Augmented Aspects [Steampunk], [Progression], [Gamelit]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycled

A setup.

I was setup, by my own Simulacrum no less. Yes, it was my fault for rejecting the tug, our international symbol for needing to change places. But to my defense, I was kind of busy at that moment.

At that moment I thought there were more important things at play, namely trying to find the ultimate goal of any world ruled by game logic. That's right, I was trying to find cheats, and I did. Not only did I find cheats, but they seemed to be approved by the system. Worse, the system seemed to be forcing me to acknowledge the cheats outright, before I could even be pulled away.

That was how I found myself not only receiving, but also completing my daily quest. A quest that had to be completed immediately upon activation and acceptance.

Just seeing that daily quest, I smiled greedily to myself. Suddenly the rules became so much easier to understand. As I was now, I could not join the battle to save our planet from defunding, which is basically a death sentence for all of us. Also, from what I was gleaming from the wording, the Teleiotís who also wanted to partake in the defense of BiPrism were also bound by the rules as they were incomplete by themselves, meaning they needed a pilot.

Of course, this meant that without any intervention on my part the Legrand army with their advanced Tier IV and above mechanoid units would easily be able to join. Not only would they be able to join, but they would be seen as one individual unit.

There was also the fact that as they were now, not many people would be crazy enough to willingly enter a Teleiotís, and trust that the machine would not try to kill, or reflexively resist combat that might inflict real pain to them. It was a trust thing, for not only would the pilot have to trust the Teleiotís, but the Teleiotís would also have to trust the pilot. Building trust, that took time and effort.

At least that is what I thought, before I saw nine, yes nine Teleiotís all bowing their heads towards me and kneeling. I almost didn't notice, as they are still freaking huge, even while kneeling.

"Um, Dr. Spiritlight," Raygunnr began awkwardly.

Feeling his words come through in the form of Mana language, I turned to face him. Then speaking in both my regular voice, while aided by Mana Language, a task I have become used to I replied, "yes?"

"I have been asked by the others to request that you choose one of us as your faithful ride, so that we too might aide in the defense of our great planet." Raygunnr stated. At that request, I turned to see that all of the other Teleiotís were waiting patiently for my response. Seeing them all in such a state, I decided right then and there that my dream of being able to build my own super mech was gone. As it would be cruel of me to deny any of these Teleiotís the chance to defend this world, with me.

That said, it was basically cheating when you thought about it. We had sentient Mechanoid suits, that could be aided by, or work with pilots who could cast and perform secondary or tertiary tasks seemingly independent of whatever the Teleiotís was doing. No, this was the perfect choice and I now realized this was the case.

Also, only one task, well one task involving me separating one Teleiotís from the remaining eight was kind of a jerk move.

Mentally accepting "yes" from the quest, I began going about the process of choosing which Teleiotís would be my suit. The sentient and independent device that I would entrust my life to, just as they would entrust their life to me.

Looking at all of the Teleiotís, it was clear that of all of them, the healer, AKA Raygunnr was both the lowest level, but also the strangest. Unlike the other DiMes here, Raygunnr had just as much capability with Qi and Mana as the others did, but he was unique in that he had a true Qi core, unlike the others. I was also most used to Raygunnr always sitting in the background of my classes. Never intruding or imposing himself.

While I didn't know how the other Teleiotís would act, I did not how Raygunnr would act, which made the choice that much easier for me.

"Raygunnr," I spoke in my dual language method, "will you put your faith in me? Follow me to the pits of hell and back? No questions asked? Do what I say unconditionally, even without knowing the full reason why?"

My Angel's Sight let me see my words and mana hanging in the air, with a slight weight. As I spoke, I could see golden streaks of lightning filling the free-floating mana. These were signs that I was enacting a course of fate.

Tingle.

I felt the slight pull from one of my Simulacrum, but the system all but resisted the connection for me. Which was good, as leaving now would likely disqualify the lot of us gathered here from joining the defense of our planet.

"Yes," Raygunnr replied, and with that the energy that had been looming in the air like a stalking reaper, converged into a thread of fate that branched out from me to him, linking us together in this task.

With that, I saw the quest marker update, not just from my daily, but from the Regional Qualifier as well.

