The gate was too small.
The tiny leader, Ghira, was also noticing that the massive 17 foot tall gates only came up to Adam's waist.
Adam gently moved his tree sized trunk to tap the arch... which felt far too flimsy to handle him bumbling into it if he tried to crawl under the thing. Not that it would matter, his shoulders were too wide. And he was slowly damaging the pathway just trying to walk here.
He glanced down at the leader of the city. "I uh. I think it would be best for me to relax out here for a while." Where everything wouldn't crumble. Like the streets. And any houses he bumped into. And these tiny, easily missed people that were scurrying about.
Ghira glanced at the slightly cracked archway, and nodded. "Doesn't mean we can't show you some appreciation Adam." It really made his throat a bit sore having to be this loud, but his new friend was around 35 feet tall. Almost eleven meters of muscle and awkward 'I can sit over here' in one package. So one had to adapt.
The ground vibrated as Adam used the defensive wall as a back rest, thankfully far more sturdy than the gate structure section. He felt his body almost hissing as the hot muscles finally began to relax, his battle fever cooling while Simmy hummed softly on his shoulder.
Side note, she was like 9 feet tall or so and was refusing to wear clothes while 'on the clock'. Apparently when you were THIS tall, everyone else just felt super tiny.
He was brought out of his thoughts by several large Faunus, bull related based on the horns, bringing massive cask barrels and making a stack nearby, one guy was helpful enough to rip one end off a barrel for easier consumption.
Adam blinked as he inspected the thing. His hand easily wrapped around the person sized container, it felt like an egg or so in relative size... a quick toss back and he hummed. Some sort of alcohol, but not one he recognized. "Hmm. The taste is fine, but it would be best to hold off on drinking this stuff until I am small enough to enjoy it for a while."
Ghira looked up from directing his people, the tent still being restructured to help their new guest at least get out of the sun. "What do you mean, small enough?"
He looked down at the busy crowd, mostly military as the citizens were still busy manning the walls until the threat was completely gone. "I came here for a good fight and to learn stuff, like how to make weapons or how healing people is different depending on body types. I can't exactly examine Dust or work a forge when I can't even squeeze through the damn streets."
Simmy tapped his head and he blinked before nodding. "Ah, you meant more 'how' than 'why'. I have a series of skills and abilities that are not normal, as I am sure everyone noticed at this point. The ability to control my own biology is one of my oldest, most practiced abilities. I learned how to heal others and work with plants and stuff thanks to that same skill. Making a new body, much less modifying my own, is simple in comparison."
He frowned at his massive arm as it flexed, ignoring the stunned soldiers. "No, I could shrink down instantly if needed, but I am doing this slowly so that my powers can adjust, hopefully keeping some of the advancements in body reinforcement I made during that fight." Being torn apart for that long, while not a huge issue at the time, still was annoying enough for him to want to keep the improvements made.
He gave a weak smile, trunk absently brushing potential dust off his shirt. "At least I am already down to 35 feet or so, in an hour or two I should be down to 30 or better. That said, I do appreciate the effort with the tent... I would like to take a nap after that workout."
A black-eared cat Faunus sauntered in, leading another squad of warriors who were carrying food supplies for their guest. "I'm back! I am pretty sure at this point we can call off the emergency crews and go into repair and recovery stages of emergency."
She blinked as cloth suddenly blocked the sun, tent finally in place over the group that still bustled about setting things up. "Ah. That's actually pretty nice, I hadn't been in the shade for hours now."
Adam slowly nodded, his blue hair brushing the fabric even as ropes were being tossed to secured it. "You would think fighting in this weather would have been very heat intensive, but Grimm blood is surprisingly cool towards the center. Wasn't really trying to treat them as water balloon temperature controllers but it was a lovely side effect."
He saw confusion in the woman's eyes and carefully shrugged, the tent shifting in response. "Grimm tend to pop if you aren't careful swinging them."
Ghira laughed loudly as he pulled the woman into a tight hug and fierce kiss. "My woman can fight an army herself, but I had to force her into leadership to show everyone else how to do things right." He moved from the glowing with embarrassment Faunus and sat at the brought in table. "That said, even her battle record rarely involved 'Grimm Popping', an oversight I am sure she will rectify at some point."
Adam looked down at the conference table... It still looked like doll equipment.
The chieftain looked up. "So. A bit of serious stuff before we relax and call today a glorious victory and all that."
Ghira drank deep from the flask passed to him by his people. "What the hell is that black fire wall, and how dangerous to our people is it?"
Adam blinked. "Ah, the defensive ward." He pointed the tip of his trunk at Simmy. "I had my secretary defend the city so I could focus on punching stuff. She decided to use the Grimm as a fuel source for some modified Glyphs, designed to use the blood of the beasts as a collection array and purification system. This ward is one that grows stronger with time and food supply while defending the city."
Simmy gave a short bow, her assets causing Ghira to lose focus a bit until his wife smacked the back of his head. Not that she hadn't looked too, but honestly. Time and place.
Adam winced himself, though less from sympathy and more from feeling his bones restructure with 'Recovery' and his height start shrinking again. Hopefully he would lose a couple of feet or more this time. "Anyway, negative energies will trigger the barrier. It will eat whatever monsters are near by, then when everything is dead or scared off it should go asleep until needed again."
The woman (Simmy mentally informed him her name was 'Kali') seemed interested. "So it doesn't need Dust for power?"
He started to shake his head before feeling the tent tremble. Right. "No. Dust may enhance the barrier, and some Semblances may empower the thing, but the default Glyph sequence just requires an initial donation of Aura and some Grimm to consume before it is self sufficient."
Kali's attention was focused. "Can you make more of these 'wards' as you call them? And what would we need to do the same."
A small pile of blue feathers poofed on the table, leaving behind a bound book. Thank you Simmy. "My secretary wrote up some educational material. It's enough to teach people how to draw Grimm blood without it evaporating, how to solidify it into the correct Glyph shapes, and how to empower them until they gain enough momentum to stand alone."
He sighed. "Again, I am a bit of an amateur with anything not biologically involved. Simmy loves Glyphs so far, and has been redesigning them since we got here. I should also point out that the wards in this book are far weaker than the ones around the city."
Seeing the looks, he carefully shrugged. "She is able to bleed an army of Grimm into massive, redundant, and individually custom designed Glyphs. I have enormous power reserves. You would need a LOT of people, resources, and time to duplicate even simple protections around your city without me."
He pointed his trunk at the book. "So best to start off with the basics. I'm sure your people can improve them in time to something even better than what Simmy put together." In a few hundred years or so.
Adam reflexively released a yawn... and nearly collapsed half the tent. "Crud. Look, the wards will only attack Grimm and people who intend harm to this city. The bullheads of hunters should be fine to cross over?" He glanced at Simmy who nodded. "Yes, they will have no issues. Can we continue this conversation after I sleep for a while and shrink a few tons?"
