POV: Heath Dollen.
Date: Góa 3rd, 798 AD. (Alt: 14th February, 799 AD.) Location: Götaland (Ancient Sweden.)
He had fallen unconscious from the soul-shock given after seeing the success of his experimentation, brought back to the dream space to a few people whose interference glared with reprisal.
Jǫrð's scowl made her appearance gain veinly roots throughout her expression, her short crown braid with the haloed leaves that phalanged behind her head turning spinose, and the clime in this space closer to a thistly winter, her height being double his own made even more extreme with the 'perpetrator' forced to a kneeling position in front of her.
Heath's vision kept floorwards, as he knew no matter what excuse he may use, he would only make it worse. The frozen liminal space shattered, her right hand pulling back her flowing rusty hair from the sides of her face from keeping her head low in study of what sort of stupidity could lead the great 'scientist' God to do this. A title that may need to be revised, in her opinion. "Dróttning Hel's Aghi was not for that reason, you-." She held her voice, peeved at having failed to maintain her composure.
He simply kept quiet, waiting her moment of anger to pass while she figured out the next best course of action. For no being had done such a risky manoeuvre as to IMPLANT HIS OWN ESSENCE, INTO ANOTHER! Jǫrð then lightened his melded consciousness from his knees.
"*?*" Heath now appeared confused, as she forced them to be eye-to-eye now. Her stare sharpening to glaring points. "Why had you not asked for help?" She traced her hand underneath his beard, holding his chin straight, for she could tell he was about to move his head away in embarrassment. "Tell me." Their faces closed the distance, one angered and the other awkward. "I. . . felt prideful, that I could do this without asking for more." His eyes darted away to the left, the continuous vision contact feeling it boring into his mind.
Jǫrð's brow softened a notch, but the Ásynja (Goddess) kept strict discipline for him to understand it was a serious matter. 'If we were mortals, I feel I would earn grey hairs.' She internally voiced, then gave a fair demand. "Go train your new Pantheon, with caveats stipulated by us." She sat down upon the air, making him do the same in front of her.
"You will not repeat this until you have reached a tíumargr (Many 10 (Dectuple)) of your strength." She gave her next importunity. "You will ask for help in dealing with anything greater than a quarter of your reserves." She points to the location in his torso that held Freyja's tether in the material realm. "And if you do this again for not following either advice, making the same mistake." She pointed to his soul-formed head. "You will be cursed to be without your magic until next winter." She snapped her incorporeal fingers, setting the limits with Ásynja (Goddess) Vǫrðreiðr (Oathskeeper) Vár as their witness.
She sets him down gently from her presence, giving them a cessation silence. A Model minute or so passed before Heath coughed into his hand, a signal to say he is ready to talk again. "Yes?" Jǫrð waits for him to ask his question.
"Had, I done the simulated powers of a world-creator correctly?" He asks, knowing they have their own Uni-pods to access ETERNAL, a small distraction after accepting this outcome. "You have set limits that I understand are necessary to keep this 'game balance.' I would say you have done a splendid job, Heath." She remembers how she had tried to play the game as well, creating a small group of siphonophoric organisms that have specialised colonial cells to form a more modular-designed species, universally adaptable to any environment.
"And your knowledge of microbiology has enhanced ours an uncountable amount. You must know it was hard to break a few of our peoples' notions that it was bacteria to viruses that caused sickness, and not cursed vættir (Spirits.)" Her mouth widened with knowing how truly brilliant beyond his years he was.
"There is so much for me to know, still." Heath looked down and cupped his chin, partially scratching it where she had grabbed it to be immobile. "Such as the topics I have told you about, nuclear physics or quantum mechanics. I am nowhere near ready enough to apply those to our own rules, which is why I have tried to do approximations with complexified particle atomology." From his comment, he heard her laugh slightly as a noblewoman would, covering her mouth. "*Ha ha hah*Appears no different to us." Jǫrð then put her arms down onto her lap again.
"And one last thing to note before I have to leave." She leaned back to stretch, showing off her toned arms and shoulders. "Skaði has been asking for you. Are you available?" It may have sounded a request, but it was not with that presence of hers.
