CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In The Spirit of Things to Come.
Ten thousand kobolds knelt, their armor catching the late afternoon light. The chant had stopped. The world had gone quiet except for the wind through the formations and the soft sound of earth still settling.
I felt ARi’s hand grip mine tighter.
She was watching the gates of the Keep. The massive bronze doors began their swing inward, the sound of ancient hinges groaning to life after centuries.
Erica and Maddie didn’t wait for them to open all the way. They phased through the gates before they’d finished swinging and broke into a run across the courtyard toward the field beyond. Tony was kneeling with the cohort. She rose to her feet when she saw them coming.
They tackled her, and all three of them went down in a tangle of limbs and armor and laughter.
“Why didn’t you come with us?” Maddie said, grinning as she pulled back. “Seriously, three hundred years?”
Erica was shaking her head, laughing. “You’re insane. You know that?”
Tony pulled both of them close, and her eyes were bright with tears.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, her voice thick. “I’m so glad you made it back.”
She held them for a long moment before letting them step away.
“We heard about Desmond,” Tony said. “I’m sorry.”
Maddie nodded. “You should’ve seen the way he was leading the Praetorians into battle… But you know what? Let’s talk about that later, okay?”
The gates swung fully open.
Yumi and Tanya walked through, their pace quickening when they saw the reunion on the ground in front of the gates. They jogged over, excited to talk with Tony.
The cohort legion began their march through the gates, their formations parting smoothly around the group, soldiers moving past without breaking their disciplined stride as the legion that contained the cohorts moved toward the keep.
Hannah came through the gates after them, moving at her own pace. The formations split around her as well, soldiers adjusting their march to give her space, keeping their focus forward toward the courtyard. Squad leaders and captains turned as they marched by, their fists pressed to their chests in salute. They held her gaze for just a moment as they passed, acknowledging her without breaking stride.
The legion continued their advance, flowing through the gate until the last of the formations was in the courtyard.
Outside the walls, the other two legions remained kneeling in the field, waiting.
I felt ARi’s hand in mine and I raised it above us, lifting her arm up where the remaining kobolds could see it.
The response was immediate. Cheers roared across the field.
The two legions outside the walls turned toward their work. Unloading supply containers from the airships. Setting up tents in neat rows. Establishing supply lines. The machinery of a military camp taking shape with practiced efficiency.
Tony found us on top of the wall. She stepped forward and came to attention in front of us, her fist pressed to her chest in salute.
“Ward,” she said formally. “Architect. I’ve brought the remaining cohorts from Malune. The city sends its greetings and has placed all three of these legions under your command. The remaining forces of the Kobold Empire will remain in Malune.”
The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the field.
“Tony, this is a lot more than we had asked for,” ARi said.
“My apologies, Ward. The new Kobold Council has sent one of the legions to garrison the keep. The other will move with us toward the mouth of the Ridgeline Pass, where they will establish fortifications and protect the valley. The remaining legion will move with us and support the expedition.”
“It seems like the council has already made some decisions about how we’re going to be proceeding,” I said with a chuckle.
“With respect, Architect, we’ve been preparing for your return for a long time.”
I sighed, shaking my head. She was right. Malune had been preparing for this since we’d left. The entire Kobold civilization had poured their efforts into development and military prowess. Using the knowledge that ARi had left them from Earth, it was obvious that they’d made a lot of progress.
“Tony, what about these airships?” I asked.
“Questions about the airships are probably better suited for the engineers. What I can tell you is that one of the ships will be returning to Malune, while the others will take us to the end of the valley. But we’ve brought more than enough equipment and weaponry to arm the keep. With this place garrisoned and the equipment we’ve brought, this fortress will be more than capable of defending itself without expending any of your resources, Ward.”
I glanced down the hall and saw Tim and Kyle on the parade ground in the courtyard, reuniting with old friends. “Tony, please let Tim and Kyle know that they can see the kobolds to their accommodations in the barracks. I will pull some of the other captains from stasis this evening and we can sit down and go over everything then.”
“Yes, Architect,” she said, tapping her chest twice, then turning to move down the stairs.