Kali blinked. "What?"
Right, she hadn't been here for that. "Ask him. I'm done for now."
Thankfully months of practice as a Baku had trained him for this moment.
The soldiers and their leader eventually left the massive tent, even as snoring echoed out from the shifting cloth. It wasn't like they didn't have mountains of work to do themselves, after all.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sienna looked at her girls. "I know, but this is a special case. I need support."
Tawna rolled her eyes. "Girl, if you want another lesbian orgy there is no need for all the bluffing."
The group blinked when Sienna Khan pulled up an image and emailed the group. "Our target is between 30 and 40 feet tall and covered in muscles. Masturbation alone will need to be a team effort, and I need people I can trust."
Suzanna gaped at the massive muscled man in a wonderfully white suit. "Girl, he would rip you apart!"
Fever burned in her eyes. "I've always loved a challenge."
Tawna scoffed. "Eating a hotdog in one bite is a challenge, trying to have sex with a building, regardless of attractiveness, is just stupid. And yes, likely lethal. There is not enough Aura in the world to heal you if you tried to climb this mountain."
Several other girls nodded. Suzanna sighed. "At least voyeuristic stuff is possible, I guess, but at his size you might end up drowning at the height of your victory! And again, I hate to point this out, but you WOULD BE HIGH UP! Falling or being squished would be a real, possible concern."
Betty was tapping her chin and nodded. "We need scaffolding and safety lines."
Tawna jerked and glared at her. "NO! Do NOT encourage this Betty. I don't care how much of a size queen you are, his unit is probably the size of an ACTUAL MILITARY UNIT! And for all we know he could be gay or even non-sexual. Has anyone actually talked to the guy yet?"
Sienna sighed in romance and lust. "He speaks the language of violence like a poet blessed by heaven."
The crowd paused.
Tawna nodded. "Right, she's lost it. Does anyone NOT lost in sexual fantasy know any ACTUAL information about the man?"
A hand near the back went up. "I helped bring the celebration kegs to his tent. His giant form may be a type of Semblance. I mean, some of the other girls heard him say that he can change size."
Betty nodded. "Dibs."
Suzanna groaned as the girls went back into debate, watching Sienna lose track of the conversation while mumbling about 'Suplex God' and 'Abs you could grate trees on'. At least it seemed like conflict in general was done for today, even if she really wanted to check on her squad and head home already.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Simmy wouldn't stop humming until Adam snagged her with his trunk and wrapped her up in some sort of hug.
Seriously, he COULD go without sleep but 'Recovery' was taking forever on this and he couldn't even enjoy a nice meal until it was over.
There. He absently snuggled the smug angel until she gave up the noise making and relaxed into his embrace. He could worry about politics and all that crap later.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Professor Ozpin flinched as the Bullhead crossed the black flame boundary. Thousands of unseen eyes watched him with hunger as they crossed, and he felt the edges of the world full of fire and rage.
The other side was nearly as bad a shock, as purified energies filled the massive pillar of flames. An unconscious sigh ran through his students even as everyone confirmed that there were no casualties during the crossing.
He checked his scroll. The fire kept the majority of the Grimm away, any getting too close being consumed while screaming. It meant his people could nearly relax, relying on the high ground and firing from the Bullheads as they flew the perimeter.
Now that hours had passed and the vast majority of Grimm had either died or wandered away, they had to risk the black flames to enter the formally attacked city.
Yes, that was unpleasant.
He nodded to Glynda, who managed the multiple landings with the now mostly stable Cross Continental Transmit System back online.
He himself went to find Ghira and find out what the hell was going on.
The Hunters and Huntresses jumped dozens of feet to the ground from the ships even as they landed, moving with purpose as they began disaster relief efforts and standard reinforcement procedures for an area surviving conflict.
He smiled at the busy mass of society. At least those classes were clearly doing their jobs.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ghira snorted. "No."
Ozpin frowned, before glancing back at the massive tent with multiple guards standing around it. "Did he request solitude?"
His friend clapped Ozpin on the shoulder, directing him away from the interesting person. "The man in there saved my kingdom, my city, my people, and most importantly my baby girl. The least we can do is let him sleep in peace until he wakes."
Ghira ignored Sienna and a crowd of suspicious women, a glance with his wife having Kali run interference. He smiled at Ozpin. "You can wait for any interrogation, why not review the videos we recorded instead? The Giant fought for literally hours after all, we have more than a few popular films making the rounds at the moment."
Ensuring the busybody was distracted would be annoying, but keeping people away from Adam's nap was literally the least they could do at this point to show gratitude. That, and annoying a guy who can rip a building in half seemed foolhardy.
Ghira sighed. "While we walk, I am afraid we must talk about recent... negotiations we attempted with the detachment from Mistral. I am unsure if the individual I worked with was working with official direction or on his own prerogative... either way, he did not leave a good impression as he ran from battle and left us to die."
Ozpin's gaze was now sharply focused and intense. "Indeed? Tell me more."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Simmy hummed, gently brushing Adam's hair as he was firmly held to her chest.
It wasn't HER fault he left the 'Shrink and Optimize' function of 'Recovery' running while asleep. As it was, the man was down to a foot and a half tall, his body so compressed and optimized that he was slowly becoming unable to move.
The perfect plushy, at least until he wakes up and undoes the changes.
She snuggled with the tiny guy, his reinforced trunk idly wiggling as soft snores vibrated from his dreams. Maybe she should convince him to be a snuggle pillow more often.
Her feathers continued to slowly fill the massive depression in the ground that had been caused by Adam sitting earlier, slowly converting the sink hole into a feather floor for her and her toy to relax in.
Then again, her man was currently so compressed that she could drop him from a building and probably not wake him up. Depending on the building, initial velocity, etc and so forth.
It was of course impossible to squish 35 feet of anyone into less than two feet of height, so the majority of mass was burned in the process of experimentation with different muscle densities, formations, enhancements, and so forth.
And at this tiny level, the compression was selected to ensure that the important inner organs and brain and so such would remain safe, unpressured, and undamaged even with so little space available. Sure his limbs couldn't bend, but aside from that small issue his body was fully capable of surviving a train impact without armor. Also, his nerves had adapted in the process... so he was perfectly comfortable snoring away while a massive Endbringer cuddled him with human squishing level of forces.
Aww, look at his wiggling nose!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Kali was tapping her feet very impressively.
Sienna was mostly able to ignore it, but the other girls were rapidly falling into awkward shuffling. "I'm just saying that he may need assistance relaxing. Music and stuff."
Kali glanced over the girls, not one holding an instrument. "So... singing then?"
