I had to strip off my armor before climbing into the bloodline sequencer, unfortunately. Surprisingly, the needles actually didn’t hurt that badly going in. They were freakishly sharp and the actual piercing action was pretty quick. I was relieved it wasn’t as bad as advertised…until the sequencer turned on.
After that, things got murky. There was a lot of screaming, some begging, I think somebody cried. It might have been me, but it was really high pitched, so I was secretly pretending in my head that someone had let their baby crawl into the cellar.
It really didn’t last that long though, and when I was finished, Callie helped me out of the sequencer and back into my armor. By the time I was redressed, the pinpricks were all healed by my enhanced regeneration. I was still sore, and I grimaced as I dropped down on the bench at the edge of the room. “Well, that sucked,” I groaned to my mentor. “That better have been worth it.”
“It was,” he assured me. “With the last parameters ready, I can enter all the data into the Quantum State Multiplier. It’ll use The Nested Continuum as a brute force analytical tool, dispersing the calculations over a countably infinite number of potential variations of this reality to help us refine the design. I’ll be doing the design work on the final iteration myself, but having the multiplier hash out all the boilerplate design elements will allow me to cross reference with my work to identify problem spots ahead of time.”
Nodding vaguely, I tried to look like I was paying attention and not about to pass out. Luckily, I don’t think the professor cared much. He snagged a chip from the side of the iron maiden-like sequencer, carrying it over to a new device that looked like nothing so much as a microwave.
Popping the chip in, he snagged a chord from the machine he’d been using to analyze the swords and plugged it into the back, then gestured me over to stand next to him. Popping the door of the microwave thing open, he stuck the sword inside, then slammed the door and hit a bunch of buttons.
There was a low thump and a groan as the lights around us began to flicker. Inside the microwave, a spark of blue light started to glimmer, then surge. As we watched, the power was sucked out of the whole place and into the Quantum State Multiplier. Right before our eyes, the sword lifted off the bed of the microwave, floating up into the air, and sort of…warped. A million shattered timelines overlapped the image, not just of the blade, but of the space around it.
While the sword shrank, the nearby space was filled with theoretical parts and mechanical devices, clashing into each other in a sea of light and sound as they warred for supremacy, like they were battling it out to see which part was best.
It only took about fifteen minutes for all the parts to combine themselves in the optimum fashion around the sword. The blade itself remained outside the watch, with just a hole in the center for it to be inserted with Brad’s ability. “You, come over and examine this,” the Professor said as he snapped his fingers toward Dan.
My information demon didn’t need to be told twice, he hurried over to begin scanning the timepiece. Meanwhile, I just stared at it as he studied, trying my best to memorize it myself for the process of creation.
“So what do you think?” Callie asked from beside me. “Can you do it today? After that mess earlier I wouldn’t blame you for waiting. We can try tomorrow.”
That actually had been my plan up to now, but after some time thinking it over I’d decided against it. “This is the easy part,” I said with a shake of my head. “Don’t forget we have a limited amount of time in the Continuum. My contribution points can only do so much. He needs to study the process of me creating the timepiece here so he can reverse engineer it and compare as he adjusts the next iteration.”
“It won’t be as difficult as you might think,” called Professor Hawkins as he approached. “I was already planning to suggest it. Not because of the hurry, mind, but because there are several devices here that can interface with your Domain to act as a guide for the creation process and enable me to not only take more detailed measurements, but aid you in production more completely. It should make the process much smoother, and I can step in to make alterations if necessary.”
“I thought the Quantum State Multiplier would just make it perfect?” I asked with a raised brow.
He shook his head. “Mythcrafting is based on imagery and intention. Mythology is a matter of human perception, so it can’t really be calculated to exactitude. No matter how high quality your equipment, there will always be a difference between a technologically designed blueprint and one that came from a real mind. Humans have instinct and creativity. That’s why this design is aligned with your other timepieces at only thirteen movements. It gives you the chance to refine it yourself over time.”
“And that's why you’re doing the second iteration yourself,” I realized. “Because the Quantum State Multiplier can’t make the necessary adaptations.”
“Of course,” he snorted. “The QSM does the brute force calculations to get them out of the way. It gives me a starting point, but how to apply those data sets will be up to me. The only reason we can use it for this part is because you’ve already done all the groundwork. You have the template completed, have the bloodline, and you’re using the original artifact as the foundation. All the variables have been removed.”
That made sense, if they had a machine that could do this kind of thing easily there would be no reason to teach it at all. “Alright,” I said as I stood and stretched. I was feeling better after a bit of rest. My absurd Vitality and my regeneration made it easy for me to shrug off most things that weren’t a serious life threatening danger. “So where is this device?”