However, it seemed that I was not done here. While both quests were technically complete, I still needed to find eight additional pilots for the remaining eight Teleiotís that were all looking at me expectantly.

For a moment I didn't quite know what to think. But I did know that there were still bands of golden karma that linked me to the remaining eight Teleiotís.

I thought about it, but my mind was coming up blank. For I didn't even have eight friends. Well friends that weren't already slated to partake in the easier mana and qi related competitions.

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Then I realized something else.

It took me a moment as it was sort of confusing at first, for I was surrounded on all sides by bowing and seemingly reverent Teleiotís. Each Teleiotís had their own golden threads leading to me, but it wasn't until I took a moment to count that I realized that there were a total of 17 golden threads of Karma. One connected me to Raygunnr, and that one was by far the strongest and most complete.

Then looking further at the threads I saw that eight connected directly from me to the DiMes Teleiotís who were all waiting expectantly. That left eight other threads that were connected to me and seemed to stretch off into eternity.

Not going to lie, I was a bit confused. Were these eight other Teleiotís that I could swap out for these eight, assuming I thought the others were stronger?

That's when I reached down and grabbed the cord of Karma, one leading off in an unknown direction to an entity who was somehow linked to me for this very operation.

Grabbing the cord, I felt my hand slide through, as if I was a ghost, or it was incorporeal energy that was barely visible to my altered vision, likely the latter.

"Okay," I stated as I saw the cord, I felt the energy, that meant there was a way I theoretically should be able to reach out and hold energy and just peek at what is at the other end of this tether.

Taking a deep breath, I focused, realizing the cord was energy, and I was great at dealing with and manipulating energy. The first thing I did was coat my hand in qi, but that wasn't enough to grab the golden thread of karma. For qi seemed to act as water would to oil, basically just pushing it around, good to know that it could contain the golden cord, but not enough to do what I wanted.

With the qi coating done, I then began looping mana around the golden cord of karma, which again helped focus the cord into a more compact version of itself. By now, the one free floating karma cord was of the same intensity as the karma cords that linked me to the eight non-piloted Teleiotís.

"Still not enough," I mutter to myself as I pull out my third eye to focus.

As I did, I could see Raygunnr reflexively take a half step back, I wondered why, only to realize I had my tongue stuck out. I chastise myself for the act, but still it helps focus, especially with needle work, well thread work.

Reaching back with my now free left hand I touch my wing and get a gentle coating of my pixie wing dust, then spit into my hand.

Eww.

I instantly regret the idea of spitting into my handful of pixie dust, but it did do the thing I wanted of making the substance more congealed into a slimy liquid. Then with careful application I grip the same cord that my right hand is holding into a semi-solid state. Then wrapping my pixie dust infused spit onto the cord, I coat it entirely.

Flicker.

At that gross moment, the cord of karma solidifies in my hand, at which time it seems to be more of a rope than anything.

Seeing the new skill come to life, I feel a thrill of excitement. No doubt this is going to be claimed as one of the rewards for my two quests that have just updated, but that's okay. Energy Solidification seems like a skill that will have a lot of versatility, if I give it a chance.

With the cord of karma now fully manifested in my , spit covered hands. Yes, while I spit in the one, I do feel a bit of slime on my other hand, from where I worked the energy into the cord. The fact that it is my own spit only seems to make it worse, as if I am the cause of this sudden revulsion, still I am almost done, focus through the spit, and see who is at the other end of this cord. Try to see if they are better than any of these DiMes here.

"Okay, the easy step is now done. Now I just need to gaze at the other end." I say to myself, speaking my plans into life always seems to work, well I think it should work at least. Do I always talk out loud? That is rather concerning if I do.

"Are you done?" Raygunnr askes, apparently seeing my internal debate with myself as a sign that I am done.

I mean to his defense he just saw me manifest a golden lasso out of nowhere, wait, can he see it like this?

"Can you see the cord?" I ask.

"The golden lasso thingy, yes Wonder Pixie." Raygunnr replies his mana as dry and crips as ever, but I can't help but think I am missing something.

Still, no time for that, as I focus on the other end of the karma cord, and realize that it is a solid and complete wave of energy that links me to the other end. Realizing this, I think of something similar to a string connected by two cups.