Sienna flinched. Yeah, she knew that wasn't a talent of hers. "Uh... Massage! Right, we were going to work together cause he is a fairly big guy. Big. Those muscles. Damn. Mmm."
Tawna snapped her fingers in front of Sienna with no effect, then sighed. "Sorry, mam. We don't mean any harm though. And we won't try to force anything, but could we at least say hello?"
Kali sighed and glanced towards her husband, having an intense discussion with the visiting Professor as they walked towards a more secured location. "Maybe later. I won't go into detail, but Giant Adam has requested a bit of a nap to adjust after the fight. Apparently the process of getting that large is easier than returning to a reasonable size."
Betty pumped her fist in the air. "YES!"
She froze when the group turned towards her. "I mean... uh." She wilted... then rallied in confidence. "No. No apologies, FUCK YEAH! Go big or go home!"
Tawna pushed her aside. "Back on topic, can we at least help out in the general area until he is available?"
One of the girls near the back whimpered. "And can I put this climbing gear down somewhere? I can't keep this junk off the ground for much longer."
Kali turned from the drooling Sienna, to the small girl Betty doing some sort of celebratory dance, to the overwhelmed Tawna and her girls trying to bicker quietly.
Screw it. It was her Husband's job to handle the strange crap anyway. "Tawna will be in charge, you girls divide up any jobs that come up, if an issue happens let Ghira know and my hubby will handle it."
Cause SHE wasn't going to.
Kali sauntered back to the technician teams to see what long term modifications and replacements would be needed to keep the network running for the next month. An instant message via scroll was good enough heads up to Ghira about the small army of lecherous women trying to molest their new hero.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The girls cautiously entered the absolutely massive tent... the soft echos of snoring ringing within.
Aside from the piles of packaged food, the barrels of good alcohol, the tent was surprisingly... empty.
Tawna pulled the group further into the dim lighting, the Dust in the lamps hid by the lamp shade to ensure a more relaxing atmosphere. "Hello? We are looking for Mr. Adam Burns?"
From deeper in the tent a musical tune rose from a pit of blue feathers, blue arms holding aloft a toy Elephant Faunus.
...It was adorable.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Thank everything good and innocent that 'Recovery' didn't prevent sleep.
Seriously, powers that prevented or got rid of the need to sleep seemed like a negative option, who wouldn't want to snooze a bit?
Mind you, half the joy of sleeping is the ability to rest among beautiful women and soft stuff... so if he was stuck somewhere alone and rocky, maybe skipping a nap or two would seem like a good plan.
He snuffled, trunk wiggling a bit before it wrapped around something warm and squishy. The moan was ignored as not relevant, and he wiggled a bit to find that comfortable spot.
Right, goals for the near future.
First, once he shrank down to something more reasonable (six feet or so would be fine, he could likely adjust it easily enough once 'Recovery' experiments a bit) he would take some time to explore this city.
Designed for Faunus, there was a whole section in this city that was partially flooded for the aquatic creatures! That sounded neat!
He would likely need money though.
Adam pushed against the warm fingers stroking through his hair.
Flame Metal and Null Metal wouldn't work here. Found that out during the fight, if it got too far from his body the materials would turn into liquid, then explode into pyres of fire and frost. Still not sure why an insulator like Null Metal would spew ice everywhere, but the spikes of frost were quite impressive.
So to get some cash, or lein in this Realm, he would need to borrow some raw material. After he made better tools (Extra suit arms work fine if they don't reach out too far, so that should save lots of time making less dangerously unstable work assistants), then he could build a few Conversion Generators and get going. No galactic sized military to invade THIS area if he built some impossible things. Probably.
He grumbled a bit when someone poked his cheeks and trunk.
Hopefully that would work fine. Everything here was saturated with Soul energy though, so best do some experimentation and make sure the Gather and Construction beams work as designed first. Could a soul be Gathered? Well, yeah, probably. Kami was usable in a conversion generator, so it should all work out eventually.
He blinked awake.
"Oh! He has bright blue eyes! He's so adorable!"
He blinked VERY awake.
Why was he surrounded by sexy giants!? Wait, when did Simmy get so big!? And why can't he move...
...Uh.
Crud, he left the power working and didn't set a timer.
Even as he winced his body made nearly inaudible cracks and shrank another fraction of an inch. Yeah, better turn that off.
With a flex, his body and outfit grew to a comfortable six feet... and then collapsed into blue arms and blue feathers, the ground replaced with a slumber pit of some sort.
And... Completely covered by squealing Faunus girls.
His eyes bulged. "Hey!"
Someone spoke above the din of noise. "Dang it Betty, don't jump the queue!"
Simmy snickering was NOT helping him get free. "Hang on, what's going on right now!?"
He felt the angel petting his head as a serious tiger woman leaned in FAR TOO CLOSE, rubbing her cheeks against his and purring. "Hi. We are part of the service staff selected for the temporary tent residence you are currently using. We welcome your attendance and wish you a pleasant stay."
Her eyes glowed with a dangerous light. "Now, Mr. Muscles McGee, we are just going to verify that you are uninjured, or if more medical attention is required."
He yelped, ignoring Simmy giving the cat eared beauty a thumbs up. "Can I get a bit of space first!? Last thing I remember is trying to take a nap."
The girls 'examining' his torso pouted, but did give him some room. Mostly.
"Betty you slut, get off him!"
"NEVER!"
Adam felt his chin pulled away from the sight, focused back on the woman with bright orange eyes. "Ignore them." HOW!? "Listen, your guardian angel Simmy gave us this letter from a 'Narwhal' that she claims would explain everything."
Adam focused with difficulty, opening the blue letter. "Dear Darling, make sure Simmy records any orgies from the good angles."
...Yeah, that sounds like Narwhal.
He sighed, suit forming multiple limbs that gently moved the surprised women off his (now well handled) body. "Girls, I am more than surprised and grateful for this kind of attention, but I am not comfortable with random sexual encounters. I want to actually get to ACKH!"
One of the cow girls smacked a wiggling bottom. "Off Betty! Dust, you weren't this uncontrolled an hour ago."
He glared over his shoulder at the still three-foot-taller-than-him blue angel, her sexy smirk NOT helping him stay calm from all the stimulation. "You know I won't do anything without Narwhal's explicit permission. I didn't do squat with the other dream girls before I talked to her last time, I won't do anything without her consent now either."
Her smug look grew wider as a letter was held up.
Adam's expression went a bit blank as he read the long note from his girlfriend. Whom apparently had a bit of a fetish for a long list of body types. And requirements needed to be met, personality types acceptable, and so on and so forth. Not to mention the personal incentives she would give if he hit certain goals. Like he was some sort of intergalactic realm wandering pimp.
He looked at Simmy. "This is... a bit offensive."
A second note. "Oh." That girl. "So she is trying for punishment games. Fair enough."