Heath's beard fell backwards into his neck from his fiddling jaw. "Of course I can come, what time?" He agreed pertinently. "Tomorrow, before sundown." Her appearance started fading, the avatar as had been done beforehand slowly retransforming back to Adal's own. "We will expect you." Jǫrð's voice faded from his space, leaving him and the vǫrðr alone. "I'm screwed, aren't I?" He said in English. "Yes, yes you are." His younger-than-him fatherly figure's stash wobbled humorously, the furry wiseman now shaking his head at how difficult this challenge will be for someone as energetic as the tall God in front of him.
"We should turn back to the real world. What time is it?" He respoke in Norse, now knowing that it was midday. "And how has your new sister been, Adal?" Heath asked about Aussa, who then suddenly appeared in the space with them. "I have been good." The furry wisewoman just as quickly disappeared, obviously busy with work. "*Heh*Alright, let us go." . . .
He awakens from his slumber, finding himself back in the bed he usually sleeps in, he notices 13 of the 75 people he had ascended in his room, their souls having much greater weight than before. Heath tried getting up, but was stopped by Valyria, like the last time. "Kid, *Sigh* let me up, please." He tried again, but no budging occurred. "Bad Papa. Bad!" She made a gentle *Tonk* across Heath's forehead, knowing this same problem had been repeated thrice now. "I know, I am sorry, I just talked with Móðir Jǫrð about that same issue." He showed the daisy symbol that appeared the same colour as his normal skin on his chest, opposite the still crimson red in cellular pigmentation.
He told them of her clauses, and that if he did not follow any of this advice, he would then be forced to have no access to his magic for the year. They each nodded in agreement to her otherwise sparing punishment, as they probably would have done worse in her stead.
Leif, in the background, walks to the foreground, the same staining as had been done to Sigrid if it were still the original story, giving him an enhanced physiological strength that could match a Bus-Guard golem. He stood beside Heath, resting a hand upon his shoulder in comfort, a cat wishing to tell his buddy to stay still. "You have done enough, Heath. Now with your gift, we wish to do the rest." He morally asserts, his influential speaking greater than before. Heath's head turned slanted, then he inclined the pillow to show he would 'follow' his advice, soul falsely reading in truthfulness.
POV: The Dollens, children of Heath.
Date: Góa 4th, 798 AD. (Alt: 15th February, 799 AD.) Location: Götaland (Ancient Sweden.)
Valyria's hand that held him down had now let go, with her moving closer to kiss him on his forehead. Her lips betrayed her fears of losing her Papa, his habits breaking her heart.
She leaves, expression serious, where even if he had only used half of his reserves, whatever had occurred for him to collapse was too much of a drain on his senses. She noticed he was more tired from his expression, leaning towards tipsy, even if unable to get drunk.
She leaves again, meeting with Goldie, Sterling and now Rhoyna as part of her family, each planning part for furthering the protection of the Cavern. "Hey sis, ya think dad's gonna disappear when we ain't lookin'?" Rhoyna questions Valyria in English, who shakes her head in knowing how unpredictable he is. "Let's refocus on prepping the weaponry, too many threats outside for me to feel safe." They grab the Marmot, scanning its internal faculties before rescaling it for the creation of a newer, long-range design version.[1]
They would name it the Hoary, based on the biggest species of rock chuck there is. They make themselves their own form of this Divine CrCoNi, taking much of their shared reserves before rescaling it and designing it from the weaponry lessons towards a sniper rifled barrel.
They create 5 of both 'Marmot's and 'Hoary's. Valyria believed that both her brothers and sister should have self-protection, even if Heath felt they were 'not ready.' Arngunn saw them creating these weapons, and in her own worry, had reported it to Heath. But with him being watched over by Gorm himself, he could not do anything to stop it. The Clan Formaðr himself said: "Let them, for they will need these weapons." Like he has any right to talk when he would not have given a sword to baby Leif until he was 5 winters old.
