizer and around the local flora and fauna, they should be able to create enough of the radiation-emitting RDX to give the Lifegiver a large enough sample for her to experiment with. There would be live animal tests on squirrels, rats, mice, and rabbits before she would even think to test her proposed changes on me, and while that made the animal lover in me feel some type of way, the animals in question were pest species for a reason. It wasn't like we would be testing on cats and dogs, or heaven forbid people- in the end, I valued my life over the lives of rats, so I allowed it.

Soon enough the eggs were ready and BB handed over the compacted cube of eggshells to Subee who disassembled it with great interest. I loaded up the pack and hefted it, taking a second to marvel at how light the thing was before cinching up the straps and grabbing my phone. I corraled the Huragoks back into the workshop after getting a bunch of scrap metal brought in for the Engineers to play with; there was a brief moment where I thought about cannibalizing the F-15E in the Hangar for parts, but that was quickly discarded.

I was going to keep the thing classic- Huragok tune-ups only- and then one day I would strap into a pilot suit and fly the mother fucker! Still, I didn't know how to pilot it, but I'm pretty certain the Engineers could fashion a flight manual complete with a ground school that I could take. In fact, while I was thinking about it, I asked Nugget to see if he couldn't procure me an F-15E tech manual as well as the coursework for a legitimate ground school. While Nugget wasn't an infiltration AI, he was more than capable of running rings around the cyber security of the current age, and while the Department of Defense is still considered important, they are the red-headed step-child of the red-headed stepchildren in this world where Capes reign supreme; I doubted their systems were up to snuff, at least when it came to For Official Use Only - FOUO low-classified stuff like a tech manual for a 26-year-old aircraft.

Hell, for all I knew there was a copy of it on the internet already- I know I kept a whole bookmark list for all of the Army Field and Technical Manuals that I needed to open up during my time.

I did ask them to make an interface for my implant though- no reason to not have that!

After ushering my floating kiddies in I closed up the lab and pocketed the key. I escorted Tiffany down to her trailer, and before I left she had me input her landline number for her telephone into my cell; I made a mental note to get her a cellphone, even if it was just a cheap burner so that she could have something to take with her on her walks- I wasn't about to let an old woman who helped me out (and didn't blow my face off) go out alone in the future if I could help it.

So with that, I set off at a brisk walk, with only the sounds of my pack rustling and the wildlife around me.

It took me less than half an hour to make it back to the junction on the outskirts of the city limits with a nice, easy jog that I felt like I could maintain for forever and a day- it would have been wonderful to have this suped-up body during my time in the Army; cardio was not my strong suit.

I took the left road and followed it to the natural conclusion about two miles down; it appeared to be a service road for some sort of access tunnel that was surrounded by tall fencing. What the tunnel was for or where it lead to I didn't know, but I made a note of it anyway; the fencing was extremely rusted and weathered, and the door itself looked like it was rusted shut. From what I could see there were no obvious signs of life anywhere, and the caked-on dust and dirt looked to be undisturbed. Whatever is here hasn't been seen in a long time, though the service road could have told me as much with the huge cracks and potholes that would preclude anything but a four-wheel-drive pick-up truck with some serious suspension from passing.

The underbrush around the station was thick and untamed, but the water was within sight, so I moved past the fencing, keeping a lookout for cameras, but the two cameras I did see were busted all to shit; one looked to have been shot out while the other had a tree fall on it across the fence and knocked it out of its housing. I worried my lip for a moment before I decided to walk around the building. The moment I cleared the backside of the concrete structure I saw a steel door with a rusted handle and a steel padlock that looked to have seen better days.

I slipped my backpack off and grabbed the bottom of the chainlink fencing before giving it a sharp tug; a few of the thin metal ties that kept the fence in place along the guidewire between two of the fenceposts snapped and I grinned broadly as I slipped under the gap I made and crawled onto the concrete pad. With a brief moment of exertion, I popped myself up onto my feet, though I misjudged the amount of strength I was putting into it and almost landed on my ass; only the chainlink that my hands caught behind me prevented me from hurting myself.

Note to self: Test newfound strength.

I pulled the key out of my pocket and strode up to the door and slipped it in before activating the key; I was able to pull the door open just enough to slip my fingers behind it before the latch and padlock prevented me from opening it any further. I put my boot up on the concrete and maneuvered myself into position so that I could pulllllllllllllllllllllllllll-.

The lock, despite its age and rust, remained strong, but the thin metal latch and the rivets holding it onto the steel doorframe was weak. The door was yanked open with a guttural sound, and I couldn't help but feel like a fucking caveman as I flexed my mighty muscles, "Rrraaaaggghhhh! I am too strong for that door to hold me back!"

Subee was hovering over the rare materials cache from the Star Wars universe, and she rolled her whole head 360 degrees at my antics; as if a 180-degree head roll wasn't enough to properly display her exasperation.

Hey.

I beat that door.

Don't take that away from me.

"Enbee or BB, come with me, please! I just need one of you!" Enbee was busy, but BB was only reconfiguring one of the Strike Eagle's P&W F100-PW-229 engines and thusly was free.

It still took him a whole minute to poot his way over to me, and I held out my hand which he took in his longest pair of tentacles so that I could pull him through. I shut the door and removed the key. BB was looking around at everything curiously, his six beady sensors taking in everything around us. "Okay buddy, I need you to undo the lock on the door so that I can see what this place is."

His tendrils had the door unlocked and opened before I even had the chance to finish my sentence. I raised my eyebrows but nodded as we opened the door fully and stepped inside. The air was damp and musty, but it appeared to be some sort of control room if the old computers and CRT displays were anything to go by. I focused my sight and looked at the control panel that had the most switches and knobs.

"Flood Control Station Panel - A panel with the controls needed to operate the flood prevention systems of South Brockton." It didn't give me much more than that, but I had a vague idea as to what this was and how it worked- it was connected to the sewer systems and had storm gates that allowed for excess water to flow back into the ocean.

The place was built in 1994 if the faded steel plaque next to the door was any indication, but obviously, it had been forgotten about. The only thing I could guess was the economic downturn and the dockworker riots that followed years later probably forced the city to pinch its purse strings and cut budgets. The flooding gates were probably just locked in the 'open' position and the place was closed up to be consigned to the dustbin. Regardless, there was a lot of electronic in here, and the 'Goks could get far more mileage out of it; no sense in it just sitting here. I pulled the door shut and opened it back up to the warehouse and ordered BB to deconstruct everything in the room and bring it inside while I investigated the back room.

The white light of the entry hall was more than enough to illuminate everything, and the second room was revealed to be a small breakroom of some kind with a small fridge, a microwave, a table, and some corkboards with a bunch of maps posted. A closer look at the maps showed the entire sewer system for the lower Brockton Bay area, along with the locations of the storm doors and various service rooms that dotted its length. On the board was a yellow sheet of college-ruled paper, and written in faded black ink I was just barely able to read what was written on it.

"Tommy, how about you check your fucking answering machine for once in your life? If you did you'd know that our whole office has been cut. Not that we didn't see this coming, but if you do read this then lock up the building and return to the BB Public Works office and hand over your keys.