The third note covered the issue with a more serious tone, and included input from CD and Nightmare Moon. While his girls in Worm had no issue keeping urges within the group, so to speak, they had laid out guidelines about what kinds of activities they felt were 'fair game' when traveling to new realms.
Not nearly as 'Collect them all!' attitude as the first letter suggested, but far less restrictive than he was expecting.
He looked at the awkwardly shuffling girls, mostly lined up except for the two pulling Betty away from his lower region. "Right, got some notes from my girlfriends. Basically I don't personally like the idea of 'no string' relationship encounters. Full stop. However, I am willing to try talking a bit and seeing if any of us actually have the potential for a longer term relationship."
Keep focus, ignore Simmy's leer, ignore Betty's... everything.
Adam honestly never saw a conversation like this happening, but his life had always been weird so... whatever. "I feel I must mention that my girls always come first, and until you are accepted by them don't really expect much 'action', so to speak."
This got him more than a few pouts, but he had felt blessed enough with just Narwhal. The letters were enough to keep him from giving an instant and default 'No' to everyone, he could read between the teasing to see that Narwhal found the group idea pretty sexy, but he came to this Realm for a reason. An actual reason.
Harem collection wasn't it. No matter WHAT Simmy implied.
He clapped his hands, muscled limbs flexing. "Right, I've shrunk over 30 feet and slept for hours, anyone know where to get some food?" He winced. "And a bathroom. In fact, restroom first, then water, then food, then maybe I will be awake enough to understand where all you girls came from and why."
One of the girls with a cat tail raised her hand. "The belly dancer outfits came from Ms. Angel."
He gave Simmy a deadpan look... and she just puffed her chest and looked even more proud. Her nude chest.
Damn it.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
So, coffee exists here. Made from plants infused with soul energy. Just what one needed after a hasty bathroom break and some unsatisfying military rations.
THIS was something he would bring home to his girls. "Mmm."
The 'leader' Tawna offered a small pot. "Honey?"
Adam chuckled, trying to ignore the small squad of armed female Faunus in sexy dancer outfits following behind them. And 'Betty', the cow girl riding on his shoulders. "Why not? This stuff is amazing plain though."
Sienna padded up to his right absently twirling some sort of chain whip with blades, orange eyes glaring at the passing women. "So what can we do for you, Sir Muscle-ton?"
He frowned. "Right, first I have no money... so let's go fix that. Anyone know where I can get to a workshop and where I can find some scrap materials?"
One of the girls raised a hand. "I'm a weapon craftier, and I don't mind if you borrow our forge a bit." The girl next to her nodded. "As for scrap, anything from a damaged weapon tends to be ground up and added to the metal of the replacement parts. We believe strongly in communing with our tools and weapons, and it is not uncommon for recycled powder or weapons to be used for literally generations in a family."
He checked the dog eared girl. "Roxie, right?" A nod. "I don't need much at first, but the more raw material I have the more I can accomplish. It doesn't have to be anything with the emotional investment as weapon parts, I can use raw ore or cut ends and whatnot. Even slag from the refinement process can help me a lot."
Half the crowd scattered, barely any orders passing as Sienna made some hand gestures. "Right, we'll head over to Roxie's joint while the girls collect some raw material and any scrap or loose bits they can. Meanwhile, tell me a bit how you went from massive and murder-fun to tiny and adorable?"
They chatted a bit, Betty finding his ability to shape shift almost TOO exciting, as they wandered through Kuo Kuana. A feeling of excitement was pulsing in the street, the lack of heavy death and property damage pulling a festival feeling in the air as people dashed everywhere.
They were walking towards what Simmy noted as the Chieftain's house, Ghira's place, and the main street was covered with market stalls that owners were eagerly returning to, trying to take advantage of the emotional high running through the crowds. He ended up trying a few snacks being sold along the way, the girls insisting he try a few samples even if they were paying for it.
Roxie's place was near the industrial section of the city, which was surprisingly close to Ghira's home and the center of town. The biting smell of hot metal twanged in the air, with clouds of steam showing that Roxie's place was more like a Guild Hall than a personal forge. The entrance alone was wide with constant traffic, workers and material loaders pushing through all kinds of equipment and resources while crowds of Hunters and high level Crafters passed alongside them.
Not that he had much time to explore, as the girls plied him with questions and offered snacks and refills of coffee even as they moved towards the work floor.
It was a bit crowded, and he felt a little overwhelmed... but it was a welcoming feeling as well.
Finally though, he had arrived. Piles made with ingots of metal, massive wooden barrels filled with powders and shrapnel, and access to a secured wall section filled with Dust and Dust Crystals of all kinds of natures. Fire, Ice, Electric, Gravity, Combustion, Hard-Light, all kinds of it was carefully seperated and sorted... and it pulled his attention. Like sunshine behind a waterfall, he was drawn close.
The girls rapidly found their new friend beyond distracted, ignoring the world... as a forest of bone limbs erupted from his white suit.
Adam on the other hand, was entranced.
Dust was amazing.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sienna watched Betty get gently lifted by a twelve jointed bone limb, white fingers carefully placing the squirming feminine package into her arms as a multitude of others began pulling Dust from the reserve wall as if they were free samples.
Not that they would say anything.
The man's assault on Grimm earlier had done more good than gathering ALL this expensive Dust and detonating it. They wouldn't be so stingy as to refuse him access if he needed it to work with.
That said, she winced with a few others as rare samples kept for months or years were casually pulled from storage and evaporated by some sort of red beam of light.
The nearby work stations, which had slowed significantly when an elephant Faunus surrounded by very powerful and socially significant women just waltzed into the building, now ground to a halt.
Metal, barrels of scrap, and millions of lein in Dust were just vanishing into the twisting bone forest of limbs as the man's bright blue eyes blazed with fire, something glowing and twisted swirling under his focus as small hisses and pops made the wary flinch.
It couldn't be dust explosions, not with pops that weak. But he was doing something even as metal was melted in the air near his hands, as wire was inserted and laid, as thin plates were welded and screwed into place.
It was art. A symphony of parts and limbs and focus, somehow avoiding collisions and disaster by the smallest of margins.
The fact that he could sip coffee without the rapid motion of the tools and arms getting in the way was impressive as well.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
First, Dust in general was not only crystallized kami, it was also not quite existing in three dimensional space.
It wasn't just multi-dimensional though. It was sort of... folded on itself. If reality was a series of fabric layers, one on top of the other, this stuff was bulging slightly into other areas of reality without breaking through.
Probably was how weapons could shift from a spear to a sniper rifle or chain gun, really. It wasn't quite soul storage like Adam used, but it didn't hide stuff in another chunk of reality like Shard Crystals did either.
