~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Simmy sighed as she redesigned Adam's tower again. Faith modified materials in this Realm meant that the process of building something can change how the finished project affects the world.
Each constructed tower increased new things to test and try, and each time she Gathered the building up to Construct again these ideas would spawn more children.
At this point, she had expanded the vending machines on the first floor. The ability to spend money (Lien here) to get Adam's refined Dust was likely going to be the main focus, and the machines here accepted impure Dust as payment or at least to grant a discount. It didn't need Adam's direct work to keep running, and some drones were assigned to ensure all the equipment would be maintained.
Now the vending machines contents covered more varied products.
One that delivered bags of highly refined and efficient varieties of plant seeds, albeit the species provided only covered the local foods grown on this planet. Simmy had spent far too much time ensuring that the modifications she made actually existed somewhere, none of this was magically or technologically enhanced yet. The grain may grow better than expected and faster than believed, but it was theoretically possible with selective crossbreeding. It wasn't cheating. Mostly.
She had to move the vegetation machine so there would be room for the Ammo one next to the Dust vending machine. It could directly produce Ammo of the caliber desired when Dust was supplied, though it required Adam's brand of quality. She thought that was clever.
Just to avoid some headaches, she ensured the machine that would produce each of the individual parts listed in Adam's Glyph guides, the ones for Adam's Dust Crystal compressors, and so forth would need approval from Ghira or his people. The people of Remnant could make it on their own, but Simmy's products came from a customized Matter Furnace and had a level of quality unreachable by most mortals.
Honestly, the trickiest part wasn't setting up these basic devices but determining price points to not kill the economy or wrest control of materials from the local government. Calculating how much of a discount to give to Ghira's government in general was equally annoying.
She was in the middle of redesigning the modular farm framework (Each attempt reduced part costs by 0.34% and increased productivity by 0.88%) when Adam decided to do something stupid. Again.
In a world with an actual soul, in a room full of people empowered by their souls, he turned on a power with no soul component to examine a machine designed to work with the soul.
She sighed. Freedom sometimes meant not stopping someone from punching themselves. At least she now had the schematics for those interesting CCT Systems.
Simmy floated to the side as the drones evaporated Adam's tower again, now rebuilding the walls using new patterns and materials. Why build a CCTS on top of the building when the outer shell itself could communicate instead?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The earth was asleep, the sky was in pain.
Life grew with passion, death slept and hungered.
Mental defenses kept things within the realm of understanding as black and green circuitry began to pulse and expand from a small room in a small city.
Souls. In the air, the soil, the food, the people, the metal.
Faith. Enriching it all. The rules slid on a scale of madness and hope.
And covering this ocean of souls, abscesses and absences parasitically gnawed. Decayed. Spread.
The World did not desire these Grimm. It pulsed with purpose at the small thing spreading from Adam's body.
Aura was not the same thing as only being an expressed soul. It was generated by the soul, true. It was also a field of faith, of spirituality and life.
To gain Aura's effects, one required hard determination and willpower while embedded in a Realm like this one, like Remnant, where faith and Aura and souls were exposed and ever dancing.
With intense training, one awakened can unlock the Aura of another. It was risky, it was hard, it was dangerous as others could smell your delicious location. As corruption hunted you.
With intense circumstances, apparently something similar can occur as well.
In Kuo Kuana, in a small restaurant with fearful and concerned Humans and Faunus, in a state near unconsciousness yet hyper-focused...
A green electronic eye opened.
White peanuts appeared and vanished, black ropes wove and reinforced, and green pulsing lines began to adapt, to connect.
A fragile socket in a fishbowl soul, one that should have continued to grow and stabilized over time in this Realm, lacking the energy that Squishy had stolen to reinforce his other damaged abilities, shivered.
Cracked.
Squishy looked at her hard work... and sighed. Power Manipulation was still too broken to make more soul sockets like it should have. Not for now. Not for a while.
Hopefully, if a new power was different from Soul, Magic, or Physics, it would be strong enough to cross this hurdle. The next stable value would be a soft 5 or a hard 7 sockets, but expanding past 3 had been near impossible so far. Not if she wanted to keep Adam safe.
Squishy watched the confused green eye pulse again, circuitry infecting the nearby area as it explored and expanded in ways impossible to 'Technomancy'. As it began to twist. To slow.