“ARi, we should probably gather the others and go over some of these notifications and start figuring out some of these class and skill choices before we meet with everybody.”
“That sounds like a good idea, Gavin.”
“I just can’t get over how big all of this has gotten,” she said as we made our way down the stairs and back into the den.
“Something else is bothering you, ARi. I can tell.”
“Gavin, I don’t know how, but I’ve gained a whole lot of experience points all at once.”
“Really? How’s that possible? Are you sure it wasn’t the fight with those creatures?”
ARi waved her hand and brought up a system window, a battle report. I sat down next to the hearth. I’m trying to keep my composure as I read over the notification.
[SYSTEM WINDOW:] COMBAT REPORT
Outcome: Victory — Siege Broken
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Colonel Dmitri — Level 5 — Killed: 1x Ni Fei Bipedal Mech Construct Level 6 with M4A1 Assault Rifle assisted
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Roslyn AI Construct — Level 7 — Killed: 47x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 1-3 with Thermonuclear Device Detonation
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Roslyn AI Construct — Level 7 — Killed: 8x Ni Fei Bipedal Mech Construct Level 5-7 with Thermonuclear Device Detonation
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Roslyn AI Construct — Level 7 — Killed: 200+ Hostile Human Collaborators with Thermonuclear Device Detonation
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Metallic Drake Construct #1 — Level 4 — Killed: 3x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2 with Beam Fire
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Metallic Drake Construct #2 — Level 4 — Killed: 4x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2 with Beam Fire
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Metallic Drake Construct #3 — Level 4 — Killed: 2x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2 with Beam Fire
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General Thomas Daniels — Level 4 — Killed: 1x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2 with M9 Beretta
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Sergeant Marcus Webb — Level 3 — Killed by: 2x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2
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Private James Rodriguez — Level 2 — Killed by: 1x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 2
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Dr. Sarah Chen — Level 1 — Killed by: 3x Ni Fei Spider Construct Level 1-2
“Thermonuclear device detonation, Gavin?”
“Whoa, slow down, ARi,” I said as I pushed the window aside to look at her from across the fire. “Were there actually nuclear weapons in that facility?”
“No,” she said flatly.
“Well then, let’s not jump to conclusions because that means Roslyn didn’t have access to nukes. Somebody from the outside obviously did.”
I took a deep breath and felt the tension ease from my shoulders when I exhaled.
“So we have three things that we can take from this without knowing what actually happened. The first thing is, through the link you have with Roslyn, at least we’ll know if something actually happens to our family while we’re gone because we’re going to get a notification. The second thing is, that connection you have with Roslyn—is it somehow allowing you to share experience? Are you getting the full experience that she’s getting?”
“No, it looks like it split between the two of us.”
“Does that mean that she’s going to gain experience through you as well?”
“I don’t know. Gavin, I don’t know how I managed to get any from her. It doesn’t make any sense. What’s the third thing?”
“The ‘Ni Fei’. That’s the alien race that’s attacking Earth.”
The others had joined us now around the hearth. Tanya and Yumi sat on the other side next to ARi as Tim and Kyle found their usual spots. ARi and I spent the next few minutes going over the notification that we’d gotten as the others stared at the combat report, dumbfounded and in shock.
“A nuke? ARi, really, a nuke?” Tim said in an exasperated tone.
“Well, I’m going to tell you the same thing that I told ARi earlier, Tim. Roslyn, as in the facility, didn’t have access to nuclear weapons, which means wherever the nuke came from, it wasn’t from the survivors. I’m gonna take a guess here and say that the invaders were trying to drop a nuke down the elevator shaft or something and Roslyn set it off before they had a chance.”
Tim nodded, contemplating it for a moment before finally agreeing.
“Anyway, there’s nothing we’re going to be able to do about it now. We’re just going to have to watch for the notifications and see what happens with the experience sharing,” ARi said. “It is interesting though, and if it is splitting experience between Roslyn and me, this could be both a good thing and a bad thing.”
“I’m not following,” Tanya said.