It was an odd effect of having so much faith impregnating the material world. Add in that the entire population of this planet only survived fighting the Grimm thanks to Dust, and well... worshiping the material and finding soul connections to the weapons that used Dust made a lot more sense.
That said, his personal kami peanuts were more pure in a way. Like unaligned Dust, it could be powdered and added to existing Dust Crystals to cause them to expand and grow.
Thankfully that test used a nearly impossible to measurable fragment of his faith, as the new Gravity Dust had nearly covered his work space until he could get the Gather beam to consume it at the same rate as expansion. As it was, it took a few minutes before he could absorb enough away to get back to work.
Good to know though, some of these samples were in very low supply. He probably got here between the resupply schedules.
Adam absently whistled as he carefully duplicated completed Dust crystal samples of each type and began restocking the secured wall supply. No reason to use up the last of their samples, what if someone else wanted to test stuff out? They could probably pull what they needed from their reserve supplies, but there was no reason to not simplify the process. It was only polite.
Making new Dust crystals would be expensive normally, but in a Realm like this where Faith grew exponentially? Simplicity itself! Plus he was cheating, there was far more of some types like Fire or Combustion Dust than the others like Purity or Hard-Light. Not to mention his Dust exponential growth accident earlier.
A little advanced analysis to compare the folded Crystal Frameworks for the most stable and pure pattern, a bit of 'Research' to enhance the structure further to an optimal shape... and a Construction beam build later, new sample Dust Crystals!
He would have the wall restocked in a bit, which should then allow him to continue working on his project without guilt. It was like being that guy who took the last piece of pizza, and no one liked that guy.
Back to his project, Simmy floated behind him, mentally offering modifications to his designs from her simulated experiments on the various faith imbued materials. It was not going to be a Droid or anything, introducing them here seemed dangerous, but this was a Matter Furnace using only local materials. It would join the (still being designed) Gather/Construction Gun and a small Storage Unit so he could build stuff here even without the super convenient Flame and Null Metals. Probably would need improvements later, but for now it was good enough.
He hummed a bit as molten metal was floating over his head, Dust powder was being added to some plastic and glass panels, and wiring with Electrical Crystal Dust was etched into some metal surfaces. Seriously, he would need to take a month or two and explore Dust in general, it was basically magic or partial Shard powers in a very basic form, crystallized. It couldn't handle anything advanced like flight or whatever on its own, but it managed to generate energy types without actual dimensional shenanigans, and could replace entire chunks of Crystal Shard Planets normally used to create those required effects.
Heck, some spells could be vastly simplified thanks to the materials nature. The spells could toss out the flame generation and so such and focus on straight control options instead... much easier.
In the end, it was all a bit slap dash really. Adam hadn't even had a chance to connect to the CCT System here and download publicly available information yet, but he had a lot of stuff he wanted to get done and this would be a simple way to make any stuff needed later on in this adventure.
He grinned as the materials being modified slowly grew in complexity, forming a backpack like structure to hold the Matter Furnace and Storage Unit together and out of the way while he worked in the future.
Narwhal would be so proud that he was thinking ahead this time!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Second in command Sienna, the head of the Weapons consortium Roxie, and the girls responsible for trade, manufacturing, and so forth... they were all entranced.
Amidst the confusion and loud sounds of Adam's work, the flow of lost materials slowed... and reversed.
Mountains of absorbed Dust, some worth more than a small town's yearly income per gram, some so rare that no one dared to actually use them despite free access... Dust Crystals began to appear from the busy bone limbs and be carefully reinserted into the storage wall.
Not just the dirt cheap Combustion Dust or the common Fire Dust, Crystals of rare and near impossible to ever see Dust types were rapidly filling the containment units. Some, like the Plant Dust Crystal, never existed before! Kuo Kuana as a city had never seen anything more than Plant Dust in powdered form, and rarely at that! The stuff was beyond valuable, as it could directly increase plant life and crop growth. The few rumored Plant Dust Crystals to be found had been snatched up by Atlas, their frozen landscape needing enhanced farm methods for survival.
And now they had access to hundreds of them. And counting.
Rack after rack of Dust shelving compartments had Crystals increased in quantity, and before Sienna knew it the entire thing was now full and Adam's limbs were starting to fill the powdered Dust sections as well. As if it was barely worth mentioning to resupply an entire city with rare materials. Just... more and more.
She glanced at the girls, who also seemed a bit disturbed. How were they supposed to pay back their hero if he just spews cash in every direction!?
Their thoughts were broken off when a happy cry came from the man. "ALRIGHT!"
A glowing backpack, thousands of thin dust patterns with strange combinations of sparkling circuitry, was casually strapped onto the Elephantine Faunus's shoulders. An odd gun was attached to tubing connected the system together, and his smile was wide even as his trunk wiped sweat from his brow.
He turned to the overwhelmed Sienna, probably for the best since Tawna was still staring numbly at the massive wall of Dust storage so recently filled to capacity. "Right, I got the tools I need now... but I have run quite short of scrap and such. I know I've asked for a lot, but I promise I can make some neat stuff that would be really useful if you guys just loan me some more resources and some land to build on."
He pumped the gun which began to glow pulses of red and green. "Though I will need to talk to Ghira again at some point to find out what would be valuable here. Thinking about building some automated healing stations or something if I can get enough biological scans first. Maybe some food production, since this land mass seems to be two thirds desert."
Sienna absently led the muscled miracle man away, giving her girls time to recover and follow later.
And blinked. Did he really build Betty a saddle on his new backpack? Huh. She did seem comfortable up there.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam was near bouncing in eagerness, Betty's arms hugging his head. He could build a fort! No, some sort of massive tower maybe. With floors to convert excess kami and faith into needed materials.
Ooh, maybe a pizza joint? Did Remnant even have pizza? He should make sure his tower could grow or provide the right ingredients.
A thought had Simmy hum. He would have the needed seeds when the time came. And free food was always a good thing, right? Should earn him enough money to buy weapon parts or whatever.
And even if he might have showed off a bit with the robot bone arms, he managed to mostly stay under the radar, he felt. Stealthy Adam, that's what they should call him!
Not sure why Simmy was sniggering though.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam grinned as he followed Sienna into a secured building. "Ghira! Good to see you now that we are roughly the same eye-level."
The man blinked. "Adam?" He grinned. "I see you've lost some weight."
They shared a man hug even as Adam laughed deeply. "A bit of baby fat I'm sure, didn't need it anyway."
Adam glanced at the crowd. Nope, no idea. Looking back at the Chieftain he grinned. "Now that I'm not stupid tall and you guys aren't in the middle of battle preparation, I have a few things I want to try and bargain for. Hopefully in the process helping your city out and earning myself some money."
Ghira noticed his wife being flagged down by a hastily speaking Sienna. Hmm. "Right, what can I do for you, my no longer over-sized friend?"
