“Captain, we’re all waiting.” Bob was the first to speak out after I announced that I would be explaining things and then simply stood there silently for quite a while.
The problem with explaining is that I have quite a lot of theories about what's going on. Getting concrete answers would be difficult, and in so cases, sothing I would not be willing to do.
“I cannot explain everything to you, as I don’t know everything, but I will do my best.”
“That is all we ever asked.” I looked towards Lola. She seed so supportive. I thanked her with a nod.
“Let’s begin with all of you. It is because of , and not sothing natural, that you all have souls. It seems that sohow being around makes it possible, if the conditions are right, for a machine to develop a soul.”
“This is sothing to do with the truth?” Dean asked a clarifying question.
“It appears to be so. The more I am surrounded by the machinery I make, the more powerful it makes . Individuals like you who have souls and can advance seem to have a greater effect. That is why for the past months I have been so out of it. It started to affect more after FH ranked up.”
“What happens if you aren’t surrounded by us, or if you die?” This ti, it was Bob who asked, but everyone looked at him with a bit of anger because of that last word.
“When I was on the battle moon, I did not feel my strength wane in any way, but I also didn’t get stronger. At least not in the way being close to all of you seems to be doing. As for my death, nothing should happen to you all. While you are connected to through our bond and this truth of mine, you are all individuals.”
“What about the mana detection device that now has a spirit? What will happen to it?” Lola seed worried about that spirit.
“Pretty sure the sa rules apply. They should be immune to regular mana corruption and even be able to fight against corrupting influences like the rest of us. As for dying, I’m pretty sure they will continue to live on.”
There was a lot to focus on, as there were so many AIs listening in, with our bond network being quite busy. Most were still surprised about the truth revelation, while so had made the connection that they were spirits whose egos were AIs.
“A question.” I gave Dean a nod for him to continue. “What happens if you make a weapon with this spirit and then it’s sold off to soone else who then leaves for the other side of the galaxy?”
Before I answered, I thought through this kind of scenario and everything that might happen.
“It will continue to be a weapon. If its operator keeps the gun in working order and the spirit inside satisfied, it would be the best weapon he’ll ever have. If its operator doesn’t do that, it will most likely be unreliable at best, dangerous at worst to its user.
"In regard to , if it’s no longer close to , it would be outside the range to empower . If we ever got in range again, it would once again start supporting .”
“What about if this person tried to fire at you with that gun?” This ti it was Bob who asked.
“Honestly, best guess is that the spirit would refuse to fire at . And before you all start. Pretty sure other people can bond with these types of items. My truth is separate to all of that.”
“So those poor spirits could be left alone if the user dies in so forgotten wreck or world. Could they go mad?” Lola spoke, not to anyone specifically, simply thinking out loud.
“Yes… that’s unfortunately the reality of being alive. Ti could destroy you in so many different ways. I’m also certain that if they were to be damaged, they could also feel it, and it would not be a pleasant feeling.”
My words made the entire ship go silent. The implications were staggering. If things continued the way they were, soon enough, everything I made that was complicated would have a spirit inside it no matter if I want there to be one or not.
“So, you are a god?” And of course, Bob had to ruin everything.
“No, Bob, I’m not a god.”
“Not yet,” was his answer, which made tilt my head a bit in confusion.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Co on, don’t tell you haven’t thought of this.” He looked around at all of our confused faces. “Your truth empowers you when you are surrounded by your creations. What if the entire solar system is filled with your creations? What if the entire galaxy is? Pretty sure that amount of power would never let its creator die.”
“Bob, that’s a nice fantasy, but do you have any idea how many machines would be needed? Not just to make the entire solar system have this type of power density we currently have on this ship, let alone the entire galaxy?”
“Oh, I have an idea. A few gastructures would probably do it for the solar system. For the galaxy itself, I’ll give you that. It would take way too long.”
As soon as he ntioned gastructures, I froze. A spirit inhabiting one of those would be so powerful. And what if it actually got a proper soul? Although the conditions for that would be stricter. It would need enough of it to be bio-cybernetic for that to happen.
“I think we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Captain, let’s see what happens when we hook up the mana detection device, and then perhaps you’ll make a weapon, and we’ll see if it will develop a spirit or not.” Dean was the voice of reason this ti.
“You are right, enough speculation. It’s ti to start confirming what we can confirm.”
Everyone needed to work together to move the now much larger mana detection device close to the command centre.
It wouldn’t actually fit inside, as we didn’t want to remove the old mana detection device just yet. Also, we didn’t exactly know what this new device would allow us to do.
The ship was starting to feel a bit cramped. Fortunately, the storage skills helped. When everything was installed properly, we powered the device on, or would it be more appropriate to say woke it up? I let out a deep breath as this was getting complicated in so many ways.
The spirit woke up, spent a bit of ti understanding its new situation, then purred in satisfaction, thanking that I had kept my promise to hook it up properly.
“I can sense it,” FH said to . “It’s like the other AIs, but more instinctual. It’s already pulling on my mana supply. I’m letting it do so.”