He led me across the lab to a small futuristic looking table. It was dark blue with strips of glowing white crystal inlaid into it in strange circuitous patterns. He slapped a palm on it. “You’ll take this into your Domain to begin the process. I’ll access it from out here and communicate through the device. It’s designed to interface with Mythcrafting constructs, and is especially well suited to the style I’ve been teaching you.”
“Got it,” I said as I leaned down to pick the thing up. “I can just enter my Domain here, right?”
“Of course,” he snorted. “There isn’t anywhere in this academy that might be destabilized by accessing a Domain. Spatial irregularity of that level is usually reserved for things like traps or defenses meant to keep out high rankers.”
I’d actually seen that done a few times back at the beginning of my journey, though it wasn’t aimed at Domains. Still, it was interesting to see the similarities.
Stepping back, I entered my Domain. Stepping inside with the table rather than projecting it was easier, and I appeared inside the throne room, making my way into the conference room behind it where I was planning to do my work.
Nine Phoenix and Brad were waiting for me there, and Dan arrived not long after. “Alright, so everyone knows what we’re doing here?”
After getting the nod, I set up the crafting table next to the larger conference table that was already there. “Ok Shane, now you’ll need to synchronize with the harmonic crystal relays,” said Professor Hawkins voice through the table. “Those shiny strips are made to absorb your attributes. Once you’ve completed that step, I want you to slip one of your mental parallels in there. Remote control skills like that are an excellent substitute for more dedicated Mythcrafting methods.”
Nodding along, I followed his instructions. First was the attributes. The plans had identified the attribute compositions we would get the best use out of in this case, though only generally. Like he’d said, he’d fine tune it as we went. Still, it meant I knew what we needed for the most part. The cosmic phoenix attribute, a general spatial attribute, speed, motion, momentum, there were a lot of minor attributes that could be used to create strengthened alloys (so to speak) of attributes that would make for better parts.
For normal projects, we would try to keep the number of attributes small, but since we were using a real artifact as the core, we wanted to synergize the design as much as possible. Real objects were more complicated than most Mythcrafted constructs, which meant more attributes were necessary to create a proper facsimile.
Once I had loaded all the attributes in, I split off a parallel with Piece of Mind and slipped it inside as well. From there, it was time to begin. I focused on the Mythcrafting process, beginning to construct my elements, and…I was blown away.
Normally, I needed serious focus throughout my entire construction process to maintain the integrity of my parts, but with this thing, even a brief flicker of attention would create the foundation and then I could just add to it. My elements were held in perfect stasis, without any need for input once I’d established them, but were responsive when I needed them.
The Professor watched and weighed in, adding notes on what I was doing and micromanaging my designs at some points, while going silent and allowing me complete creative freedom at others. I could see what he’d meant earlier, about the machine not having instincts. Certain design choices just felt…wrong, and I changed them almost instinctively, with no pushback from Professor Hawkins.
We breezed through the design, and it felt so much smoother and more natural than my last attempts. Mephisto’s Waltz had arrived during the process, and he also weighed in when asked. The Professor consulted him on several design choices as we went, making alterations to more accurately capture the essence of the demon in question.
Finally, we reached a critical point. “Brad,” I called to the young demon. “Open the pit,” he stepped forward, raising his hands, and a dark void formed in the air in front of the timepiece. With no hesitation, I snagged the cosmic phoenix feather blade and just shoved it into the hole in the air. After that, we went back to work, altering and adjusting the device to make sure it was holding up like we needed before the final step.
“Alright, Wally,” I asked Mephisto’s Waltz (because Wally was a better name, it just sounded fast). “You ready for this?”
He confirmed, and I nodded to Brad, who began the process again. Once more, a pit opened, but this one opened in the air in front of Wally himself rather than in front of the timepiece. Reaching out, I gently lifted the timepiece off the table and set it into the hole, then pulled back to let Brad close it.
As before, there was a sort of…shift. I could tell it was adjusting internally, and I watched worriedly as he twitched and shuddered, before it finally ended. Mehisto’s Waltz…no, Cosmic Waltz, had officially completed his transformation. He’d even been boosted a tier to tier seven, putting him almost up to date with my other top performers.
Having finished, I felt a wave of weakness overtake me, and I dropped into a nearby chair. I heard a wild laugh through the table, and the Professor’s voice erupted forth like a trumpet of salvation. “It WORKED!” he cackled madly. “It worked perfectly. I have all the data I need. It’ll take me a month to complete the preliminary designs, and then we’ll need to dial it in. Now, return that crafting table and you can go. I have work to do.”