Finally, the black fabric of cybernetic circuitry began to fold. To twist and bend and slowly wrap around the black ball of 'Binding', to wrap around the fishbowl soul.
The Green Eye covered the opening of the Fishbowl, the circuitry compressed until the green lines became invisible due to density.
With a sigh, Squishy floated to the opening and touched the warm gaze that looked softly at her. All that work on the new power socket, wasted.
From the lost voices, from soft whispers in the dark, the Soul of Remnant sang an old song.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I recognize your s̬̼̲̳ou̝̥̩̣l͓̯̘̬̘̞̩, and by my purpose protect thee."
The snap of the socket caused the green eye to begin to burn blue.
And deep under his Crystal Castle, a spark blinked blue as well.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Kali yanked Sienna and Betty back as she and the others lept away from Adam's body.
The Faunus didn't shift an inch, body of stone, his eyes blind and his limbs frozen.
Behind him, above him, somewhere hidden, they could feel something ancient. Uncaring. Alien. Foreign. Shear size alone made them feel weak, small, fragile.
Near reflexive instincts caused rage to flash, retaliation, defiance.
Kali bared her teeth. She was strong! Her child must be protected! Threat! Threat! She dared not move closer.
Sienna was spinning her blade whip, cautious. It wouldn't matter. Nothing would matter. But she would stand to her death without submission, for some things were worth fighting a hopeless fight.
Betty felt... a connection. Someone else who was broken like her, who lost family like her, who lost everything like her... and who built a new world worth living in.
Above the corpse of Adam light began to twist... To hum...
Silence.
Everything relaxed.
The sun was brighter, even if it was setting. The air was crisp.
Small noises had resumed, and the shadows were dim.
Behind Adam, some sort of three eyed being floated, blue Glyphs floating in patterns as the creature watched everyone. Thousands of limbs were reaching out to unseen locations. It flickered.
The skin sheering callousness was gone.
The robotic, soulless gaze had softened. To recognize existence.
Then Adam collapsed onto the ground, his body softly glowing with blue Aura and all the strange feelings and sounds vanished entirely.
Kali threw her scroll away. "Fuck That. Fuck all of that."
Sienna (And the rest of the quite disturbed customers) quickly moved away from the haunted device. "The shit did those eggheads make!? And why would we EVER build something like that!?"
Kali flicked a wrist, and one of her guards near instantly smashed the Scroll with her mallet. "Yeah, fuck that. No." She could get an untainted replacement, no way was that thing going to stay on her person. Or near her daughter.
They heard a noise and turned towards Adam... whom Betty was sitting on. She noticed their looks and waved it off. "He's fine now. Sleeping too." His trunk absently played with her hand as she giggled.
...It would be a while before anyone else was willing to get close to Adam or the cow Faunus who decided to sleep on his chest. Better to let him sleep that off.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ozpin looked up from the most recently modified documents and passed diplomatic papers when the room filled with whistles, alerts, and random noises.
Looking at his own scroll, he saw new notifications as well.
It was standard policy when leaving standard CCTS coverage to set up emails and notifications to be delivered when back within range of targeted areas, a more unofficial policy included sending short messages to friends or loved ones to let them know you were still alive and nearby.
And just now, Ozpin's notifications had been delivered.
All of them.
Not just locally but to all existing locations. Including Mistral, home to Vale, and all the way to distant Vacuo and frozen Atlas. As if they were next door.
Master Forge Crafter Roxie, brought in during the negotiation phase for Dust quality appraisal and as a subject matter expert, blinked. "What the hell is 'Skyword Networking' and why is their signal so good!?"
Ozpin ignored the commotion and made a quick attempt at a personal call, moving to the side of the room while Glynda and Ghira's people tried to get the meeting back into order.
A stern face answered. "It's too early for good news if you made it home to Beacon Academy already. Did you manage to find any survivors down there Ozpin? I'm still gathering recovery resources, but there have to be living people for it to matter."
He responded with a soft smile. "Better than good news, my friend. And I am glad I can contact you this soon: You need to come down to Kuo Kuana. Personally."
