Chapter 79: Earning Rewards (old, replaced above)

Early Release!

Authors note: This chapter has been thoroughly edited and essentially replaced. Please look for Chapter 79 a second time up above for much much better writing. It was a failure on my part to edit it properly, and I apologize.

Walker laid down on the mattress. Taking a moment to rest, he considered everything he still needed to do. If his guess was right, he had twenty-four hours until the Founders were meant to seed onto Crescendo. Of course, there'd be a big party the night before, with another significant speech just before leaving. But he still had a huge series of tasks to complete before then. Not to mention, the notifications ringing in his overlay. He still hadn't checked them in the last several weeks, even months. 

When he had first started in the Alpha Protocol, each notification had been like getting a gift. Now, he looked at them with trepidation, wondering if they were going to keep him from completing the systems still to go. The last notification he'd received had shunted him into a metaphysical space for a good amount of time. While he'd only lost a few hours on Sonata, he'd lost days in his mind. That had an effect on a person's focus. 

The Reward system, the Event system, and the big empowerment for Sapients across all of Symphony called to him. But he had to take it if one of the rewards could help him further. With that thought in mind, Walker opened his notifications. Due to the number of them, they were now organized by categories rather than flooding him all at once, which he greatly appreciated. 

Evolution task complete: Evolve an entity: Part 6

New evolved entities: 100/100

Reward for completion: Diverse

...

Evolution task complete: Evolve an entity: Part 7

New evolved entities: 250/250

Reward for completion: Diverse

...

New evolution task given: Evolve an entity: Part 8

No description provided

New evolved entities: 134/500

Reward for completion: Diverse

- - -

Reward for completing the sixth evolution task:
Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the Bond evolution!
The bond evolution allows entities to create a lasting connection with one another. This will increase an entity's empathic understanding and allow for greater communication with those with whom they are bonded. 

. . .

Reward for completing the seventh evolution task:
Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the Morphic evolution!
This evolution gives the entity to whom it is granted the ability to modify its body slightly. The greater skill they grow with the evolution, the more they will be able to do. 
Warning: If an entity morphs its body to a great degree without understanding what it is doing, it may accidentally perish. It is recommended that entities with high intelligence be granted this particular evolution. 

- - -

It looked like the Council had given up on providing task descriptions once you moved past a certain amount. Still, the rewards were pretty strong, and the bond evolution further reinforced his ideas of what to provide in the event rewards. 

Moving along quickly, he clicked on the next series. 

Entity task complete: Create ten more unique entities: Part 2

New unique entities: 10/10

Reward for completion: Diverse

...

Entity task complete: Create twenty-five more unique entities: Part 3

New unique entities: 25/25

Reward for completion: Diverse

...

New entity task given: Create fifty more unique entities: Part 4

Filling an entire world with life is the ultimate goal of every Creator within the Alpha Protocol. Develop your entities into entirely new species, allowing for a greater breadth of growth.

New unique entities: 49/50

Reward for completion: Diverse

- - -

It was curious that evolutions moved much faster numbers-wise than unique entities. Then again, evolutions occurred naturally as a part of the protocol, whereas entities had to be manually created by him and his assistants. It made him wonder if there was a more automated way of doing things. Walker was a little disappointed that he hadn't reached the fifty part yet. But, as he had that thought, the last number trickled in just as he was scrolling to the rewards. 

Entity task complete: Create fifty more unique entities: Part 4

New unique entities: 50/50

Reward for completion: Diverse

...

New entity task given: Create one hundred more unique entities: Part 5

You have filled a world to the brim with the unique, the weak, and the exalted alike. Now, begin to produce a new world upon which you can further spread the majesty of your creations.

New unique entities: 0/100

Reward for completion: Diverse

That last wording gave him an idea of what the system was trying to do. Too bad he already had it. Finished reading, he scrolled down to the rewards. 

Reward for completing the second entity task:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained a new evolution chamber!

...error...

Advanced evolution chambers detected.

...

Congratulations Dante! You've gained a new advanced evolution chamber!

The upgraded evolution chamber, first invented by the 3EF rendition winner Bander Sotfam, allows for greater control of entity evolutionary modifications. Further progress by the Creator in developing unique genetic entities may result in gaining more advanced evolution chambers. 

Reward for completing the third entity task:

Congratulations Dante! The Monitor ability has been upgraded!

Although the Monitor ability seems simple when first viewed, it can have great power in controlling and managing a Creator's world. With this upgrade, the Creator may now make an unlimited number of monitors of differing sizes. 

Reward for completing the fourth entity task:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the Cosmic Genesis system!

...Error...

Cosmic Genesis system detected. 

Records being reviewed

...

...

The Cosmic Genesis system was chosen from a set amount of awards during the second battle of the Creator Wars. 

...

Compensation package created.