“It means that ARi’s not going to be getting her full experience that she’s earning here if it’s splitting it with Roslyn. This could seriously slow her leveling,” I said.
“Gavin, I think that might be a temporary thing,” Kyle cut in. “I mean, yeah it might suck at first, but think about it: if they’re successful in their plan, ARi could end up gaining experience from hundreds or thousands of AIs all across Earth.”
“I don’t know if it’s going to work that way, Kyle,” ARi interrupted. “I don’t understand how it’s working this way, to be honest. All I know is that we may have been premature about our victory lap with me coming back human via cradle. I may have gained some of the advantages that you guys have versus a regular guide. But it looks like I just got nerfed.”
The room was quiet for a minute.
“I think we should probably go ahead and start looking at the rest of the notifications you guys,” Yumi said, playfully nudging her shoulder into Kyle’s.
“Wait. Before we do that, I want to try something,” Kyle said. “Do you guys remember how I worked originally with ARi before my first skill choices? I was able to kind of manipulate the system into offering me things down a potential path. It’s not a complete workaround or cheat though. It has to be a path or an option that’s true within the existing mechanics, within the things that we’ve already researched or we have available to us. Gavin, I want you to focus on my abilities.”
I stared at Kyle for a moment as I realized what he was trying to do. “Are you seriously trying to see if we can—”
“Nope, I don’t want you to talk about it, Gav. I don’t want you to even say it. I just want you to think it. Really focus on the different potential capabilities of my Phasemancer skill tree.” He waved his hand and brought his skill tree up for us to look at.
ARi’s eyes went wide all at once as she realized what he was trying to do. “Wait,” she said. “I don’t think that’s gonna work like you want it to, Kyle, but it might if Gavin adds a skill point to Cohort-Cross-Training.”
I didn’t have to think about it even before I fully understood exactly what they were trying to accomplish. I knew if Kyle was that excited about it and ARi thought it might be possible, I pulled up my UI and added one of my available skill points to Cohort-Cross-Training.
“I don’t understand, you guys. What did that change?” I asked.
“Gavin, pull up the subclass selection you should’ve gotten for level 10,” ARi said.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SUB CLASS SELECTION
Congratulations, Gavin Daniels! You can now select one sub class from the options below:
Phase Engineer, Technical Specialization. An advanced engineering path focusing on phase-tech cohort development. Field phasemancer cohorts with the ability to manipulate matter through phase technology in support of your operations. Unlocks the Phase Engineer Skill Tree and Phasemancer cohort development branches. Class Skill: Phasemancer. Grants 4 additional Control Points. Reduces stasis cohort extraction cost by 20%. Reduces cohort summoning cost by 50%.
Cohort Master, Command Specialization. A battlefield control path emphasizing cohort leadership and forced loyalty. Increases the number of squad members and squad leaders you can maintain by 25%. Increases the number of squad captains you can command by 15%. Unlocks access to the Legionary General cohort rank. Class Skill: Forced Suppression. Note: Legionary General rank grants enhanced authority over cohorts, creating a sense of forced capitulation and loyalty among commanded entities.
Quartermaster, Logistics Specialization. A supply-chain focused path emphasizing resource distribution and cohort sustainment. Optimize supply lines, reduce resource consumption across your territory, and grant cohorts enhanced morale and efficiency bonuses. Unlocks the Quartermaster Skill Tree and Class Skill: Supply Network Optimization. Reduces resource consumption by 25%. Grants cohorts 15% increased work efficiency.
System Notes: Primary classes evolve automatically every five levels, expanding their skill trees and bonuses. You will unlock a new primary class within the Architect system class tree upon reaching level 15.
“Does this mean what I think it does?” I asked in awe of what I was reading.
Kyle’s grin was ear to ear.
“I can summon Phasemancers? As in kobolds who could use the phase tech?”
Unlike skill options, I wasn’t going to be able to roll the dice. As exciting as being able to bring phase tech wielding cohorts into our fold, I knew I had to at least take a moment to read over the other options and I could see Tim was doing that with ARi now.