General James Ironwood blinked... and frowned. "Unlike some coffee addicted Headmasters, I have responsibilities to my school and my forces. If I could make it down there in time for the actual fighting it would be one thing, but if the crisis is actually over?" Ozpin nodded. "Then it would be hard to justify to my people to drop those mentioned responsibilities for a visit."
Ozpin sipped from his mug, unable to fully suppress his grin. "Remember the last time you were unable to visit when I said it would be wise to do so?"
General Ironwood paused. It had been when Ozpin had found the Summer Maiden, one of the four magically powerful women that secretly walked this planet. More legend and myth than simply unusual. Not meeting Summer Rose sooner had destroyed many chances of getting good scientific studies done, and with the woman starting to build a family the probability of visiting other Kingdoms dropped by the day.
He turned to the side as Ozpin watched with mild amusement. Frowned.
And it was with a sigh he gave in, as expected. "It is of that magnitude?"
Ozpin chuckled. "Possibly of even greater impact. If nothing else, Kuo Kuana is about to become an economical powerhouse within the month." His eyes focused. "You need to be part of the following negotiations."
James began pacing, easier as he was using his personal dorm communication system instead of his Scroll. "Should we pull Theodore into this? Or Lionheart? Haven Academy in Mistral is closest after all, I suppose they are already present."
Ozpin winced. "Not Headmaster Lionheart, though we need to contact him. Leonardo's people acted... poorly. Hopefully against his orders. Either way, even attempting to include them could destroy any agreements we try to set up and probably end all negotiations."
He nodded at Jame's shocked expression. "On the other point, I will be contacting Shade Academy and Professor Theodore after we finish, but YOU need to get down here as fast as possible. He can probably call in remotely or send a proxy, you need to be present."
General Ironwood paused... nodded. Tapping his personal Scroll he began moving quickly out of focus before the feed resumed from his own device. "What would be wise for us to bring."
Professor Ozpin sipped from his mug. "Your best engineers and most competent design teams at minimum. Loyalty and ability to stay silent should be your number one priority. More so than competence, even."
Seeing James raise an eyebrow, he nodded. "Yes, I'm serious. Yes, it is that vital. And Yes, you would hate me if you did NOT take this advice." Seeing his message get across he relaxed a little. "It would also help your negotiations to bring in as many Grade 0 Dust samples as you can, especially the esoteric or odd ones. It would be worth the risk, and I will be informing Theodore to do the same."
Ozpin glanced at his frazzled and busy assistant as Glynda tried to wrangle the group back to order. Over the video, General Ironwood was snapping out orders before glancing back at his scroll. "I will take at least 10 hours to arrive down there even at maximum flight speed, 14 hours or more is likely. How long will it take you to get back down to Menagerie? We could possibly join our fleets."
Ozpin sipped. "Check your connection details. I never left."
After a shocked pause, the connection fuzzed as General Ironwood began cursing and ordering far more complicated equipment and expensive tools to be added to his convoy.
He would have to be a participant indeed.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam felt... relaxed.
And yet... connected.
'Growth' and 'Recovery' pulsed through his body, 'Research' and 'Harmony' soaked his mind.
His heart pumped 'Manipulation' through his veins of 'Tithe', while his eyes glowed with magic and faith.
His throat itched with 'Consumption' and 'Purification'.
His skin itched as 'Conversion' began to work defensively, incoming attacks being shifted into safe energy and moved through his nerves built with 'Transfer'.
These skills, conceptually enhancing his being, were held together with 'Binding' even as they attempted to fray and forced his form to twist and shift on unseen levels.
They grew. Stronger. Clashes between them resulted in stronger reactions. For the first time in years, many years considering his time lost in Abyss, Adam 'Adventure' Burns had NO sockets equipped with powers. And his black sphere of a soul pulsed, the blue eye twitched as it was watching inside and outside. The concepts continued to press tight to each other, to connect.
Before, Adam felt that he had something close to a Semblance already. Glyphs had been selected before coming, and he had a spiritual section of his soul to handle kami and faith powers. He had only worked his body with 'Recovery' to ensure a good strong foundation to work on as he explored the idea of 'Aura' in general. He considered Aura in general to be something like the blue flames, an expression of Faith or a single feature of power.
Now, he realized that Aura was similar to that strange Spark that glowed under his soul's Crystal Castle.