Congratulations Dante! Due to having already unlocked the Cosmic Genesis system, you now have the ability to choose your own reward. Please review the following options which were randomly created from your previous unchosen rewards:

1. Gain the Collosi Genus

2. Unlock the Replacement system

3. Gain one Magic Chamber

"Well shit...." He said while looking at the options. But, he remembered that he was a system administrator now, which meant he didn't have to just see the basic details within. If these were all created during the time that Kwaya was still working with the Evolvers, that meant he could view their detailed descriptions. Walker covered his eyes in darkness and looked again. 

1. Gain the Collosi Genus

Note from Administrator Kwaya:

The Collosi Genus are named such because they do not, stop, growing. They start out small and mostly cute, but within fifty years, they can grow to be fifty feet tall. It is not suggested that these creatures are seeded anywhere within a world that wants to hold its own, with the exception of war world breeding farms. They make excellent soldiers and can be trained to enjoy bloodlust, although that is not in their natural interests. The fuckers used to send them against us as shock troops. Their biggest weakness lies in their ankles, in case you ever have to deal with them.

2. Unlock the Replacement system

Note from Administrator Kwaya:

I created the replacement system after constant begging from the Evolver bastards. It's a pretty simple set up. You designate zones or areas that you want entities to be grown in, then, POOF, they pop up with the same original evolutions that they were initially implanted with. It won't restore memories and any evolutions or growth that have occurred between the birth and death, but it is an excellent system for training. There are a lot of options within the settings for how you want it to work. 

3. Gain one Magic Chamber

Of course, the Magic Chamber had no information attached to it. But Walker had expected that, after all. Magic hadn't spread until after Kwaya had disappeared from the Evolvers, so she wouldn't have any extra notes to go with it. 

"I do have a giant world," Walker said to himself quietly, "and I do know their weakness." He looked back and forth between the replacement system, which had great possibilities for lightening their future workload, and the genus just above it. He thought hard about his options, as having another Genus that wasn't earthbound could have bigger implications than expected. He still held the genus from Ccratch, even if it was unmodifiable. 

In the end, it wasn't that difficult of a choice. Walker selected the Replacement system. It was better to set up Symphony as a whole to be better prepared for the future than to get a new Genus for his assistants to play with. The reward information filtered in a moment later. 

Reward for completing the fourth entity task:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the Replacement system!

The Replacement system is necessary for Creators who feel the need to create multiple designed ecological focuses in a warlike world. With the replacement system, your world will constantly maintain an equilibrious state with the proper control. 

"That should make Virgil quite happy," He said with a smile. It fell away a moment later, "Crap, at this rate we're probably going to need more assistants." Then he smiled again when he realized what that meant. With a shrug and an "Oh well," Walker looked at the rest of the notifications. The Primigenial tasks were beeping at him profusely, but that was a moment for later. He'd already spent longer than he wanted just combing through all the updates he'd been missing.

The Monitor upgrade was quite nice, and he found an option to allow his assistants free range of control with an attached cost. Walker selected Magic as that seemed to be in a constant state of growth with the unmodified Mana Trees. Based on his estimates, he'd never have to worry about it again.

The Advanced Evolution Chamber was nice as well, as it was a handy replacement for the one he'd blown up when creating the first Foundation stone.

Overall, things were only getting better and better. With that happy thought in mind, Walker clicked over to the system designer. 

The first thing he had to do was create a reward system. Of course, that had already been thought of in the few thousand years that system designing had existed in the Evolver's multiverse, but it certainly lacked something. 

The Prize System:

A system designed to allow entities to spin a wheel, receiving a pre-designated reward.

This system allows Creators to reward their entities based on set parameters.

Flexibility: Medium

Difficulty to modify: High

Resources used: Variable and Selective

Limits: The Prize System can only be used when at least two pre-designated rewards exist

Note: This system is a combination of multiple older systems found in the multiverse

It wouldn't work for a multitude of reasons, not to mention he'd still have to link it to Mac in the end. That could set off bells at the Center and cause him untold headaches. If he was going to create a new system from scratch and not burn through all of his darkness again, he needed to hide any of his actions within the system creation itself.

The big reason he wanted to create it separately from just having an event system, and the combination it would require, was that he had ideas for how to attach the Reward system to Milestones, potential Reputation systems, and, of course, Factions. This would be peppered throughout his future creations, such as the Tracking and Milestone systems currently. That required he take a current system that came close to matching it, and this was the best he could find. But still, it wasn't great. 

Walker pulled up another similar system. 

The Benefits System:

A system designed to compensate entities based upon a specific and tracked performance.

This system allows Creators to reward their entities based on tracked requirements.