I hope you updated your resume as I told you to because none of us are getting a transfer into the other departments.

~Dave."

The Forge spun up and made another attempt. Just like last time it was incredibly close but was one charge short. The perk was very large and complex enough that I didn't get enough of a feel for its full capabilities- just that it would have been an incredible force multiplier if I could have combined it with Dr. Gero's knowledge of bio-androids.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 27.0440 - My Experiments - 500CP - Lilo and Stitch - Crafting Biotech]

[NOT Purchased: Insufficient Balance: 400 CP]

I took a picture of the map and had Nugget clean it up and format it for an overlay so that I could access it through my implant- no doubt being able to move through the sewers would save me a lot of trouble if I needed to get through the city undetected; at least the parts of the sewers that weren't near the PRT building- they no doubt had all sorts of tinkertech sensors and shit. The same would probably be said for the Medhall building, but I doubted the ABB and Merchants had any sort of presence underground unless it was to smuggle captured women for their trafficking operation or to keep warm in the colder months; the sewers were often a fair bit warmer than ambient if you could stomach the smell.

I grabbed the folding table and the folding chairs and brought them into the entrance hall- no reason to not have more working surfaces, and it was a fair bit newer than the card table I was currently using in my double-wide.

I ended up helping BB move out a lot of the larger things because while he was quickly on his way to recovery, he hadn't quite managed to fill his ballasts enough to move the heavier things. His tendrils cut a clean line and I picked it up; the computers, monitors, control panels, and even the telephone on the wall were hefted by my muscular arms and moved inside. The two Engineers would sort it all out and deconstruct it into their base components for future building.

With the door to the warehouse secured shut I left the small concrete building and closed it behind me before slipping back under the fence. I made a mental note to have the two engineers come out during the night to tear down all of the fencing; this was a lot of free metal just rusting- would be a shame not to use it.

I used the pad to change out into my basketball shorts and crocs and moved into the woods towards the coastline. It wasn't a beach, instead, it was rockier with a number of trees hanging over the waters of the Atlantic ocean; the currents appeared to be pretty slow with how the leaves on the surface gently twirled as the waves lapped against the water-worn stones. With careful steps I moved down towards the water away from the trees, hopping from rock to rock until I got to a semi-flat stone that was large enough for me to sit down on with my pack beside me.

Wait, what was the temperature of the Atlantic ocean in January?

"40 degrees Farenheight, Portsmouth, NH," Nugget supplied to me through my implant, and he also tacked on that he found the tech manuals I was looking for in addition to the entirety of the New York School of Aviation's Ground School program. He started the download and I felt my brain tickle as words, pictures, and instructional videos were converted into Forerunner scripts that seamlessly began stitching the information into my brain. That was cool as shit. I quickly set him out to find more things that would be helpful- science and math textbooks from the collegiate level and on; he would cross-reference the texts for me and ensure that I was only getting pertinent information. While these would be mundane maths and sciences, at least they would give me a foundation upon which the future perks could build upon.

The tickle upgraded to a slight itch. Weird.

Regardless, I sat down on the rock and felt the cold Atlantic waters soak into my basketball shorts and underwear, and as it did so my testicles began a swift retreat. Yeah, this water was cold- 40 degrees my ass!

With the clasps on my pack undone I pulled out the sieve and bent over on my knees into the water, scooping up the brackish greenish, brownish water and bringing it back up to settle onto the rock. The water stayed there. It didn't move at all. That is... odd?

I picked the sieve up carefully and looked at the bottom, and there weren't any switches of anything so... do I need to shake it? I gave it a quick shake and sure enough, the water flowed out, and a small gasp left my lips as my lower body was covered in cold-ass seawater; I didn't stop shaking though, and instead used the discomfort to shake the fucking thing faster.

Within a few seconds, I heard the sound of shifting sands, and once the water had evacuated the sieve I was left with a steel-gray colored sand- the nanomaterials. I tilted the edge of the sieve into the steel container and tapped the corner of the box until it was empty.

Shit. This was going to take a long time, wasn't it?

The nanomaterial was quite dense- a single cup was indeed roughly about a pound in weight, which was in line with the description that the perk provided. The container itself could hold roughly 120 pounds of nanomaterial, and it took me about ten seconds to sift each pound and pour it into the pack; it was monotonous and incredibly boring, but since this was a building-related task, the "I Can Whip Something Up" perk kicked in and prevented me from growing bored or even exhausted. Even with my enhanced physiology, there was probably a limit to how many times I could feasibly sift through a thousand pounds of water or more, as each scoop of water was pretty hefty.

It took me 20 minutes to fill the pack up one time, and I went back and forth between the water and the door to dump my load off in the entrance hall- the 'Goks made sure the pile was gone by the time I returned, so I didn't feel too bad; if anything the Engineers were quite excited about the material with the experiments they'd been running. I told them to keep it to themselves until I got back- I just wanted to focus on getting the nanomaterials first; that and with the science and math textbooks being downloaded into my brain the ability to just veg out with this boring but engaging physical labor was quite nice. It was like the dopamine hit when you rolled a gacha in one of those cash-grab games; every time I dipped my sieve into the water and came up with valuable materials I was stoked.

Three hours and nine trips later I'd gathered over 1,200 pounds of nanomaterial, but rather than pack it up I decided to break for lunch. I grabbed my pack and sieve and moved back into the woods and looked for a nice mossy rock to sit on before I cracked open my lunchbox- I was a bit surprised to see the meat was still nice and warm, but I didn't marvel at it for too long and instead chose to dig in; the succulent fatty juices were perfectly captured by BB's monomolecular cuts- I should open up a restaurant and have some 'Goks run it. I'd make bank if they could serve up Prime grade steaks that tasted like this.

Funnily enough, I was able to not only finish up both steaks but the six hard-boiled eggs were polished off as well with little issue; if anything I felt like I could eat quite a bit more!

With my little half an hour break over I got back down to the waterside and began sifting again.

The sun went down around 6:30, and once it was completely gone by 7:00 PM I went back up to the door and opened the workshop up and let out the... six Hurgoks- there was another Lifegiver, and while they looked a touch drained they didn't look nearly as bad as Enbee did when he filled up BB and Subee. Subee and Alpha were the Lifegivers while Enbee, BB, Echo 1, and Echo 2 were the Engineers. I had them tone down their bioluminescence and come down with me to the water so that they could refill their ballasts with whatever gasses they could pull from the seawater.

Subee and Alpha were more than happy to cut down a few trees and make a little wooden platform for me down by the water so that I wouldn't have to sit on a cold, wet rock anymore. Sure, my feet dangled in the water, but it was a lot easier on my back to no longer be hunched over. I had the Engineers collect the fencing from around the building as well as the steel posts, but Subee insisted that they take some of its length and turn it into a fishing corral about fifty feet across; the Lifegiver was adamant that I gain additional nutrition from the fish that could be caught.