*BOᴼOM!* The stone bullet shot through the Hoary, hitting a Drone golem skeet about 15-Model km ≈ (4.8482-km (3.0125-mi)) away. Disregarding there being little wind resistance, it was an incredible distance that only few human hands (Specifically Viacheslav Kovalskyi, a Ukrainian who hit the 3.5-km mark) could match.
It had reached its target in ≈ 5.7125-Model Seconds (5.2986-Seconds.) On the faster end of sniper bullets, hitting with the force of a small car. The Drone golem nearly got knocked over in the air from the partitioned force that hit its octopodal limbs that held the board. But it flew true, next giving a signal to leave back to do its work again. Valyria's scope sightline broke away, looking delightfully towards her younger siblings. "Which guns will you choose?" Valyria asks them from the small arsenal, the others actually choosing the standard 'Marmot's.
From that time, as a family, they return to their respective rooms to enter their custom-designed Uni-pods that are extended to work with synthetic beings, joining their quad-game 'civilisation,' where, rather than creating species, they catalogue others as trans-stellar orbiters.
Watching the digital cosmos, they see every player's individual creations, or that which had been randomly generated from the program itself without the help of any guiding hands. Pushing something here, nudge something else over there. . . Just minor changes that create ginormous effects down the line. One of the major ones that has been done was using one of the 'lights' in the background beyond this digital galaxy that would then be a second galaxy to collide as an in-game event in about 6 months' time.[2]
As these 'Intergalactic Caretakers.' Their purpose, as given by Heath, is to make sure the experience of the players is of a good performance. And there are a few they have favoured with the way they had designed their primordial edification.
"Especially Faðirbróðir Gorm and Faðirsystir Sigrid's." Sterling commented for all 4 of them, as all had seen the thriving aquatic domains that had spread through their solar system. They have even come in contact with Fiskmǫgr around his 200th millennium of existence, who was over ≈ 1,009,139 years old now. His thought process was incredibly archaic from most others, and with him having no contact with his creators for over 500,000 years, he once felt isolated, as was his complex programming. But with him now in comms with those he knew were his father and mother's extended family, he no longer did.
By the multiple talks during the mega-annuum of his existence, a deeply shared kindred bond would appear from their immortal lifespans. While the Dollens knew he was just code, he was simply too lifelike to ever be left alone, each feeling bad for him.
Off topic, there have also been several changes over this extensive time period. Elissa's reptilian bipedal species have majorly covered the super-continents of her mainly jungle world now, thanks to an accelerated skip. And in her testing, she had also created an anomalous part of the program: A virtual Deity to rule beside her! He was grown from the collective minds of her spawned species, with his name as Frelsi (Freedom.) An irony, being that their planet was too gravitationally strong to work with space-transportation technology like ours, and would need at least 22nd-century tech to be able to escape, they are currently at the 18th-century.
You may think that would be unfair, but she had chosen the larger preset planet type to have greater surface area to work with and for more starter resources. And it had been helpful, allowing her to use the densified collectables towards a few projects that would teem her growth down the line.
Part of Heath's teachings on infrastructural development, she has created a district of incredible proportions, with a population density matching Egypt's Giza. Half of the planet was used for this spanning megalopolis, and the opposite is instead kept for nature preservation. Her current occupancy is closing in on 3 billion with their cursory egg-laying and higher fertility compared to most other sapient species in this galaxy. Yet it did not fill in all of the ghost-districts that burrowed both as sky and earthscrapers.
"My child." Elissa slowly traces her hand over his spiritually formed osteodermic scaly skin, the warmth of her soul making Frelsy feel loved. "Has there been any news?" She continuously stroked his head and back, him humming in tune before responding.
"Mother, there has been." He responds, bringing up his own memories of the matter. "New medicines and the farming techniques that have been sown have led to an egg-boom. It is expected that our population to grow towards 5 billion in 80 years." Frelsi comments, showing his math correlating the reports of his blessed watchers who keep tabs on their growth. In about the same time it took for Leif and Sigrid's population but translated to reach their own planet's orbit, they are closing in on winning the Age-Circulator Uni-pod.