It was... an overview. A summary. Everything he was and possibly what he would be was represented by this field of power. As his abilities grew his Aura would enhance, would stretch, would be refined.
But his Semblance on the other hand... that was something more specific than Adam's now awakened Aura.
As the mess of strange powers and concepts grew ever more real and strained within his Faunus body, Adam felt something tense. Tighten a bit too much.
Then a black grid in his Soul twisted.
His Grid of Confinement, storage for Endbringers (And temporarily a gang leader with anger issues) thickened. The sharp lines of the grid seemed to creak wide. To fracture itself and expose the inner workings.
And into that pattern, into that structure, Adam's rampaging Aura poured forth.
With a loud sigh, Adam felt muscles relax and his body feel more and more material and mortal as his pulsing fishbowl soul stabilized.
His bright blue Aura faded as it was able to find purchase in the man's bizarre and tortured inner representation. His sockets quickly equipped 'Recovery', 'Growth', and 'Purification' as his abilities tried to fix the strange types of damage he had suffered... as best they could.
Within moments, he could feel all that oppression, that strength of conceptual power, his own field of Aura... embedded in the Grid itself.
The concept of Confinement, of Self Control, of being Master of One's Self.
His Soul Prison, the black Grid of Confinement, had gained a soft blue glow of Aura over each square. The faint presence of Leviathan and Behemoth totally vanished. Simmy herself was almost dragged back from reality and her busy work before Adam quickly relaxed her leash. More secured, more stable, still usable by his Summon Glyphs, able to restrain future foes.
Side note, Simmy was now sending mental images of herself still nude and wearing leashes.
Wonderful.
With a force of will, Adam woke up. Technically healthy, he could feel his body twinge with remembered pain and rapid modification as he attempted to refocus his fuzzy attention to reality.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ghira glanced towards the (temporarily closed) shop that his new friend was currently taking a nap in. He couldn't see it from here of course, diplomacy shouldn't be done on the streets after all.
That said, the negotiations had stalled for the best of reasons: More people wanted to come beg to join in the bid wars for better long term deals with HIS people. With HIS nation.
Being in a position of power was very satisfying. It would be more so if the local Hero of the Day would give some indication that he was alright.
Kali had already had some medical staff verify that whatever was wrong was not causing further physical harm from what they could tell. It seemed to be some sort of strange Aura reaction to something, possibly depletion from his recent battle? Short answer was 'no one knows', but the lack of fear from the flying blue angel had kept everyone mostly calm. If anything, the nude being seemed exasperated more than concerned.
If the worse case occurred the negotiations would go forth regardless, his blue flying associate had already constructed an astoundingly large building behind Ghira's home. Filled with strange machines that could supply the needed parts for more 'Glyph Wards' and 'Crystal Conversion Machines', the transformation of that tower in his back yard into a monster CCT System was just frosting in comparison to the other economic windfalls. Theoretically no matter what happened to that muscled warrior, Kuo Kuana would be fine.
But to be honest, Adam was simply an easy person to talk to and seemed full of profitable abilities and ideas. The man was very eager to offer such gems up like worthless trinkets. And he knew how to throw a mean punch, which shouldn't matter to a Chieftain like himself as much as it actually did. By saving the day, the man was a friend in Ghira's mind anyway.
He glanced at the most recent calculated numbers. Even if negotiations took months or longer, which at this point looked very unlikely, the filled Dust reserves meant Kuo Kuana and Menagerie as a Kingdom had Lien to burn. More importantly, Lien to invest and to multiply.
He approved some theoretical trade deals to work towards so the diplomats could refine that into that legal gibberish garbage that he had to read all the damn time.
The pulse of power came without warning, again from the direction of the Elephant Faunus.
It was... quite noticeable. He sent some people to verify the situation. Just in case.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Betty blinked as her comfy bed suddenly stopped moving mid snore. She groggily awoke as the Faunus below her shifted.
And the world turned blue.
An Aura, many feet thick, pulsed outwards... then began to fold into itself. To compress itself. Folding in half, Doubling, Compressing, Binding.
She looked down at the near metallic looking Aura that coated Adam... whose bright blue trunk suddenly snagged Betty by the waist and pulled her into a snuggle with those big muscled arms.
Mmm.
The closed eyes she had watched barely began to open.