Honestly, I didn't disagree with her, as I knew that my caloric requirements would only grow higher the more my body changed, and if we could supplement that with free fish then why would I spend money? It wasn't as if the Lifegivers couldn't pull anything harmful out of the meat so... I let them do it. The fencing was deconstructed and then put back together to mimic those fishing traps, and the housing was kept a neutral color that was still visible to fish with pretty clear entrances and exits; Sufficiently Buoyant modified a small tree to grow underneath the water and glow lightly enough so that it would attract fish- it even had little silver wrigglers that flowed in the motion of the ocean.

A net was crafted from the steel that could be pulled up by a rope and pully attached to a tree they had manipulated to branch out over the water, and then I could come back every couple of days to check on the catches; any fish I caught could be given to Subee. She and the other Hurgok Lifegiver, Alpha, chatted about the different ways they could modify the fish to grow larger while still keeping their caloric requirements very low- if they did that then they could maximize the amount of meat I could eat!

They were so cute!

I squealed internally as I got back to shifting nanomaterial from the water while Echo 2 held my flashlight up to provide me with some light; with my new eyes I didn't need much- just a candle's worth was able to let me see pretty clearly into the gloomy waters of the Atlantic.

I worked well into the evening, only stopping at 10 PM because I'd essentially worked for nine and a half hours straight and gathered just shy of 3,500 pounds of nanomaterials. There was probably some loss here and there as I poured from the sieve to the pack, but that was negligible. I walked up to the pad, now free of anything of worth except for the building itself, and ushered all of my 'Goks back inside- though not before they collected plenty of materials pulled from the soil, surrounding rocks, and the flora and fauna; one of the Engineers had caught a large female deer, though how I don't know. Maybe they snuck up on them while they slept and didn't bolt because they couldn't hear them floating along?

It didn't matter to me much- whatever reason they were grabbing the animal I couldn't fathom, but it was for a purpose, of that I am certain.

I set the pack in the entrance hall with one last haul of nanomaterials before I shut it up and resumed my journey back to the house.

Though this time I timed myself and had Nugget track my distance because I wanted to hoof it back as quickly as I could.

I ended up running 7.789 miles in just under 21 minutes. Holy shit, that was well under world record times, and that was with the multiple hills and while I was wearing blue jeans and work boots! Granted, Captain America was purported to run a mile in just under a minute, but he had the Erskine formula backing him and I only had my budding Promethean-Human biology along with Subee's work! If I had the proper attire, good running shoes, and level ground I probably could have squeaked out a sub-19 minute time.

Considering how late it was at night I didn't bother letting Tiffany know that I was back, and instead changed out of my clothes and took a shower- I would have thrown them into the laundry, but Alpha was more than happy to clean my clothes- she really was a sweetheart; much less haughty than Subee, but I wouldn't tell my first Best Gurl that because her little bits of smug were part of her charm.

I sat down on the couch and pulled out my phone just in time to feel the Forge reach out and slip just before it could grasp onto one of the big stars in the "Toolkits" constellation.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 5.0370 - Proto-Tool - 600CP - Ben 10 0.1 - Toolkit Mundane]

[NOT Purchased: Insufficient Balance: 500 CP]

The phone in my hand creaked a little bit as I felt the information ping off my Core as the star slipped away. The tool that could become any tool or weapon I could think of... as long as it was technological, and I missed it by a single measly charge. My head flattened itself into the head cushion and I let out a groan of disappointment. That would have solved a lot of problems, or at least it would have helped me be more involved in solving my problems; at the current rate, my 'Goks would be building everything for me, which sucked.

Ugh, listen to me bitch about my 1st world tinker problems; most tinkers would probably tell me to go die in a fire.

No longer feeling content to veg on the couch for a little while I stood up and walked into the lab, through the storehouse where Beskar steel lined the shelves in neat little stacks of ingots and-

I stopped. Wait a second.

My feet carried me along the stand-alone shelving units, and my eyes tracked over rows upon rows of differing materials.

[Phrik (Replica): A nearly indestructible metal that is very dense but brittle if exposed to forces that can damage it- nearly impossible to forge. Used in manufacturing, weapons, and armor creation.]

[Beskar Steel: A nearly indestructible metal that is denser than durasteel and is malleable- can be forged through a high-temperature process. Used in manufacturing, weapons, and armor creation.]

[Cortosis: A fibrous material that is capable of transmitting massive amounts of energy without damage, but it is extremely brittle without a proper binding agent. Used in manufacturing and armor creation.]

[Ultrachrome: A super-reflective alloy that is on par with Cortosis for its ability to transmit massive amounts of energy without damage- while more malleable than Cortosis, it absorbs the energy and spreads it throughout the entire surface. Used in manufacturing, weapons, armor, and starship armor.

[Krayt Dragon Hide: A leather material that is incredibly durable for an organic compound- extremely tough for its lightweight and flexible if treated properly. Can also be treated to be incredibly supple. Used in manufacturing, armor creation, and luxury products.]

[Corusa Gem (Replica): A legendarily hard mineral that is famed for its beauty and is virtually indestructible as long as the Shatterpoint is not damaged. Used in mining, manufacturing, and luxury products.]

There was a half-dozen other things but they had only been replicated a few times. This was a huge step up from just the measly 10kg that the Forge had given me. Just the Corusca Gems alone would net me billions of credits on the galactic market- though it was a shame I didn't have access to it.

Then again, if I put all of these gems onto the market I'd probably crash the economy.

I picked up a gem and held it in my hand, giving it a firm squeeze as I watched the light shine like a nebula within its confines. How they Hurgoks managed to replicate the conditions of a super-massive gas giant I'll never know but-

Enbee beeped at me. No. These gems are not real Corusca... they are the best approximation that the Engineers could make of the materials- if they had the ability to manipulate a single atom at a time rather than just the molecules with their tendrils then they could place the various minerals into the exact configuration without the need for extreme pressures.

I compared one of the fake gems to one of the real deals that was sitting in a steel container on the shelf where the "originals" were stored and found that I couldn't tell the difference... though the true gem did seem to shine just a touch brighter on the light.

The Phrik replica was also the best the Hurgok could do- whatever the forging process for this metal was they could only match it by 78.7777% of the original material provided. Considering it was twice as durable as Tungsten with only 30% more weight by volume I'd say that their attempts to recreate it were quite successful. The temperatures needed to get all of the atoms to play nice were probably insanely high- BB supplied that the replica Phrik could be forged down and condensed at an estimated 5,500 C. That was... doable?

Granted, we didn't need whole blocks of Phrik, just enough of it to make armor plating, now Phrik-79 could be used for that easily.

Enbee tweeted at me to continue on my journey over, and thus with a heavy heart I left the massive stockpile of rare materials and ambled over to the massive pile of nanomaterials where all of the Engineers were gathered. They all looked at me with their beady eyes and parted for me to see a one-inch square block of dark grey nanomaterials get touched to a small bead of what... looked to be gold? Enbee confirmed that this was gold salvaged from one of the circuit boards- a tenth of a gram- and the nanomaterial block rippled before it changed... into a one square inch block of gold!

"Holy shit!" I laughed out as I grabbed Enbee by his squishy body and began to dance around with him, a small toot escaping his sacks each time I twisted with him. I planted a kiss right on his snakey forehead. "Brilliant, just fucking brilliant!"