That's when I try to send Illusionary magic through the cord and connect it to the other end. I focus on the spell form, creating it the way I envision.

I even got a new spell notification.

So yes, a new spell created, but there was clearly something wrong with the cast, for what I saw at the other end was me. Which would imply that I created a mirror type spell? At least that was my initial thought, until I took in more of the details. The me I was viewing was curled up into a ball, hanging onto an old lady that looked oddly familiar. Well her form looked familiar, but I could only see her mana signature and body's shape relative to the energy within her. Focusing on the connection, I realized that if I focused I could hear what was coming through the other end. That's when I heard it, the voice of my favorite storytellers of all time. After hearing her voice, I knew who she was, as I would know that voice and cadence anywhere.

"Then they all leveled up, the end."

Hearing that, something in me shattered, as I realized one why my Simulacrum had tried so hard to get me to change place with her. Only for our chance to be stopped by the system that wanted to check all of its boxes for me to compete in this stupid competition.

Worse, I could see that the time was nearing its end, as I saw golden flecks beginning to crack and burst their way free from the story teller.

Suddenly I realized what needed to be done, there were eight Teleiotís, and clearly eight of my Simulacrums. Not worrying about logistics of possibly closing down Arcanarus Tower by my leaving, or any other issues, I go about assigning Simulacrum roles to different Teleiotís.

At first I didn't think there was any difference between them, but only after checking did I find that there were slight deviations. As some of my Simulacrums seemed to have stronger karmic ties to different Teleiotís. Not really focusing on the how or why, just knowing that I needed to get done with this task as quickly as possible. I began working.

Like one of those connection games, while keeping hold of the cord to my Simulacrum talking to my mother, I held up the cord and found three Teleiotís that seemed to resonate with her. Not truly caring about the hows or whys, I just found the cord that resonated the brightest, then connected them.

The moment I made the connection between the two, I knew I was onto something as my tracker updated.

Knowing that I was on the right path, I began working twice as quickly, one hand reached back to soak in pixie wing dust, while I spit in the other. Then a quick rub together, ignoring the ick factor and began grabbing one cord, not looking down the end to see which Simulacrum it was, just trusting in the strength and pull of karma to direct me. I connected one Simulacrum to a Teleiotís after another.

Then finally the connection was completed for all eight. I even got two quest completion notifications.

I clicked that I understood the completion, but minimized and held the quests from forcing their rewards on me, as I closed up shop and finally was able to Teleport away freely.

Then before leaving, I realized I might be rude to the people who I was trusting my life to, along with he lives of my Simulacrum, which seems like it would hurt. That's why I took a second to say, "thank you all for choosing me as your pilot. I look forward to working with you all in the future, but unfortunately I have a prior engagement that I am otherwise late for. Toodles."

Then with that I Positional Switch with my Simulacrum who got to hear mother's story.

Poof.

Then getting there, I hear the tail end of a conversation and see that my mother, yes my mother is about to burst into a stream of contented light. The same as any spirit would who had just completed their last major goal keeping them behind. Seeing her, I speak the first words that come to my mind.

"Wait, what? Mom!" I stammer out, not my most eloquent of speeches, but I do manage to say something.

"Oh, dear, I finally get to see you. Come here, let me hold you one last time." Mother, my mother says as she holds her bursting spirit form together by the strength of her willpower alone. I reach up my hands to hug her, only to pause as I realize both my hands are covered in my own pixie spit.

"Oh one second, I need to," I begin as I do what any kid with dirty hands does, rub them against her pant legs before I get caught.

"Enough with that, come and give me a hug," Mother demands, then before I can raise my arms back up from my side, I am hugged and embraced by the warmest most comforting feeling ever. A mother's love for her child, and it is all mine. I get to feel it, one last time.

Suddenly all these years of searching, waiting, and dreaming of this moment come together, and it was all worth it. Then like a burst water ballon it was gone in a second.

SWOOSH!

Even then, with the power bursting out of the mortal shell, the last mortal shell that would ever hold my mother, I heard her speak.

"I am so proud of you."

"Thank you," I stammer out, tears all but forcing me to go almost mute.

"But will you do one last favor for me?" Mother askes in that way that I know I can't refuse.

"Anything."

That's when she gave me a final request, one that I would not refuse, even if I could.