My attention snapped towards the room where we held our skill stones, and I felt FH’s attention do the sa. One thing that I had done from ti to ti, the entire stay here was focus on that skill stone.
It was a perfect opportunity to learn to hear skill stones that would be fitting for my bonds. It seed that this training paid off, as I could feel the skill stones calling. I knew that it wasn’t for but for FH.
The skill’s na was Connected Scouting. What it seed to do was that you chose a spot that you wanted to scout, and it would make a direct line to it, allowing you to scout everything along that path.
“So that’s how that queen found such a perfect asteroid to hide in?”
“What was that, Captain?” Sam asked , and I explained what the skill did.
“Captain, do I have your permission?” FH asked, and I imdiately gave it. “Before I start absorbing it, the new mana detection device. It wants to be called Lunaris. He’s getting us a way better understanding of our surroundings as its range is trendously longer.”
“That’s excellent. I bet a lot of your AIs are incredibly happy about this new influx of information about our surroundings.”
“Now that they are, but if you would excuse , Captain, I will absorb the skill now.”
I felt the skill crumble away, with FH fading a bit from the bond network.
“So it seems everything worked as we expected. Next, I think I will try to make a weapon that will have a spirit in it. Hopefully, it would be good enough to be your main weapon, Sam,” I said, which made Sam snap his head towards .
“Hard light?” he asked.
“Hard light?” I answered, which made him smile.
My workshop table held all the different hard-light weapons I’ve made. All of these are prototypes, and the only reason why I haven’t made a proper one that could be used long term was simply that I haven’t had ti.
That guiding feeling was at the edge of my mind. Taking control of it, I already knew that my current designs wouldn’t work. When I looked at them with Sense Aura, the latest prototype might have a hint of a coal-like centre, but it most certainly wasn’t enough to develop a spirit.
Sam would need an assault-type rifle that could handle close range, be best at mid-range, but can also shoot long range. An all-purpose rifle. It would need to be able to switch between single fire, burst, and fully automatic, with different attachnt points for different types of sights and other necessary gadgets.
The base design ca quite quickly into my head, a frawork that should fit everything. It would be on the longer side, but it would be necessary to fit everything in, especially because I knew I would need to put in more components than I usually would. But I was determined to make it so that everything I added would help improve the function of this weapon.
It would have a pretty typical trigger close to the handle. So of the more modern designs had electronic buttons for firing, but I always believed analogue chanics were, in so situations, superior to any digital solutions.
Of course, there would need to be a safety, which would be easy to add with this type of triggering chanism. There is no need for a magazine, but where a magazine would normally go is a good place to add where you would insert a gas cylinder needed to make the hard light bolts.
An upper grip is also needed for stabilisation. While this weapon will have less kick than guns that fire bullets, it will still have so, and that’s not taking into account the different firing strengths that I could add.
That would require extra regulators and a crystal matrix that’s a bit stronger, but I believe this is required; otherwise, it would be too simple of a construct for a spirit to erge.
Normally, I wouldn’t polish things too much, as I would count this as a prototype, but there were no prototypes when it ca to making a weapon that would have a spirit in it. How could I not give 100% for sothing that would be alive?
With different firing strengths, I needed another switch. This would be the third one. First is the safety, second is the firing modes, single, burst of 3 bolts, and finally, fully automatic. The third will change the strength of the bolt: low in case you don’t want much collateral damage, regular would be exactly what the na says, and finally heavy.
Low would also help manage heat buildup. For that, I would need to add vents. This weapon should be able to work suprely well inside an atmosphere, but outside it, it would have a bit more problems. We could use the ammunition gas to help vent excess heat.
Since I’m putting vents on both sides, I need to build in safeties so you wouldn’t accidentally burn your face off when the rifle needs to cool down. It will be a heavy rifle, that’s for sure, and I’m not even done adding all the necessary parts.
Next will be the heat capacitor. The vents would never be able to actively cool when the gun is firing at full automatic, so we need a place to dump all that heat. The firing chamber would go nearer to the stock of the weapon for better control, and a longer barrel would make it more accurate.
Lastly, there is the problem of power. A high-capacity battery is necessary, but it will be a bit difficult to make it work. Making it built-in would an you need to charge it. That would an I need to build in a fast port that could charge the battery quickly, but that would take up way too much space and add even more weight.
Replaceable batteries would solve that problem, but bring up others. You know what. One thing that makes every weapon better is a way to rack it.
The firing chanism certainly doesn’t need it, but that extra lever action will make it possible to make a battery that won’t have any exposed contacts when it’s outside the rifle, making it safer to carry those around.
And just like that, with a few extra details, the rifle was designed. Although I did have so extra space.
You know what. An extra heat capacitor could fit if I moved so things around a bit. Yes, I will change the racking chanism to instead switch between those two capacitors and just use a simple lever for the battery. That would make it work better.
Adding the design into the simulator let fine-tune it, and then it was ti to start building. I had gotten the basic frawork done when FH finally contacted .
“Captain, I have absorbed the skill and tested it. It’s better than I ever imagined.”
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