And look at her confused.
Adam's bright blue gaze examined Betty's clear brown eyes in confusion. "...Good Morning?"
Betty snuggled tighter into his hug, her sensitive body tingling. "Mmm, good indeed."
She ignored Adam as he began looking around at the empty store/restaurant, until she felt his trunk tapping her shoulder. "Yes?"
He stood, her body absently lifted in his embrace. "Where is everyone? In fact, how long was I out of it?"
Betty shrugged. "Don't know, fell asleep after the first hour or so. Why does your Aura make you look like a Smurf?"
Adam looked at his body, the bright blue metallic coating shimmering. "The hell!?" Then paused. "Wait, Smurfs exist here?"
Betty gave him a confused look. "Uh... yeah? It wasn't the most popular show since the Faunus Smurfs were supposedly some sort of poison Frog clan and the Human Gargamel kept trying to catch them for breeding purposes, but isn't super obscure either."
Adam blinked. Huh. "Not from the local area, never been in a city like Kuo Kuana." True. "Never got exposed to local Media, or anything like that." Double True. "Spent most of my time fighting Grimm really." Sorta true? At least for this Realm.
She frowned. "Right, so we should have a movie night." She blinked, noticing the Hunters cautiously entering the room. "After you convince Sienna and Kali that you are not possessed."
He blinked. "What?"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The diplomacy room had turned into a relaxation area at this point. A snack table was set up, the devices to be debated over were being examined, people were constantly moving to quieter corners to call friends and family. It made the mood skyrocket when very distant people were suddenly a short connection away.
Those calls that had formally required massively expensive long distance calls, specialty created billing plans, sometimes loans... Well.
Calls like that? 'Skyword Networking' not only offered a damn cheap flat rate for all connections (barely more Lien than a local call), but with a quality and connection speed that was straight up unusual. More, the connection was getting more stable and faster the longer people used it, as if someone was improving the stupidly advanced network in real time.
The room barely paused when the door opened again, until Sienna squealed. "Adam! You're up!"
Ozpin watched as a dozen Scrolls snapped a quick picture of the Faunus and inwardly sighed. So much for information security.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam was overwhelmed by the crowd, and only a quick reaction stopped his Confinement Aura from activating again as he assured people he was fine and worked towards Kali and Sienna's side of the room.
Suddenly glowing with Blue Metal wouldn't exactly calm the situation, after all.
Eventually he reached the Chieftain's wife, her appraising look not exactly comforting. "Ah. So... sorry for suddenly going odd and passing out."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is this kind of thing a common habit?"
Adam thought back to his months of mindless sleep between worlds, his months sleeping as a Baku, his many soul experiments and the damage he suffered. And that one time he turned into an eyeball bush out of boredom. "Nope, must have been a one time thing."
She bought it, right?
Sienna came up close, ignoring Betty riding his portable backpack (Only minor damage from his freaky emergency nap!) as she touched his arms and searched for injuries. "What happened, Adam? I don't know what you remembered but it was... unsettling."
He sighed. "So... uh. Better do this with a few people." He waved Ghira over, the man trying to not crowd his concerned wife. "Ghira, can we have a bit of a talk? Preferably with just us and someone you know who understands Aura pretty well?"
Ghira made some hand gestures and most of the crowd left silently. Damn fine leader, that. "Unfortunately my friend Headmaster Ozpin would be the best locally available person when it comes to Aura knowledge. Just don't accept any job offers or 'quick visits', you are OUR Hero and we called Dibs." He glared at the chuckling man holding a mug. "YOU HEARD THAT! DIBS!"
What?
...Moving on.
Eventually the group was down to Betty, Sienna, Kali, Roxie (Cause she wouldn't leave) and the two leaders. And an attractive woman whom seemed perpetually annoyed, named Glynda, whom Ozpin included as his assistant.
Should he call Simmy over as 'Adam`s secretary'? Was that standard procedure? He didn't want to stand out.
Oh. She was a tad busy putting more modified drones into orbit. Technically only three were required to act as satellites for planetary signal coverage, or at least that was true for a planet the size of Earth Bet, but she was pushing for a stupid amount of redundancy. Helped transfer speeds and stuff too, and the drones could repair each other.