His trunk resettling Betty on her saddle, he leaned forward. "I have many unusual skills and technological know how, but I need some property to build on. Due to how dangerous some of the stuff I build can be, it needs to be land you won't need back at a future point." Seeing his expression, Adam grinned. "No worries, I promise I can earn enough to properly buy the place if you let me get started."
His wife made some... interesting hand gestures. "One moment, Adam. And I am sure we can find some space for a man with your talents, just give me a bit to find one easily secured... especially if it will hold fragile machinery."
Adam watched his purple-robed friend start a heated whisper conversation with Sienna and his wife, Kali. Right up until a white haired gentleman wearing mostly dark green approached, sipping something from a mug. "I suppose you are the giant being mentioned around town?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Well, not currently, but at the time I was a fair bit taller."
A soft chuckle had the man extend an open hand. "Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. In Vale, if you were wondering."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ozpin shook hands with the tall muscular Faunus and felt a body stronger than stone. Maybe stronger than most metal, the hand he shook flexed barely at all before something rigid gave physics the middle finger.
He absently gazed at the short cow Faunus ridding some sort of backpack saddle setup that glowed strangely on the man's back. From her small stature but mature body, she was likely Betty Bordeaux, the guild leader of Kuo Kuana's wine and dairy industry district.
She seemed to be gnawing on Mr. Adam's blue hair. And clearly unfocused.
He looked back at the mass of man and muscle. "I hear you saved the day when my good friend needed it most."
The man chuckled awkwardly, then pointed to the side. "Honestly I sent Simmy to protect this place, I just wanted to go punch some Grimm and relax a bit."
Ozpin glanced left... and up. A nude blue angel. How modern. "Quite."
Adam grinned. "Right, full introduction I suppose. I'm Adam Burns, very long distance traveler just arrived in the area and man looking for a fight, knowledge, and a chance to explore a bit. Got the fight down for now, though I might get lucky if the Grimm are dumb enough to attack a carnivorous wall of fire, and now I am trying to get some facilities set up."
Ozpin glanced at his friend and wife talking quietly with Ms. Khan... whom seemed far less frustrated and bloodthirsty today. Unusual. They seemed busy discussing something or other. "What specifically are you intending to build, if I may ask?"
Adam held up some sort of tube gun, something like a flamethrower? It was connected to Miss Bordeaux's seat. "Made this gadget to gather and restructure material so I can make some autonomous drones with Construction beams. Makes buildings simple to set up. If I can get Ghira to give me some space to get started, I can make whatever people in this town need most and charge a bit under market value for it. Should be easy cash at that point."
He glanced at the device at Ozpin's side. "By the way, saw lots of people with those things attached. What are they?"
Before Ozpin could respond, Ghira marched back into the conversation. "Adam, quick question. Did you restock the forge Dust supply?"
They both watched Adam's confused expression. "You mean the Dust sample wall? I thought it only fair to replace what I used. Whoever used it before me had been very impolite, using so much up and not going to your stock to restore it. Some of the storage bins were just plain empty! So I just topped the whole thing off. I didn't cause a problem or something, did I?"
Ozpin glanced at Ghira, who noticed the expression and sighed. "We don't have a Dust sampling display, those shelves and storage devices were the entire City reserves. And apparently some of the Crystals you supplied us have never been found intact by our people before. Possibly not by anyone before."
Seeing Adam's confusion and ignoring Ozpin's gobsmacked expression, Ghira waved his hands. "Dust naturally forms Crystals, any attempt for us to make them artificially causes explosions. Since most Crystals are damaged or partially formed when found, we have to reduce the found fragments into powder simply to get any kind of safe and stable use out of it. So Dusts that are more rare or that show up in low amounts have an extremly low chance to be found in an intact crystaline formations."
Adam hummed, trunk rubbing his chin. "So how much would a machine that converts loose powder into an optimized Crystal formation be worth?"
Ghira's pause gave Ozpin a chance to step in. "Can I see a sample? The quality and purity of a Crystal changes the labeled 'grade' of the Dust significantly."
Kali and Sienna got close as the two men watched Adam point his tube-gun-thing at his other hand... and a green beam shined down as a red gem began to form. Within moments a fist sized crystal of near transparent ruby glowed in his grasp. "This stuff is far less explosive when in a stable format like this, but don't go shooting it or something."
Ozpin carefully accepted the Fire Dust Crystal. "Crystals come in grades, with 'Grade 0' being powder form, 'Grade 1' being deeply flawed but still stable, and upwards being what percentage of volume contain flaws and the determined degree of severity in the worst found flaw."
The rotated crystal was too clear. Nearly cartoon level of perfection. "I don't have a grade scale for this. Normally, near invisible gaps of gas or misaligned structure is common even in the highest quality samples I've seen... It is very obvious this stuff was artificially produced, the organic production process CAN'T produce something of this level of quality."
Kali silently held a hand out and accepted the sample. "Our weapons by necessity use powder, as the quality is standardized at a fine enough powder level, but vehicles and advanced machinery can use crystals like this directly. Also by necessity, our devises have to dynamically adjust internally during use as even crystals within the same Grade of quality can vary greatly during consumption."
She held the gem to the light. "Older devices will not be able to use this directly without adjustment, too pure. But once modified, they would only benefit from the quality increase. Longer use, better efficiency, lower faults and so forth."
Adam hummed. "Well. I suppose I can make a few powder-to-crystal conversion devices then, since it sounds profitable. Not comfortable giving out a Dust conversion machine though, changing Dust between types is too unstable. Not without making a machine at least the size of a large house."
Ozpin chuckled as Adam realized everyone was staring at him with some kind of hungry look. Not, the Professor chuckled, that the women around HADN'T had hungry looks to begin with... but now the predator eyes of business and profit had found the poor boy.
Ghira gripped Adam's shoulder tightly. "Screw the council, I just happen to have a house far to big for my small family. What could you get done if I gave the back half of it to you?"
The slightly shorter leader of the city was already dragging Adam towards the center of town, Sienna held back whining by Kali who clearly had a few extra questions to ask.
Professor Ozpin chuckled as he realized for once he WASN'T being focused on by the general crowd, and began wandering along behind the Dust wizard elephant Faunus and the random crowd of powerful business women who seemed to be his entourage.
He blinked. Right, he should have asked why a nude blue woman was flying along with the man. Things had gotten a bit side tracked.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam leaned back, using his trunk to wipe his brow with a rag. "Right, that's a hundred powder to crystal conversion machines. Simmy?"
He accepted the papers from midair. "Here are the schematics, the procedures and tools to build or repair parts, the Glyphs needed internally and which will need maintenance first, and a general safety guide. You know, not too much Dust or it will explode, not too little Dust or it will go unstable and explode, don't eat ham sandwiches too close or it will explode, and so forth."