I'd seen the replicated rare materials, but to see the nanomaterials mimic something so seamlessly was something else. Enbee sent me a graphic that showcased the nanomaterials' transition from whatever the hell it was to gold- small wormholes opened up and the atomic structure of the material changed with it- protons and neutrons were pulled and electrons were added before the process was completed with the closure of the wormholes. "Can't it be replicated?"

"Pllbbbtttt. Plbbttt, pllllllt, pppllbbbttt." He sounded a bit morose- not with the technology we have available; according to him, the Forerunners had a lot of advancement, but straight up matter conversion was not on that list. Hard light and Matter Transference with things like teleportation, but not conversion. This phenomenon was completely fiat backed by the Forge, and it was unique to whatever bullshit physics belonged to the universe that contained the Arpeggio of Blue Steel.

It sucked but it was understandable that even the Hurgok had their limits. "Don't worry buddy, even if you guys can't replicate this crazy-ass feat of science right now, I still love you. Each and every one of you. Mwah."

I gave the four Engineers a big kiss right on their snoots and was immediately set upon by Subee who believe that all of the kisses were reserved for her and her alone.

To placate her and make sure she wasn't insufferable for Enbee, I gave her two kisses. She preened at having received twice as many kisses as Enbee did, but her progenitor knew that the value of a kiss was nebulous and accepted the fact that she would try to rub his nose in it.

I gave them some instructions to have the majority of the nanomaterials be converted into Beskar, if only because it would be the best metal to use for the Auto-Factory- they had tested it by using it to build a Hydrogen energy converter out of the metal to have it installed in the old F100 out front. They would tool around with it while I was asleep, but I gave them instructions to make sure it at least outwardly appeared normal; it could have things like heating and A/C installed, as well as a radio, and other little gadgets as long as it was hidden away from view.

The vehicles were up on cinderblocks and would still need tires though...

Echo 2 waggled a tendril as he volunteered, the Hurgok grabbing a small scoop of nanomaterials and decided he would poot down to Tiffany's car to gain a replica of the material. Before he left though, I had them create a black sheet that would cover his slightly glowing body; the moon wasn't out thankfully, but even if it was almost midnight I didn't want him getting discovered.

I would have done it myself, but Subee and Alpha dragged me over to "their corner" of the Hangar where they set up a bunch of operating tables complete with restraints. On one of the tables sat a glass tank filled with brackish water that looked to have a few large fish swimming in it. On the other tables were a variety of woodland creatures that I hadn't seen them gather at all. Granted I didn't keep tabs on them at all as I was busy sifting nanomaterials out of the ether with the sieve, so they might have gotten them when I wasn't looking.

It wasn't one deer, no, it was three deer, a large shaggy dog, several rabbits, rats, a singular fox, and was that... a bobcat?

"And these are all for the creation of new Huragoks?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Plbttt." Subee rolled her head while Alpha started signing rapidly, her words and the meanings behind them coming in twice with the implant. They could use the nanomaterials to create more Huragoks without needing the organic components anymore- no, these animals were for my future T-Dolls.

"Why for the T-Dolls?" I asked confusedly, and I opened up the complete catalog of T-Dolls I could make and sure enough, there were T-Dolls with animal ears. I hadn't seen much of the Girls Frontline franchise, but I knew that it was similar to a few of the other "Cute Girls x Insert Thing Here" genres- you had ship girls, gun girls, and I think tank girls too? My experience with GFL boiled down to those doujins.

You know.

Those doujins.

Wink.

"Can we use the nanomaterials to replicate the Stockpile we got?" I murmured, and Subee gave me an affirmative trill; the conversion was not that great, with the nanomaterials losing 40% of their perceived value if converting towards Ammo, Parts, Rations, and Manpower. The Engineers wracked their brains as to why ammunition and rations were somehow part of a formula to build an android like a T-Doll, and they couldn't for the life of them figure out how something like manpower could be stockpiled in a physical format. Regardless, I would only gain 60 of any one of those resources per pound of nanomaterials, which in their mind wasn't nearly as valuable as the 1:1 ratio that nanomaterials had with Beskar, Ultrachrome, Cortosis, or even the Krayt dragon hide.

They felt that they could build the T-Dolls from the ground up without the ammunition, rations, and manpower, but I knew within my very bones that wasn't the case. Whatever scientific conceptual bullshit surrounded the process of creating a T-Doll was, all four of those resources would be key. I could try to find a way around it, but T-Dolls weren't just mindless machines, they were sentient, they had (some) rights, they got paid, they got vacation time, they got bored, and the only thing that really separated them from people was the fact that if they wanted to retire then all of the combat data was scrubbed and they were sent on their merry way to choose a civilian career field to enter.

I was knocked out of my musings at the Forge finally caught something, and it was a big one.

[Attempted Re-Forge: 8.0510 - Magic Research Facility - 600CP - The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want A Fourth Time - Facilities Magical]

[Re-Forge Successful]

[Purchased: 0 CP Remaining]

The Hangar rumbled and I felt the ground shake as the Huragoks started wriggling their tentacles around in apprehension. "Don't worry, everyone! It's a new addition to the warehouse!"

My steps were quick as I moved away from the corner area where the Lifegivers had set up shop and back into the storage area of the warehouse, and just before the storage met the Entrance Hall was a large metallic door. It looked like something out of any science fiction setting- it was four meters wide and opened up from top to bottom like a big toothy maw. I stepped in front of the doors and a laser shot out of the small red orb that had been embedded at the top of the bulkhead that scanned me from top to bottom. "Match confirmed. Welcome, Jason Wilke, Administrator of the Higher Calling Magical Research Facility."

My jaw dropped and I stepped forward as the door opened up, and walked through into a large seating area with plain white walls that had a beige strip around it and some ergonomic-looking bench seating. In the corner of the area was what appeared to be a quartet of vending machines and four large water coolers.

I heard a squeak of indignation and I turned around to see the laser slip over Subee, and the metallic droning voice spoke out. "Match confirmed. Welcome, Sufficiently Buoyant, Companion of the Administrator. Notice: You have visitor access only."

Subee trilled and wriggled her tendrils and tentacles, but surprisingly enough the machine voice responded. "You have visitor access only. If you believe that your access is improper, then please petition the Facility Administrator to have your permissions elevated."

I cleared my throat. "Ahem. Ah, System? Would you please give my Huragoks access enough to follow me to the Administrative offices?"

"Affirmative. System hears and complies. All Companions have temporary Visitor-Black permissions." The voice droned out, "These permissions will expire in three hours."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, "More than enough time, I suppose. Alright everyone, please follow me. We need to get to my office. System, can you guide me?"

"Affirmative. Please follow the illuminated line on the floor."

Subee huffed and crossed her tentacles as the rest of my five Huragoks followed me throughout the hallways. There were a variety of doors that had different nomenclatures along with levels of access.

"Earth Magic Lab - Level Blue Access Required."

"Fire Magic Lab - Level Blue Access Required."