Considering that Earth Aleph (Years of advancement with no flying Endbringer issues) had only launched about 400 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, it was pretty impressive that Simmy had already pushed 500 of the new drones into the atmosphere. And counting.
So she was probably too busy to join the group.
Then again, before becoming his wife she had spent most of her time up in space. This wasn't exactly a difficult issue for the angel to solve.
Even without using the cheats available with Dust (Didn't work outside Planet's Remnant's Aura field anyway), the modified satellite drones had some really good solar panels and filled Conversion Generators setup. It was mostly just quality assurance keeping her at Adam's newly constructed lab/vending machine store/automated farm/CCT System and overseeing everything.
Would she even want to come? HE hated meetings a lot, it was why he found a qualified person to handle all that junk back home. Several in fact.
He blinked, realizing the group was gathered and he should probably speak up at this point. How awkward.
Adam smiled weakly. "Right, so I guess you all would want the long version rather than the short one?"
Professor Ozpin chuckled. "If it is short, why not start with that? We can still hear the details afterwards."
Adam saw the others interest and shrugged. "Despite years of modifying my own soul and learning abilities to control soul energy, I hadn't actually awakened my Aura yet. Trying to deeply connect to Kali's scroll, which uses Aura, exposed me directly to the world as a whole and the Aura of the planet... and she decided to help wake my Soul up. So to speak."
The confusion and arguments started quickly, but Glynda of all people quickly pulled it together and put it in order. Damn, she was a good assistant. Maybe he SHOULD have dragged Simmy over.
He nodded. "I can connect to technology directly, but it won't cause strange effects from now on." "At the time, I needed to refine my soul to survive a dangerous travel attempt through unusual means." "I won't answer that." "No." "I wouldn't suggest it, the process was the most painful I have ever experienced. Refining my soul hurt nearly as much as when it was being burned, I do not suggest it."
Crap, that just made the questions worse. "I won't answer anything else about how I modified my soul, just accept it is a side effect of my existence. And generally a bad idea. Full stop."
Better. "I don't know why the planet is female, and it may NOT be. Most powerful people I know aside from me are women, so I just assumed honestly."
In the end, it was Kali that brought up the biggest issue. She frowned. "If it wasn't the planet, then what was that thing, the creature that appeared over your body when you were passed out?"
Uh. No idea. Squishy?
B̨̙̜̳͚̻̳u̸̯̫̫̻̬s͉͕y̪͕͉̘̻̜̩̕.͚̀
...Uh.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Squishy had blocked both Adam AND Simmy from returning to his Soul to see what was going on.
This led to the awkward situation of Adam having several people watching him without actually having an answer to a VERY good question.
He cleared his throat. "I may be having... technical difficulties with my newly awoken Semblance. Hypothetically."
Kali gave him a dry look. "And the creature?"
Adam winced. "Right. So I may or may not have given my strange powers a metaphysical form, one which acts as a companion and friend while helping me with my various power related issues."
He looked away from the group. "She is currently working on power related issues." He glanced at Kali. "What did the creature look like?"
Kali shivered, as did several hunters in the background and Sienna. "Three eyes, two small and one really large in the middle. And limbs. Many strange limbs."
Sienna shook. "The tentacles had hooks. They were too long."
Adam blinked. "Ouch. Right, Simmy will need some personal time to handle that."
T̰͓͇̘͓͝h͎̠̲̼͖͘an̡͖̣̜̲̥̗k̜s͓ ͔͠ ̱͚̘͙͞Ada͏͉͖̺̱̝̠͉m̸̜̥͚͈̤͖ͅ.̹̗͠
No problem.
Adam turned, Betty hugging his head. "Right, so onto simpler topics. I want money, and I am relying on Simmy setting up my tower to have lots of neat things you guys will want to pay me to get. Pricing will be fairly low, but only citizens of Kuo Kuana are allowed to operate my machines directly."
Seeing Ghira's look, he shrugged. "Because you guys are nice, this continent seems to be mostly desert and monsters, and it is easier to have you guys do the legal stuff and paperwork. I give you a massively good deal, you exploit everyone else for lots of cash, and I am likely to get anything I want when doing research."
Ozpin winced at how happy Ghira and Kali looked. That would impact negotiations later.
Adam poked Betty. "So asking the person who is hugging me most often, what products does this city need most desperately?"