Ghira and the dog Faunus Roxie were already reading the documents, Roxie so close to one of the machines she was almost cuddling it.
Adam brushed his hands clean... well cleaner. "It won't be high output, maybe a hundred Crystals in an hour or so, but it is better than nothing."
He moved towards the back section of the massive mansion. "So with that as payment, everything from here backwards is mine to work with?"
Kali noticed her very distracted husband and stepped up. "Right, I would like to keep a bit of back yard for my baby Blake to play in, but from here to the back fence is all yours to work with."
Adam felt a grin on his face, gently pulling a complaining Betty off his pack only for her to snugly hug his leg. "Right, well this should be more than enough."
First, some of this 'Combustion Dust Crystal' for fuel. Forming a basic gem, he tossed it on the ground and pointed his Gather gun at it... and then focused.
A white peanut appeared and gently fell towards the glowing orange rock. Adam focused his Gather beam and began consuming the mess right as the white peanut came in contact...
A harsh crackle like fractured glass shocked the air as a wave of orange Crystal sprouted away from the Gather beam and grew over the lawn. Harsh tings and tangs of cooling metal filled the air even as the sections closest to Adam vanished into his machine, sparks of orange light pulsing even in the sunlight.
Adam ignored the now quiet crowd, collecting more Dust until his Storage Unit was filled. This faith crystal was VERY good fuel, broke several rules about the conservation of energy and mass.
Within moments, he converted the energy into a series of small drones. Each with Storage Units, each with Gather and Construction beams, each with gravity manipulation emitters. And right here... a base station.
Gather a few feet into the ground, Construct a metal protective case, a LARGE Storage Unit, a Conversion Generator filled with some faith doped Combustion Dust, a Matter Furnace, and a docking station with robotic limbs to help connect to drones.
He watched as a drone flew down to the black metal surface, connected to the station, and filled the Storage Unit onboard with energy and some material... before being replaced by the next one in line.
Adam nodded. "Good enough. Now, Simmy please have them build a square building above and below ground. Dangerous stuff a few floors down, vending machines at ground level, and all the farm designs in a tower above that. Don't go higher than Ghira's place, we can make more room below ground if it is really needed."
The blue woman saluted with a whistle and flew off, the dozen or so constructor drones following her directions even as Adam made a few more to act as an excavation crew and to harvest the still growing Combustion Dust Crystal.
...On second thought, better double the excavation droids. The growing Crystal hadn't slowed down yet.
Watching Simmy direct some drones to work with the base station, generating a larger work force, Adam gave a firm nod. "That should handle it. I'm done here."
Turning towards the distracted crowd, he walked to that Ozpin guy, ignoring Betty's grip on his left leg. "Right, Professor Ozpin. I was wondering about that device you all seem to have?"
The others were busy watching the back yard dissolve into red Gather beams anyway, so he likely had time for a short chat. These 'Scrolls' were fascinating faith-enhanced technology.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ghira watched the Elephant Faunus follow Sienna towards the nearest shop that sold Scrolls, Professor Ozpin staying behind, probably to talk about the Dust Crystal compressors.
He held up a hand before Ozpin could say anything and turn to Roxie. "Well?"
Roxie's grin was electric. "This is not only a device that we can build, but one that can be built fairly cheaply. Does not even require the more esoteric materials to set up."
She pointed at a blue, near transparent gem. "Furthermore, we missed a couple of important points during the discussions."
He watched with interest as she held up samples. "Notice that regardless of Dust type, they are forming into standardized Crystals? The more rare or bizarre types of Dust tend to form very strange and unstable Crystal shapes, like spirals or with fragile points."
Roxie pulled out several glowing gems. "Not his stuff. All of it is even more stable and regular than the most common Dust Crystals in nature, Fire Dust. We are going to need several teams of researchers to be assigned to this, and a lot of new hardware redeveloped."
Ghira nodded. "But overall it should be far cheaper than what we use now?" Seeing a nod, he gestured a few assistants over and began assigning personnel.
Professor Ozpin was watching with curiosity as some powdered Dust was being crystallized... then processed back into powder. "What are you testing with the Electric Dust over there?"
Roxie glanced. "Ah, that was thanks to one of my girls making a comment. After crystal fragments get ground down into powder, further refinement and filtering is not really possible without setting off esoteric effects or changing the Dust's nature. Dump the powder into one of Adam's refined Crystals, grind that back to Grade 0, and we get some of the most pure quality results with really amazing consistency. Ammo production will love it."
Professor Ozpin sighed. "I'm not getting any of these machines to take home, am I?"
Ghira laughed loudly even as his wife handed him some forms. "No, but we don't forget our friends. I assure you our prices will be far lower than the rest of the market, even better if you can help us acquire Grade 0 Dust in the future for us to get around the general racism in pricing we run into. Especially if you can get samples of any Grade 0 our stocks don't already possess, I want Adam to see them and possibly generate more if his quip about type conversion is an actual possibility."
Ozpin was about to accept when a frustrated growl echoed in the room. "Headmaster!"
A very perturbed Glynda Goodwitch stalked into the room, some of his squad leaders following the angry woman, her riding crop slapping her palm. "When I agreed to assist with organizing the recovery procedures, that did NOT imply that I should be abandoned without notification as you wander away!"
Ozpin carefully sipped from his mug. Drat.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The place Sienna led Adam to, 'When Hunter`s can`t, Faun-Doo!', was a combination restaurant and electronics store. Hunters would come in, leave their equipment to be modified/repaired/maintained, then order from the various dip related dishes ranging from oil to cheese to chocolate.
So cows should exist somewhere. Or very kinky cow Faunus? Better not ask.
Their electronics selection was (obviously) limited, but Adam found a section with the standard Scroll options easily enough. Sienna covered the bill, saying that her Boss would insist on it and then pouting when he tried to object. Damn those orange eyes, they could be pretty adorably insistent.
Now however, he had a top of the line model and a bottom of the barrel designed Scroll, both to be dismantled and explored. After he finished the group meal.
It was an Fondue dish in a less official sense, technically a Fondue Bourguignonne where meat slices were being dipped into hot broth for cooking rather than treats into cheese, but yeah. Good stuff.
He looked up when another sat at his table. Ah, Ghira's wife Kali. She glanced from his trunk moving sliced beef to his mouth to the partially disassembled electronics his many limbs were poking. "Huh."
Kali leaned in a bit, her cat ears perked. "So I assume you had a chance to look over a Scroll at this point?" Noticing the partially hidden second device, she blinked. "I mean, Scrolls... I suppose."
Adam nodded, swallowing quickly. Shouldn't talk while eating. "Found some interesting implications in Remnant design choices."
Seeing Sienna was also interested, and feeling that he had some time anyway since Simmy was building away at his tower, he held up some parts. "Right, so basic stuff I figured out."