"Water Magic Lab - Level Blue Access Required."

It went on to include labs for wind, life, and space magic, but after that, the rooms didn't have a specific element attached to them and instead had "Rune Lab", "Enchantment Lab", and "Healing Lab" among a few others.

Other labs were unnamed, so in my mind, they were probably empty and waiting for me to obtain more magics through the Celestial Forge- the lab access level rose from Blue to Green, to Red, and finally, we reached the portion of the facility that required Black level access- the Offices of the facility Administrator and... death magic?

My eyebrow arched up as the thick bulkhead into the Level Black portion of the facility included an even larger, thicker bulkhead with the words "Death Magic - Level Black Access Required" written in thick white print on the grey concrete walls surrounding it.

I didn't know what was behind that bulkhead, but I wouldn't be approaching it soon- that sounded like some crazy ass shit. I moved right and down the hallway that went in the opposite direction and came to a halt in front of a bulkhead with a finely presented wooden door that appeared to be made from cherry wood with a golden handle on it. Another laser popped out of the wall and scanned me. "Welcome home, Facility Administrator Jason Wilke."

A wince crossed my features as I walked through the door with the Huragoks trailing behind me, "System. Is there any way we can change your voice? It is very grating."

"All System programs and protocols can be reviewed at your console, Administrator."

I moved around the opulent and spacious office while dragging Enbee behind me and sat behind the console while the Hurgok plugged his tendril into the computer interface; as soon as he jacked in I felt the interface flow into my implant.

"Alright, let's do some remodeling with the system, Enbee."

[One Week Later]

[January 13th, 2011]

I sat down in the Runic Studies laboratory with the 50 Runes that I had obtained from the "You Runed Everything" perk. Four large, thick leather-bound journals had accompanied the set, written by one Arch Enchanter Telmister Donmaggios the III, and it was in those journals that I found my introduction to the Runic crafting of Pre-Skyrim Elder Scrolls.

To be brutally honest, I really preferred being able to just plop down a soul gem and an item and slap on an enchantment- there were plenty of petty souls that I could get my hands on in the forms of fish and the like, but after critically thinking about it the system here did have a major advantage in that it didn't require soul gems to function.

Sure, some enchantments required soul gems to refuel them, but to get the enchantment put on in the first place? No soul gem required.

I split my time between studying the Runes and going down to the water to collect fish to supplement my ever-growing appetite and sieve out more nanomaterials from the water.

I was able to collect almost four thousand pounds per day while still dedicating six hours to studying the runes, and it had gotten to the point where I had 7,400 in each of the T-Doll resources and now we were running out of space in the storage area from all of the Beskar and other precious resources we were copying. We were now setting up neatly constructed piles of materials in the Hangar closest to the door because it needed to be close enough to the Auto-Factory for it to be fed into; even with four Engineers the bois would be hard-pressed to out-rate the production capacity of the upgraded production line- it was one of the few projects where I actually got to contribute with my knowledge of engineering and robotics coming into play, though I still didn't get to turn any wrenches because it simply was inefficient for me to do so.

So instead... I played the glorified nanomaterial collector and studied Runes.

I did not let the Hurgoks touch any of the magical sensors in any of the labs because they weren't magically inclined in the slightest; I ran a few tests with Enbee and I had to calibrate a piece of equipment three different times because each time he took this small scanner apart and put it back together it didn't want to scan right at all. I had him put it back in its original, non-streamlined configuration and followed the calibration steps in the manual... and it started working perfectly again with the test samples of various manas suspended in some sort of glass capsule.

I banned the 'Goks from doing anything more than upgrading and maintaining the mundane things in the labs- the lights, non-magical filters, the vending and coffee machines, and the lone bathroom that I used while I was researching.

Also, it turned out the Huragoks weren't well versed in thinking abstractly. They dealt in absolutes- "I know 'X' is true because I observed it to be true over thousands upon thousands of years".

"I do not know that 'X' is true, but if I wave my arms around, speak funny words, and believe it to be true, then it will be true," just blows their little brilliant minds up.

During my studying with Runic theory, I scanned the magical journals into the magical paper scanner, and after some serious magical scanner analysis, it was revealed that entire portions of the journals were hiding content behind certain illusory barriers that would remove themselves once I reached a pre-defined step in my journey. The magical supercomputers had done the hard work and finagled a way around the locks and revealed the content that was hidden.

It was strange because I thought the blank pages that I had seen when I perused through them were just to denote the end of a particular section, or that maybe he left some space in case he had more ideas to write on a particular subject.

He wasn't my sensei or anything, but he really pulled some mystical sensei bullshit with that little trick; then again though, I should have expected something like that- what self-respecting master of the arcane arts just gives away all of their knowledge without making their students work for it?

No one, that's who.

I was surprised to feel the first charge build-up since I started my week of material gathering, and the Forge reached out, but with the single charge I had, I couldn't even tell what Perk it was outside of the fact that it was in the "Knowledge and Skills Mundane" constellation.

[Remaining: 100 CP]

I shook my head and focused once more.

With the four journals fully opened to me, I was able to make some headway in my studies. The first journal was all about the history of this method, how the method worked, why it worked, and what was needed to be a successful enchanter. It also included step-by-step instructions on how to enchant items, and how to disenchant items to reclaim a Glyph that could later be broken down into its constituent Runes.

The second journal was all about the "Essence Runes" that determined the attribute or bonus that would be conferred onto the object and gave insights into how to apply the metaphysical meanings behind the definitions. The third journal delved into the "Aspect Runes" which determined the overall quality of the Glyph that could be constructed with the runes used. The final journal was the second-thickest of the four journals, as it looked into the twenty-eight runes that governed what quality of object could handle which potency of Glyphs.

Once the journals were unlocked and digitized I was able to download them into my implant and that sped up my learning process by leaps and bounds- without needing to flip between books and crossreference them I could put my focus on where it needed to be: deciphering the metaphysical meanings behind the runes.

Much like I would imagine how learning a Dragon Shout would be like, the translation of the Rune meant not just one thing, but many things- you needed to completely understand the physical and metaphysical contexts behind the definitions to advance. A lot of that was spent in a sort of pseudo-meditation where I ended up asking myself questions along the lines of "what does it mean to develop something" when ruminating on the nature of the Trifling "Jode" Potency rune.

There were some "gimmies" from the Forge that made it a little bit easier to push me in the right direction when it came to enchanting equipment- when I placed an object on the enchanting table it would automatically gauge the quality of the object and give me a 'level' that would be used in determining the Potency of Rune required. I tested this with some mundane items like a steak knife from Tiffany's kitchen, and it had been a Level 5 item, which was weird but I guess even if it was a shitty steak knife the fact it was made from decent stainless steel elevated it up in the eyes of the Elder Scrolls ranking system.

The system stuttered a little bit when I placed down a simple gold ring made by Enbee.

It was molecularly perfect in its build- flawlessly crafted with great care, and it showed it- the enchantment system rated it as a "Champion 3200" ranked item, which out of a "Champion 3600" ranked scale meant that it was indeed above Masterwork quality and judged as such despite being made in .7998 seconds by my floating buddy. The Engineer had been put off that it wasn't at the maximum allowed by the system, but learning that the coveted CR 3600 rank was reserved for equipment made by the deities of the ESO universe mollified him.