I finished reading the descriptions of the other two subclasses and immediately dismissed the second option in my mind. The bonuses that it offered to my command structure would’ve been incredible. But I decided a long time ago that I’d have nothing to do with any skills that force loyalty or suppress the will of the spirit-born.
Quartermaster, Logistics Specialization was an interesting option as well. But the truth is that neither the second nor the third options were really necessary in our current situation. With the additional forces that Malune had sent, we had more than enough troops to deal with any of the threats we were aware of up to this point. And with ARi’s vast inventory capabilities, logistics weren’t going to be that much of an issue, at least not at the moment.
Phase Engineer, Technical Specialization also came with four additional control points along with some other pretty decent bonuses. Those four control points alone could be huge as far as expanding our forces, but something told me that spawning cohorts with phase tech abilities was going to be costly.
“All right, man,” I said, smiling back at Kyle. “Phase Engineer, Technical Specialization it is.”
“Hell yeah!” Kyle cheered. “I can’t wait to see what some of the options look like.”
“Well, we’re going to find out because I got a skill point to spend from the level up too.”
I waved my hand and changed the projection to my skill choice window.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION
Congratulations, Gavin Daniels!
You have 1 unassigned skill point to spend. Please select one of the following:
Phasemancer-Elemental 1. Kobold phase engineers specializing in elemental matter manipulation through phase technology. Command cohorts capable of reshaping terrain with fire, ice, and stone phase states. Control point conversion: 1 point spawns 2 Phasemancer-Elemental. Energy: 24. Cooldown: 90 seconds.
Phasemancer-Void 1. Kobold phase engineers specializing in void-state matter manipulation and spatial distortion through phase technology. Command cohorts capable of controlling localized gravitational events and creating spatial anomalies for tactical advantage. Control point conversion: 1 point spawns 1 Phasemancer-Void. Energy: 26. Cooldown: 90 seconds.
Phasemancer-Spirit 1. Kobold phase engineers specializing in spirit-state matter manipulation through phase technology. Command cohorts capable of channeling life force, manipulating soul essence, summoning incorporeal entities, and temporarily re-animating the fallen through spirit phase binding. Control point conversion: 1 point spawns 1 Phasemancer-Spirit. Energy: 25. Cooldown: 90 seconds.
System Note: All cohorts spawn with basic instincts and learn tactics through assigned doctrine and user training. Equipment is drawn from available stores. Cohort level cap scales with Cognitive Processing, to a maximum of one level below the class.
“ARi,” I said slowly, the hesitation bleeding through in my voice.
“I know, Gav. I see it too.”
“What the hell’s got you guys so spooked?” Kyle asked.
“It’s the third option,” ARi said. “Reanimating the fallen through spirit phase binding. Does that sound familiar to anybody else?”
Realizing all at once, the others sat back with a gasp.
“That’s a lot to break down. I mean, I was barely starting to get comfortable with the concept of pulling the spirit-born and summoning them in the first place,” I said. “But this system window is treating spirits and souls with the same kind of casual nuance as any other resource available to us.”
“All of these cohorts will be really expensive to field too. A full control point could be used on a legion commander with forty subordinates. These guys must be really powerful. Or potentially really powerful anyway,” I said.
“Gavin,” ARi exclaimed.
“I know. ARi, roll the dice on Phasemancer-Spirit 1,” I said as I selected the Phasemancer-Elemental 1 option.
I looked up and saw everybody staring back at me. “Look, guys, the elemental option is definitely the most bang for the buck. And if they can grow to be as powerful as Kyle is now, think about it. It’ll also open up entire skill and class trees for all of the kobolds that level up under that initial class. We might even find that we get access to the void or spirit classes later through that branch. But ARi’s right. Those spirit-mancers could have answers to some fundamental questions about all of this.”
“In the meantime, I think I need to bring in our captains from stasis. We’ve got an expedition to plan.”
I raised my hand up toward a clear space within the den, pulled my menu open, and summoned Red and Charlie. As they faded into existence right in front of us, I felt my energy reserves tank and the power pull a little at my stamina. It wasn’t as bad as spawning a high-level kobold. But pulling Red and Charlie from stasis was still taxing.