He held open the casing. "Most of the hand held device is junk. Impact absorption gel, armor plating, it has nothing to do with the actual components needed to work. Scrolls in general seem designed to be damaged, soaked, electrocuted, shocked, dropped, and probably eaten."
Sienna's face grew dark. "Yeah, from what I know it is so Hunter or Civilian remains can be identified if their towns are destroyed by Grimm. Supposedly can survive digestion."
Adam shrugged. "Well, the hardware has almost no moving parts and from what I can tell use Dust tainted materials that interact with the owner's Aura. Technically some of the Dust included in the wiring, emitters, and so forth get used up over time... but most of it uses the owner's Aura as a power supply, builds some up like a capacitor inside the armored shell, and uses the tainted materials to simulate actual Dust usage. Should last for decades if one is lucky."
He moved the other device forward. "The expensive Scroll model actually allows direct Grade 0 Dust to be added to make everything longer lasting and more powerful, but that made it harder to adapt for my needs. The final design was better in many ways, but over simplified and lacked interesting tricks since it could ignore Dust consumption by making you refill it."
Adam shook his head. "The big one is the holographic display, which uses fractions of Hard-Light Dust embedded in the emitters, with some wiring acting as securing frames for the edges of the screen when expanded that harden under Electric Dust charge. To keep the Dust from being wasted, all kinds of small tricks and modifications to the materials were built in... it is the most complicated part of this device."
He frowned a bit, moving the scroll to the side. "The communication hardware is sub-par by far in comparison." He took another bite. Mmm, this broth was good. Not chicken based though. Well, not the species of chicken HE knew.
Kali blinked. "I'll be honest, I didn't do well in my tech based courses. Focused more on combat and such. Why does that make the cheap version more interesting for you though?"
Adam grinned. "I can more easily replace the materials with alternatives I have, including the power source. Sienna was telling me that her girl group has quite a few mover and shakers in the local economy, and a few would be interested in a Scroll with more features without sacrificing durability or increasing Dust consumption."
He swallowed some sort of pork related meat. Probably pork, though it had a bit of a beef undertone. Note to self, look up the Cuisine world here. If for no other reason to prevent Boro and Robo from kicking his butt later. "I may design something later, but Scroll development won't be my focus. More interesting to me is your software design philosophy."
Sienna and Kali blinked as Adam continued. "Your software is developed just like your hardware, with the expectation that the user will be out in the wild and have difficulty communicating. It is rugged and redundant."
He gestured toward the devices. "Data is compressed heavily and digitally signed, then broken into packets that go through a cryptographic hash. So is the file as a whole. Then all the pieces search for the nearest devices and duplicates are sent in alternate directions for redundancy and... all kinds of neat stuff."
Adam grinned as he reached for some more beef-pork. Better than straight beef so far. "If many people are trying to get the same file, nearby devices can act as additional sources to reduce overall traffic and server loads. The protocol is designed to expect whole nodes of the network to vanish or pop up without warning, and the more people in one area with Scrolls the better the network as a whole can act."
Dang this is good stuff. He swallowed and waved a hand. "Scrolls, as you know, can act as a point to point radio, a phone, a temporary server, and so forth. Most importantly, if I build some interesting new hardware all of these devices can connect to them without any additional actions or updates needed."
Kali pulled her Scroll and was ready to take notes. "I assume you have devices you wish to set up in the city?"
Adam nodded, a bone limb twisting another part of the Scroll open. More defensive redundancy parts, nothing new. "Not going to bother redesigning the Scrolls as I said, seems like a lot of work without improving things much. No, after we eat I want to go see your local 'Cross Continental Transmit System' setup. An extra one or two can be constructed without the system having a problem."
From what he could gather, the Towers were mostly limited in number due to costs and time requirements. For people NOT capable of the stuff Adam pulls by accident, the individual components seemed to be very costly to create, requiring specific stages of dust impregnation, sealing layers, special fuel supplements and more. Not that he had full schematics yet, it was only polite to ask first.
Back to the point, with this design the people acted as part of the needed hardware. Their Scrolls were using the massive CCT Systems as hubs that had enough power to connect to outside sources. Locally? The network was one big mesh. A growing, warping mesh of devices.
Side note. Security? Nearly none. The possibility of catastrophic hardware failure was almost guaranteed, the hardware or even PEOPLE who had encryption keys could be lost at any moment, and the risk of important data loss was too damn high to risk secured networks or so forth.
Instead, they had developed amazing software to ensure accountability even with how strange the network looked when mapped out. It was near 'Big Brother' levels of observation, and if the entire planet wasn't constantly at war someone would have abused this exposed system by now. They probably already had at some point, and discovered the dire consequences.
Getting restricted data? Easy. But you best justify why you got it if you didn't want a Hunter to show up with a blade to your throat.
It was amazing the setup had worked this far, as one theoretical person who didn't care about Humanity and Faunus continuous existence could cause massive damage to the system.
Adam blinked, realizing that he had been passing Betty skewers of meat for the last half hour or so, his constant tinkering distracting him. "Betty, are you sure you don't want to sit next to me? It would make eating easier."
The woman just squeezed his neck with her thighs and continued enjoying her snack.
Oh well. They were very soft thighs after all.
Ignoring the distraction, he focused back on Kali. "So after the meal, can we head to the relay tower next?"
Kali shook her head. "Wouldn't help you. Ours was damaged heavily via Nevermore attack. Theoretically."
Sienna snorted, a dark look crossing her orange eyes. "Sure. And those traitor soldiers from Mistral just happened to pull away for 'safety' reasons when it was attacked. And I saw some structural damage that looked more like a blade and less like a Grimm feather."
Kali sighed. "Regardless, there isn't much point in viewing it right now." She pulled her own scroll out, tapping a bit while Adam passed Betty another pork skewer. Giving anything Beef related to a Cow Faunus seemed uncouth.
She nodded. "Right. Here are the schematics for the most advanced form of CCT System researchers have verified as buildable. This is an ongoing global project most of the kingdoms spend some Lien on every year, even if the current schematics being used in the field are over a dozen designs behind."
Seeing his confusion she sighed. "The really advanced stuff requires not only extremely expensive components and beyond difficult building methods, but the size and Dust Crystals needed are... an issue. It would require almost all unrelated traffic to be stopped during shipping, it would require those types of Dusts to be confiscated for years to build up a supply."
She shrugged. "It is why these designs are just theoretical. The most advanced CCTS was made in Vale two years ago, and it was only a version 13 schematic. They are still trying to pay the costs down. This version however is at release 32." She tilted her Scroll towards Adam, since his hands were busy.
Adam looked with curiosity, and then decided to disable 'Research' and turn on 'Technomancy' to get a better look.
The song of striking metal and singing electricity filled the void, and the world faded away.