It also didn't help that the strongest enchantments only went up to CR 1600 rank, so the quality of the object vastly outstripped the enchantments the system had available for me to use.

Regardless it meant that I could attach my shitty enchantment to my 3200 Masterwork simple gold ring and bask in the greatness that was my Trifeling Rune of Fire Resistance, which gave whoever wore it 7% resistance to flames both mundane and magical.

Tremble before my might!

Though, to be fair to myself that was five days ago- these days I was no longer 'Trifling', but instead 'Moderate' in my enchanting abilities.

However, where I made the most progress in my studies was when I utilized the rituals in the journal to break down the runes themselves and study them- unraveling them put me into some sort of weird trance where I could taste the colors of the rainbow and gained insight into just how many ways you could define Pojora, or "Supplement". The trances never lasted long, and the more I did them the less I seemed to get out of them, but I still tried to do one ritual per day; despite being magically high as a kite I was functional enough to sit down by the water on the dock and scoop nanomaterials out of the water and put them into a pack.

That's what you would call a pro-gamer move in time management.

Still, once I learned what the enchantments did I mainly focused on a small handful of recipes:

Armor:

- Glyph of Health

Weapons:

- Glyph of Absorb Health (Deals magic damage, recovers health)

- Glyph of Crushing (Reduces Target's Armor by X for Y)

- Glyph of Decrease Health (Deals Unresistable Damage)

Accessories:

- Glyph of Decreased Physical Harm (Armor)

- Glyph of Shock Resistance

- Glyph of Fire Resistance

- Glyph of Frost Resistance

- Glyph of Poison Resistance

My reasoning was thus: I would be working to take down most gangers non-lethally, and with that in mind boosting the survivability of myself and my T-Dolls was paramount; they would already be incredibly lethal against most Cape threats barring the likes of Lung, Kaiser, and Hookwolf. I did have the weapon runes be targeted at healing, reducing armor, and dealing damage that bypassed a person's resistances, so hopefully, if we had to go lethal then we could do so effectively.

Though with the limitation of only one enchantment per weapon the T-Dolls would have to carry two around- one for non-lethal engagements and the other for lethal ones.

So, with that in mind, my whole week was spent deciphering the runes needed to make all of those things happen: Oko (Health), Deteri (Crushing), Okoma (Vitality Reduction), Taderi (Reduction of Physical Harm), Dekeipa (Frost), Kuoko (Poison), Meip (Shock), and Rakeipa (Fire).

I rubbed my eyes as I sat down and glared at the small pile of unenchanted golden rings sitting next to me on my right while a much larger pile of enchanted rings was to my left. Even with the perks bolstering me I had been at this for a long while now because I felt I was very close to another breakthrough- I was currently stuck at the 'Moderate' level of my Potency runes, but just a little more and I should be able to crack into the 'Average' tier.

It was 2:30 in the morning and I was tired despite my improving physiology- I only needed five hours of sleep each night now, and within another week, maybe a week and a couple of days my new Promethean upgrade would be completed and that would drop down to three and a half hours.

Just because I couldn't get bored or burnt out didn't mean that this didn't get old after a while. Still, I carried on regardless because to say that Glyph enchanted equipment would be a force multiplier was an understatement. For example, the Splendid Glyphs made with the Legendary Aspect Runes for Fire Resistance could magically reduce fire damage by 99.7%! That would outright nullify Lung's fire and reduce his threat level to myself and my girls greatly. As it was right now with my Fair Aspect Rune with a Moderate Glyph the best I could manage is a 24.5% reduction from fire damage, which while still significant, didn't mean much when the escalating brute could burn hot enough to melt sand- that shit melted at 3,000 degrees C!

If it was applied to the Armor enchantment just a single item could reduce all physical damage by 41% with a Splendid Glyph that had a Legendary Potency Rune.

There was no doubt that these would be game-changers, and I needed to get them up and running because once I brought these T-Dolls into the world they were my responsibility, and as their Commander, getting them the best equipment I possibly could was my duty.

I sighed a picked up my inscription tool, which was just an ergonomic metal stick that had been sculpted by Enbee to best fit my hand- it was tipped with a teeny-tiny Corusca gem replica, so this fucker would scratch anything.

Deciding to change tack, I pulled up the mental image of Taderi, which looked like three lines with an extended line across the top that went left and had an angled dash above it on the right, and I super-imposed it in my vision over the ring. I drew a triangle with squared-off edges before carefully etching the rune in the direct center of it; the rune on the ring flared yellow, and from the shelving unit on the wall, the glowing Taderi lifted off of its stand and hovered over to the ring before sinking into the golden band. Success.

The next step was the Aspect, and the best I could utilize at this juncture was Jejota, a green-colored rune that would give me a 'Fine' enchantment potency- this rune looked like a T next to an angled 'Pi' symbol. I drew a circle and inscribed the rune inside it, making sure to connect the Essence and Aspect runes with a clearly defined line; just like the previous rune, this symbol flashed green, and the Jejota rune lifted off from its stand on the shelf to hover over the workbench before settling down into the ring and glowing. After the Jejota runed glowed the Taderi rune glowed soon after, indicating that both of them had been conjoined properly.

The last rune was the Potency rune, was Pojode, and it looked like a sideways 'S' that intersected a little bit on the first 'curve'; it was made up of two strokes, not one. I learned that the hard way. This rune was what bound the Essence and Aspect runes together, and in doing so created a metaphysical requirement for object quality that must exceed its threshold to be applied safely; if the object was of poorer quality than the Potency then the object would be destroyed- with explosive results.

Working with rings was tricky because you had to loop the inscriptions around the front and backsides of the bands, but with my improved physique and motor control it was barely a challenge- this was made even easier by the fact I had the rune in an overlay in my vision through my implant that followed the curvature of the ring perfectly; all I had to do was trace the rune onto the surface and activate it, and the enchanting process would do the rest.

The square border of the Potency rune was carved and the Pojode rune etched within it, and I drew two clean lines to connect it with the Essence and Aspect Runes. It glowed red, and just like the other two runes, the Pojode rune floated up from off of the shelf and settled into the ring; the Potency, Aspect, and Essence runes glowed in sequence before they brightened up in unison. A gold glow covered the ring as the three runes merged into a single glyph, one that looked like a bull's head with horns and four double lines arcing out from its skull upwards and its cheekbones downwards.

"Rune Enchantment Succes: Glyph of Decrease Physical Harm created!"

"Moderate + Fine = [49 Armor x 0.7 Celestial Forge Coefficient] / 10 = 3.43% physical damage reduction!"

"Enchantment Level Up! Aspect Level 1 - Level 2!"

"Enchantment Level Up! Potency Level 4 - Level 5!"

"YES!" I threw my hands up in the air and waved my hands around as the golden ring slipped from my fingers and bounced off the ceiling of my workstation, the freshly enchanted object skittering along the floor only to be stopped by Enbee. The Hurgok trilled his congratulations as he held the ring up and deposited it into my hand; the little guy didn't even let me get into my Level Up dance yet!