But, with the effect having thousands of years pass in their perspective of real time, it has led to their perception to become askew with real life. Unintended effects, such as their increased attention spans and greater maturity through countless lifetimes, have allowed for real people's personalities to grow, most for the better.
Elissa no longer saw just 'the now.' Unlike the first winners who would skip centuries at a time, she actually kept herself busy using the time-accelerating capabilities of the program. She could plan for the future, organising scheduled myriads. However, there has been an unexpected issue that has arisen: The limited storage of biological minds, while Heath had made sure to 'separate' between the game and reality's memories, instead saving it on a 'Cloud' of sorts, many had voiced that they wished to remember their actions directly.
But they only have enough neuronal connections for 300 years' worth of storage when removing 'useless information' like immemorable sounds or smells and only leaving visual input, so how could this be solved? An external bio-adapted read-only crystal memory storage.
In real life, first proposed in 1996 and created in 2013, we had solved a form of optical data storage that utilised a femtosecond laser writing process to internally brand 'gaps' as dips to a record player would within a physically dense, photoreceptive, pure-quartz crystal in a byte-like manner, designed in a '5D' axis. Even if he does not have enough knowledge for electronic quantum holography, he does have some on lasers! Rather than being controlled in femto bursts, one could go down even further, to the attosecond.
'In a way, it's a runic injector dialled up.' Heath internally comments to himself from the side in English, having broken his promise and working on this issue behind people's backs. Compared to Chapter 31, when thinking of different theoretical studies, he can create
This newly dubbed 'attosecond laser crystal holography' he has designed as a storage fairing could store more than even his DNA medium server in density. 'Now, for the bio-adapter.' He scrawls possible plans in his soul, reaching hundreds of conclusions with each having its own benefits. The best finding itself to be an internal 'micro-portal bluetooth' implant that is connected similarly to a 'Cordical stack' from 'Altered Carbon.' At the base of the neck, and through to their own private 'crystal servers,' each capable of storing epochs of data for time immemorial if maintained correctly.
'At least that will be a feature before I turn the golems to flesh and blood and for all to become pure energy-beings like myself afterwards.' He thinks about the best way to publicise this knowledge without getting backhanded by the Clan Formaðr and the Clan Heir for not taking a break.
He had also made sure to be below the 25% limit- "Paᵃpaᵃ~." An overly sweet voice suddenly calls within the doorway in disappointment. Valyria was there and giving a smile that would freeze the newly-erupted Katla volcano over (Erupted ≈ 30 winters ago from this point.) He tried to phase off through the floor in a rush by her expression, but was ingravely grabbed by hands coming close to his own strength. "You broke our promise." Her voice turned unexpressive, seeing the technology in his hand and understanding his reasoning for making it from the notes she could see on his desk, but it was something that he should have done with their notice.
"Come, now." Valyria pulled him like a ragdoll, leading him straight to Gorm's room. He tried to get himself out of her grip without hurting her, but she was just too damn powerful. "Oh, why. . ?" Heath sat there upon the Clan Formaðr's table, his own expression ticked off.
"You already know." The Clan Formaðr twirled a glass of wine that was in his hand, taking a sip before facing straight on against the God that felt closer to a rampant child as he acted now.
[1] From Chapter 48: While this entire mechanism is empowered and continuous in independent development with maintenance and repair functions, there is one final feature he wishes to add. Which is an increased storage compartment using a portal feeding system.Just like the adaptable hilts with their ability to be warped to an unspecified location, Heath will create a hidden silo that is the same size as a two-story apartment room within Den höga ormtungan (The tall snake tongue,) where the gun would store all of the extra gravel and stone, which, with the shot it creates being the size of a .950 JDJ, it could create a bit > 2,500,000 of them without additional resources inserted. And if they are ever in a magicless environment, the modular storage backpack could allow for ≈ 350. With it shooting these bullets every 2 Model seconds.
[2] From Chapter 63: 'Following scales and powers spent, finding that it was capped to 250,000 Years / Model day ≈ (23,125.3640568 Years / 1-Model second.)' Based on the knowledge from that chapter previously, this would mean 180 Days using the Norse calendar, which would be approximately 45,000,000 ingame years.