“I don’t think I’m going to run away,” Drew said, after a few seconds of thought, “Ares indicated that I needed to stay here to gain the most benefit.”
One quirked an eyebrow, scratching at his beard, “Sorry, who is Ares?”
“Ares is the Order of the Dragon Admiral that contacted me.”
One went still, and Drew could see him rapidly considering that information. “You’ve already had your Accolade ceremony?” His voice was devoid of emotion. Drew recognized it as the voice he used when anger was threatening to overcloud his judgment, and blinked, trying to determine what had caused it.
Drew shook his head, “No, they just contacted me due to the high difficulty level of my starting area. Told me that as a valuable asset I would need extra assistance, or it was unlikely I would survive.” He had gotten a lot better at half-truths in the military. Part of not being able to talk about his work was that he needed to be able to deflect questions in a believable way. One never had that requirement, and although he was sure the other version of himself could win in a fight. He hadn’t had to develop his social skills to the level that Drew had.
One’s voice had a little bit more emotion to it as responded, “Well, that makes a certain kind of sense. I can’t imagine having to start off with that much ambient mana.” Drew wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he still needed One to help him with the node system.
“Anyway, so how do I configure the monster type the node creates?” Drew asked, trying to distract One.
“Once you select the purpose, it will give you a list of what kind of monsters you create. You can sort them by a number of different options. With your mana levels, you probably won’t be able to deviate too much from what it started out with, which according to this was something called Ashalla, whatever those are.”
Drew frowned, if the system wouldn’t let him change it from the Trolls…he wasn’t sure he could deal with more intelligent monsters that were capturing humans in the area. “We called them Trolls; they were an intelligent bipedal race that were…well, a lot like trolls.”
One nodded his head, “Huh, pretty rare. We didn’t get a lot of intelligent creatures out here in Colorado, although one of the guys who set up down in El Paso said they had some goblin critters.” He scratched his beard again thinking, “Probably because it’s already a fourth-grade node. I just barely got my first fifth-grade node setup here and I’ve been fighting for eight years. You have some kind of luck to start in the primary nexus. High risk, but great rewards.”
Drew nodded his head, “Yeah. Let me see what I can do with the options while you’re still on the line.” He touched the option to keep the node as a dungeon training center.
You have selected Dungeon Training Center as this node’s primary function. As that was the previous function, no additional mana must be spent to convert it. What creature type would you like to populate the dungeon?
What followed was a massive list of creatures ranging from squirrels and rabbits to dragons and leviathans. Almost all of them were grayed out, requiring a higher tier node. He clicked the buttons to only display those that would require less than 10,000 mana to convert into.
“Alright, I have a list of stuff that shouldn’t take too long to make. How do I figure out how much mana I generate in a day?”
Aevis answered him, though she had otherwise been silent throughout the entire conversation, “DIA Node is currently generating 500 mana per day, not counting additional bonuses from mana usage within the facility.”
One whistled, “Shunsheng duh gaowhan, the perks of a primary nexus node. That’s a lot of mana. Most of my nodes generate a third that much. With that much wiggle room, I do have some suggestions for you. First, you’ll want to buy a remote monitor interface. It’s 3000 mana, but well worth it. It will allow you to control the node from your interface instead of having to be in the control room to do it. A weeks’ worth of mana well spent, especially since you probably aren’t going to want to live in a DTC and this is your first node.”
Drew glanced over the screen in front of him, “Alright, let’s do that. How…” He was interrupted by Aevis.
“Please confirm that you would like to purchase a remote monitor for DIA node,” she said.
“Yes, I do,” Drew said, and a new notification appeared at the edge of his vision.
“Alright, next. Like I said, pick a food animal to populate the dungeon. That will give you a source of food which will otherwise probably be rough in a metro area like DC,” One said. Drew nodded and changed the options on the list of possible creature types to include only quadrupeds. Each of the options had a small image next to him, and he scrolled down until he found one that contained a cow-like creature.
“Oh yes, beef is gonna be back on the menu,” Drew said, selecting the cow-like creature, which had a mana cost of 8,000 to convert the facility, “Alright. Got it all locked in,” he glanced up at One and smiled.
“Thanks, One. It was nice talking to you.”
“Likewise, Three. You probably won’t be able to call me back for a bit, but once you get a communications node, you should have plenty of mana to start a call. I’d recommend your next couple nodes be either DTCs or BGAs until you have five linked nodes. That will let you set up a habitat; everything gets easier after you can get a system recognized habitat node. You’ll definitely want at least one of those and an armory before the WB spawns. Comm nodes are great, but they’re a luxury you won’t need for a bit since odds are there won’t be another officer on earth-3 for years. But me and Two would be happy to share our knowledge if you get one up and operating.”
“Anyway, the mana stipend is about up. Try not to die. It’s super hard to find people to talk to. Oh yeah, that reminds me, Two is gonna want to know if you and Melanie ended up working out?”
“Melanie? Nah man. She married her dance partner and has a kid and two ferrets,” Drew said. Melanie was a girl he had dated before joining the coast guard. They broke up due to the distances involved.
“Dang, Two’s not gonna like that. He’s been pining after her for years.” A countdown appeared on the screen, telling them they only had thirty seconds remaining.
Drew laughed, “Yeah, wait ’till I tell you about Emily, it’s a good story.”
One perked up, “Emily? Redhead Emily or blonde Emily?”
“Blonde. It’s a good story. I’ll tell you as soon as I can,” Drew said, and the countdown hit zero, causing One’s image to blink out of existence. He looked around the room, watching his people work. The three guys outside the pyramid had backed away and looked nervous.
“Aevis, is there anything else I need to do?” He asked the AI.
“Negative, the facility will convert to use the Korath as its base monster type. It should take between nine and ten days before conversion is complete. You can check the status of it at any time through your remote monitor interface.”
Drew nodded and with a last glance around, “Alright, so how do I leave this room?”
Aevis gestured to a small square near where he appeared, “Simply stand in that location and it will transport you out of the facility. Have a pleasant day, Midshipman Drew Michalik-3.”
The AI’s projected form disappeared, and Drew walked over to the square. In the blink of an eye, he was back on the ledge in front of the gate. Looking around, he waved at his three companions who started shouting at him. However, they were all shouting at the same time, so it took him a moment to realize what they were saying. Turning to look at what they were pointing at he saw one of the bodies shaking. Hair having grown all over its form.