I blew out a sigh. "Fine, ruin my fun, why don't you."

As if to further rain on my parade, the Forge was unable to grasp onto a star from the "Quality Design" constellation.

[Current Balance: 200 CP]

Bah, I put the ring on the "Disenchant pile" and opted to let Neutrally Buoyant lead me out of the labs where a good meal of fatty fish waited for me- a quick shower and I was off to bed.

[One Week Later]

[January 20th, 2011]

My stockpile of T-Doll resources had increased to 9800 each as I further refined my schedule to cut down on wasted time- I spent 4 hours sleeping, 10 hours sieving nanomaterials out of the ocean, and the remaining 10 hours on enchanting. I had only advanced to Aspect Level 3 and Potency Level 6 during this time, but even then it had a profound effect on the efficacy of my runes- whereas my Glyph of Decrease Physical Harm could only reduce physical harm by 3.43% last week, this week my Glyphs could reduce physical harm by 21.7%!

A super significant improvement, no?

However, this was becoming a problem, so after I finished with the last ring of the day I pushed away from the desk and decided to go hang out with Tiffany for a few hours. We went for that walk in the woods, enjoyed the sights and sounds of nature, and when we weren't basking in the sun and silence we made small talk about meaningless stuff- the annoyingness of mosquitos in January (seriously, I know Brockton Bay winters are mild, but this shit is ridiculous!), how my projects were coming along. I showed off my cool rings, of which I wore with me- one of each protection ring spread across my two hands; I couldn't double them up, but I could wear one item with a unique Glyph. The journals described it as the mystical resonance of two similar Glyphs interfering with their operation, but in my mind, I just chalked it up to "Game Balance" and didn't think on it any further.

We had dinner, talked about her daughter and the work she did for the PRT, but she obviously didn't go too far into detail; just the specifics- how she was doing, if she was enjoying herself and found the work fulfilling. I didn't bother fishing for any more details because I honestly didn't want to. Her granddaughter's life was her own, and it wasn't like I couldn't have Nugget skim the lower-leveled reports for the information pipeline; I didn't dare have him try and push any higher, not at least without a dedicated Information Warfare Suite behind him.

Neither myself nor the Engineers had that kind of coding background on hand, so we would have to wait for the Forge to provide something for that; the books on hacking and penetration testing I had downloaded into my implant were written by Dragon herself, so it would be the height of idiocy to try and get through the PRT's protections using her own techniques.

On the positive side, we had a fuck load of important resources stockpile now, and the F-15E had been fully upgraded to Hurgok standards; it was 29% lighter, 43% more fuel-efficient, the thrust had been increased by 19%, and the aerodynamic profile had been improved by 11% by smoothing over every single flight surface; every weld-line, fold, and rivet chain had been brushed over, and that reduced the drag-coefficient by a fair margin- though most of that gain was done with the reshaping of the Conforming Fuel Tanks on the underside of the fuselage.

I was about halfway through the Ground School program's curriculum, and I was going through the material while I was sieving the nanomaterial out of the ether. I probably could have done it much faster, but I wanted to savor the "Practical (Digital)" exercises- even if it was being done on a low budget 3-D flash game, there wasn't quite as heart pumping as calling out to the simulated tower about the runway and when I was ready to taxi out and take off.

It was about 9 in the evening when I closed the "Take-Off and Landing" digital module after passing it with flying colors and I stood up from my kneeling position to deposit the last pound of nanomaterials into the backpack. I signaled to Alpha who was more than happy to dip her tentacle into the water and wriggle it around- there was a cute little squeak from her as a saltwater cod sucked it in, and her tendril lashed out to make the kill; it was a big boy, almost 10 pounds, though some of the Cod we'd caught had been as large as 25 pounds; I'd be eating on that for the next two days.

I shrugged the pack on and Alpha and I walked hand-in-tentacle through the woods and up toward the lab, where I deposited the fish and the pack. The trio of Engineers that had been out exploring and gathering resources pooted their cutie tooties back into the warehouse before I sealed it off and took off towards home. I was in the middle of a timed run back to fully test out my 'completed' Promethean biology, but a car driving down the road forced me to slow to a walk. It was a four-door sedan, and they were strangely kind- they offered me a ride, but I politely declined, stating that I lived just down the road.

If there was one thing I remembered about Brockton Bay was that it was better to spurn some help than be helped; the three dudes in the vehicle looked pretty on the level, but the driver had an E88 tattoo blatantly open on the inside of his forearm.

Hard pass.

When I got back I took a shower and changed into my clothes, and I moved over to Enbee, BB, Echo 1, and Echo 2 to finalize the designs of our first Auto-Factory build: The Spark Mk II.

It was a hella good time, sitting down and spitballing ideas back and forth as to how to make the best initial combat robot possible; with the Strategy Trance and my boosted brain meat we held the entire build session in less than 120 minutes of Trance time, but that amounted to about 9 seconds of real-time. Dr. Gero Epxy, Engineering Basics, Schematics to Time, and the Implant combined with the Trance allowed us to exchange ideas back and forth at such a rapid pace my head would have spun previously.

In the end, the Spark Mk II had a heavily modified frame fashioned from Beskar with Phrik armored plating; it was thin but so hard it was functionally bullet-proof to pretty much everything anyone could throw at it. The mechanical muscles were made from Ultrachrome and the power transference was made from Cortosis that was bundled up in a Beskar mesh tube that prevented it from getting constricted, and the tubing was wrapped in Krayt Dragonhide and sealed with a super-hydrophobic epoxy. The chassis was hollowed out with a structure that both Gero and the 'Goks found to be the best in terms of rigidity as well as resisting torsional stresses; the Spark Mk II was 11% lighter than its previous stock ADVENT model but was infinitely more durable than the titanium and steel construction it used previously.

The sensors were all created from Beskar and modified replica Corusca gems- the shatter point on the optical lens was a glaring weak point, but considering it was on the back of the gem and was encased in a rather beefy housing it was fine; it had infrared, thermal, electromagnetic emission, normal color, and low-light sensors that was combined with an advanced sound-pattern radar- all of them were put together and functioned in tandem to give the Mk II probably one of the most advanced sensor suites in production; I doubt Dragon could cook something up like this, at least not without spending a great deal of time peeling everything back.

The hardest part was the Virtual Intelligence and getting it to synchronize properly- the Forerunners were fond of dumb VIs since they had powerful Ancilla like the Monitors to micromanage their every move, but I didn't want a VI that I had to babysit. I was treading the thin line between Virtual Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence, but the breakthrough came when I took the coding for the Personality Matrix that governed the T-Dolls and stripped the personality from it, leaving the critical thinking and reasoning modules behind; yes, these robots would lack a personality, but I made sure to program a library of dad jokes and verbal assurances and commands from the National Institute of Psychology's recommendations for helping victims stay out of shock.