Flexibility: Low

Difficulty to modify: High

Resources used: Variable and Selective

Limits: The Benefits system only allows specific rewards to be given based on achieving set goals

Note: This system was designed by Creator JohnQ in rendition 2AO

This one was much better, but still too restricted. He knew the solution was to combine it with the Adaptation system, but, that would be hellish for them. They would have very little to do as his plan was to create the Reward system for all other systems to pull from. He didn't see much choice in the matter. 

Putting it into the back of his mind for the moment, Walker pulled up the Tracking system. 

The Tracking System:

A system built on the idea that everything a person does, should be recorded.

This system is designed to track any entities of the Creator's choice within any filters they choose to create.

Flexibility: Extreme

Difficulty to modify: Low

Resources used: A localized receptacle for storing information

Note: A system designed by Creator Ju in the alpha protocol of 2BC.

Walker was not a fan of the new note his System administrator view could now see. When he'd first planned out the Milestone system, he knew it was very iffy, morally. But he did not enjoy seeing a note that openly stated what he was doing could be akin to tyrannical or oppressing views. However, for everything to work, it needed to be done. 

Stepping out of his cabin, he jogged over to find Rimi nearby. Making a few requests, the blue squirrel hopped to action, and the new evolution chamber really came in handy for what Walker was asking for. He dodged a few questions from Virgil, asking the large black squirrel to stay focused on Fortis for the time being, then spoke with Luna about needing all of the assistants to be ready soon. After all of that, he spent a few minutes talking to Athena and answering some of the Founder's questions about what they would expect on Crescendo. Neither Lucy nor Runner were interested in hearing what he had to say about their upcoming sojourn to the forest planet, but they did ask about the Unending Summit's trials, extracting a promise from Walker that he would conduct the event with them soon. 

Finding Dion in the back of the group, whom he had interrupted as they discussed different forms of resource management, he asked him a few questions and then performed a favor for the man. With a quick wave, he trekked back to his small abode and spent another hour of his precious time going through more of the designer's systems.

He found the Inciting Incident System, which gave him a good chuckle as the English teacher in him really liked that one. Connecting some dots, he had a vague idea of how the Event system would come together. Tracking, points, items from within Mac, and immediate translocation were all required. After another hour, he felt that everything was set to go and he was only delaying what he needed to do. Walker pushed his soul to cover his hands, then reached into his overlay and extracted a week in Temporal resources. As Virgil had pointed out, the first time he'd covered himself in it, he had immediately passed out for a good amount of time thereafter. But, that was before he'd completed his soul and transitioned to the third stage. He had a vague idea in his mind that the effect would not be nearly as pronounced a second time. 

With a week in his hands, he smothered it across his body, pushing a paper-thin covering of his soul outside of his body. This way, he would be contained within the Temporal distortion without it directly touching his skin. He normally wouldn't chance things like this, but as always, they were on a tight schedule and he had the unique ability to cheat time. Why wouldn't he take advantage? 

Now, within his own sped-up time, Walker clicked on the Adaptation system and, using the system linker ability, connected it directly with the Benefits system. He felt as the system pulled him into the AI but immediately jumped back out. If he stepped outside of his Cabin, everyone would be moving so slowly that he wouldn't even get the chance to watch them blink. That was the goal of this, after all. He didn't want to waste any unnecessary time as he only had a week to create five systems, one after another. Looking at the System Splitter ability in his overlay, the tag Experimental jumping out at him, he realized it would be closer to eight. Walker sighed then ran his hand through his white hair. There was always too much to do, and not enough time.  

At the top of his overlay, the notification that the system was now ready to be used came in immediately.  The Center always seemed to match his speed no matter how much he distorted things temporally, but curiously, the Conductor system still hadn't finished forming yet. It made him curious about what it would eventually do. Walker went in and renamed the Adapting Benefits system to The Reward system. He would have to follow up with the AI after he was done within his personal time bubble. 

Clicking back into the system designer, he chose the Adaptation system, the Inciting Incident system, and the Tracking system, before merging them all into one. The Inciting incident system was specifically used to identify local areas with no restriction in size. That meant he could designate a planet where rewards would be generated, rather than just small areas. Based upon the information it presented, he could even designate all of Symphony, every planet within it, as a part of the rewards.

The Tracking system would allow him to create a points-based program, rewarding his Founders for their achievements. How they would receive those rewards was not yet set up, but he also had ideas for that. There weren't any systems within the designer for translocating material instantly, with the only exceptions being the Item and Territory systems. But, he couldn't make copies of some of the items, particularly the living ones. It meant he would have to create one from scratch, with the answer always staring him right in the face. It would require some modification and even more of his darkness, but luckily, he had a renewable source for that now.     

Walker waited a moment for the notification, taking much longer than the Rewards system did, then renamed the hodge-podge of information to The Event system. 

Finally, he was at the moment he'd dreaded and been waiting for at the same time. 

It was finally time to make the Skill system.