Then I combined that with Dr. Gero's learning algorithms and ADVENT's protocols on military relations; I did go through and copy/paste the PRT's public handbook for Non-affiliated Cape interactions so that my Spark Mk IIs would respond politely and professionally when faced with Law Enforcement and the Protectorate. After that, all state, local, and federal laws were installed. The robots even had a little cache of SD cards to hand over typed, verbal, and visual reports to the cops when they arrived- minus all of the other goodies; the feds would have to seeth and settle for seeing 24k color-sensor footage scaled down to whatever the relevant format was needed.

They were, however, meant to avoid capture at almost any costs; even if I lost a Spark and ended up handing the PRT an extremely nice robot, I wasn't willing to let the bots kill law enforcement personnel to do so.

Not that I thought these Sparks could get captured, at least not without significant effort. They could spring-jump ten meters into the air, sprint almost 40 miles and 55 miles per hour, and had not one but two internal gyroscopes to keep them on balance. Their feet were fairly wide but incredibly grippy, so it would take some concerted effort to knock them over, though once the first one was built we would have to build an obstacle course... or just take it out and have it run through the woods.

The bot was completely waterproof down to like... 2,000 ft of some shit, like really, really deep, so I wasn't worried about it getting stuck in the bottom of the harbor- not when I had a water jet propulsion unit attached to it to aid it in underwater maneuvering. We lived near the water, and I knew that if a fight broke out near it someone was going to have the bright idea of tossing one of the Sparks into it. It was only a matter of time.

As for armaments, it was armed with a grenade launcher that shot out taser-globes; sticky pellets that contained enough charge at the Federal and State recommended levels to safely incapacitate a target. The secondary firing mode for the launcher used the .30 caliber barrel underneath the primary tube that shot a tranquilizer pioneered by the Lifegivers that was based on a depressant, muscle relaxing toxin from some animal called a 'Tutumulala'; it was contained in a protein-based payload that would time release- the target would be rendered unconscious within twenty seconds, and multiple doses wouldn't affect the target unless it was showing resistance. If the target wasn't resisting, then the payload would automatically unravel itself and would be dispersed into its constituent amino acids.

The payload actually could have knocked them out in less than ten, but we scaled that back for the first deployment- it had been rigorously tested on the various animals the Lifegivers had locked up, and while I was impressed with the results, there was no substitute for proper laboratory testing on humans; now I couldn't and wouldn't do that, but the Protectorate would, so after my first outing I would hand over a sample kit along with a thorough write-up.

The caveat would be if they wanted more of this I could make it for them, but I did patent the design and all of its derivatives; it wasn't technically a tinker tech tranquilizer because it could be manufactured by mundane facilities, but the hassle of going through the refinement process would make it a very costly venture. If they did try to steal it then I would make it even more costly.

The PRT would be testing it, and then giving me the approval to use for policing actions; if they liked the results then I wouldn't mind selling it to them in bulk- the cartridge designs were brilliant, and I had a ton of fun making the rounds that were fired with simple compressed CO2. The rounds my T-Dolls would use, however, would be much more powerful- the Spark Mk II's would fire them at a velocity of 400 feet per second with a range of 150 feet and pinpoint accuracy thanks to its fin-stabilized design. The T-Doll's non-lethal rounds would vary based on the weapon platform they were using and be much, much faster; balancing time-to-target along with kinetic energy would be critical, but it was a problem that I could solve on my own with input from the Engineers to back me up.

I felt the Forge stir awake and try to grasp onto a star from the "Magical Large Scale" constellation, but the star it grabbed at was massive in size. On closer inspection, it was a large star and a small star conjoined together in a single orbit- if it had tried to grab one of the other it might have succeeded, but instead, it tried to take both and thusly gained nothing.

[Current Balance: 300 CP]

Everyone was gathered around the Auto-Factory as we listened to it churn- the industrial sounds of cutting, smelting, grinding, and stamping made my chest tickle with anticipation. We watched the chassis get put together by a team of waldos, welding tips moving with expert precision as more and more was added onto it at each station- by the end of it the first Spark Mk II was rolling off the assembly line with its weapon in hand; the only thing left was to have the Hurgoks attach the Phrik armor plates, which they did only after their tendrils worked over everything as Quality Assurance.

They were the best QA bois ever; I should get them some clipboards and black-rimmed glasses to wear. It would be the cutest thing.

Neutrally Buoyant had been displeased with the Auto-Factory's 0.19% - 0.22% tolerance variations, but the design was made with those shortcomings in mind. The 'Goks concluded that if I meant to manufacture these droids in any sort of numbers then they would need at least three more Engineers to man the QA and Armoring station.

The Phrik plates were then attached and boy was the machine one sexy beast. The last thing to be added was the massive shield.

It was a thing of beauty.

Neutrally Buoyant gave me a nod and I activated the start-up program.

The large optical sensor glowed a soft blue, part of the aesthetic changes I made to make the robots more friendly- they had a white and blue color scheme, and the large shield had an emblem that vaguely resembled a law enforcement shield; a coat of arms with the silhouette of a globe with a bright light shining on the horizon. It had my cape name, "Horizon" in a stylized but still legible font in bold underneath it.

I was skirting the line with the emblem shape, but on the legal side of it; people responded better to more official shapes and logos, and that is exactly what mine did- just making sure that I was recognized as a lawful force without impersonating a commissioned law enforcement officer.

"Systems fully operational. Spark Mk. II, Serial Number 0001 standing by for orders, Commander Horizon."

The voice was smooth and masculine- commanding but not imposing.

"Commence start-up diagnostics and move through range of motion tests."

Special thanks to Lmc9389, Xodarap4, Artillery, DrkShdow, AuraofCalm, Zerak, Mioismoe, Zath, Splendid, D. Wongsonegoro, Darkarma, Acrimonius, T. Balewood, Randall Randall, Dominyx Black, CyberCrisis, Blue, Russ Stilter, and Legion_13 for being Patrons!

You guys rock!

Nanomaterials Sieve (Arpeggio of Blue Steel) (100CP)

This sand sieve can be used to filter nanomaterials from seawater and sand. Even in settings where the seawater doesn't have any nanomaterial particles from damaged Fog ships, it somehow produces about a pound of nanomaterials each time it's scooped through the ocean and sand.

Magic Research Facility (The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want A Fourth Time) (600CP)

Magic and science. Alone they are great, together and in the right hands they are all-powerful. The sleekness of a laboratory at the cutting edge of science, housing the greatest tools, magical and otherwise. A great thing that has come into your possession. Either inserted somewhere in the world itself, lodged away in your warehouse, or attached to some property you already having following you around, is a high-tech facility on par with, or perhaps slightly above, that which the eponymous Vandalieu had been trapped and tortured within during his time in Origin. Its tools are specially made to analyze and interact with magic, and as such it is the perfect home for magical experiments of all kinds. Whether it be dissecting or containing monsters, trying out brand new spells, or even processing and mass-producing magical materials and even magic items, this facility is perfectly made for all of it. Of possibly greatest use to those with great stores of magic is the spell testing room, however, as this room is perfectly suited for testing out and analyzing even the most powerful of spells, localizing its effects and preventing even the most powerful of them from affecting anything outside of them.

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