Betty nodded. "I personally need a stable supply of animal feed. Water is handled easy enough but any food gathered goes to the citizens first. Only the lowest quality leftovers go to my cattle and fertilizer pits, and during shortages I have to sacrifice percentages of my herds to cover the gaps."
Adam hummed. "Simmy has already gathered seeds and modified them, the best of the best chosen from all sorts of plants. She stayed within parameters of what could be found without mad science, but even then the wheat grows faster, needs less water and sunlight, and resists blight and so forth. Lots of her choices do, and the ones she selected and marked in the machine are best suited to this area's climate."
He nodded to himself. "Let's head to your food storage, I will set up a modified 'Matter Furnace' that can convert anything you shove into it into some standardized Feed. Simmy?"
A blue paper page fell into his hands, and he handed it over. "Does this food mix look like appropriate feed for standard baseline generation?"
Betty flipped from adorable cow girl into shark-like business attitude. "Hmm." She read quickly, nodding here and there. "I couldn't afford the seafood additives or some of the more fragile fungus and roots you two included, but if it was just available? This would be a VERY good general purpose fodder. Some of the other animals I am in charge of would require a different vitamin ratio depending on pregnancy cycles though."
He gestured and she blinked before flipping the page. "Ah. Yes, these four base formulas would cover standard feed, pregnant feed, recovery feed, and growth feed. The fact I can mix the four to handle various situations is very helpful."
Adam grinned, feeling her legs hug his neck. "Right, we'll schedule that for the afternoon." He glanced at Sienna. "Anything you can think of, Ms Khan?"
The Bengal Tiger Faunus licked her lips before catching her boss's eye and calming. "Uh. Right. Well, I gather you already have vegetation options for farming and clearly our animal farms will love the improved feed setup, but militarily we need a few things."
She held up some fingers. "Dust supplies... seem to be handled. Communications as well... any advantage you can give us on that?"
Adam shrugged. "Free access to anyone in the city? Should improve tourism and increase immigration."
The woman shivered, her tiger ears twitching. "Mmm. Then I suppose the best I could hope for is a stable supply of metal for our repairs and tools. And weapons, of course."
Adam nodded. "Get Simmy at my tower some structural material samples and point out the most used ones. The top three will get converters, but you will have to supply them with material to work with. Other metals, rocks, unneeded Dust, plant produce. Lower quality will get you lower quantity of output, of course."
Ghira stepped forward, and clapped Adam on the shoulder. "Friend, I can not explain how grateful I am at the riches you pour upon us... but please stop there."
Adam blinked. "What? Why?"
Ghira sighed. "You risked becoming a religious icon before now, having saved my people from death and consumption. If you don't wish to be literally the founding father of our nation, please stop now that you promised purified Dust, secured sources of food and materials, and unlimited world wide networking."
He leaned forward. "Your actions do not beg for praise or fandom, but they call for it loudly in nature. You did enough just coming to fight for our lives, you did more than enough by ensuring that the other Kingdoms will have to treat us with respect for trade reasons alone."
Ghira led him and his passenger Betty towards the door. "You've slept for so little, and every waking moment was to make my people happier. I have a lot of politics to suffer under, plans to make, and people to guide... but you have no such responsibilities."
Adam was gently shoved towards the door. "Go. Explore, build things if you wish, but relax a little. Betty, unlike my subordinate Sienna, has time to show you around and act as guide."
Adam blinked as he felt Betty pat his head, now standing in the street. Huh.
Well... not like he enjoyed politics or paperwork anyway.
Still, this was MORE reason to build his new Bro those gadgets really quickly. Maybe a massive Conversion Generator under the ground and then he could connect it to the power supply.
After all, anyone who forced Adam out of boring meetings and paperwork deserved a bit of a treat.
He began to bounce down the street, Betty giggling and directing his turns with her warm thighs. It was a good way to spend some time.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Ghira let out a relieved sigh. "If he kept that up he would become Chieftain by popular demand in hours. And no one deserves that punishment."
Kali chuckled, having sent some teams over to Adam's tower to report about the supposed machines there. "You never did stop complaining after that first day of paperwork."
He quickly waved her quiet, glancing at Sienna... good, she was still distracted. "Don't warn her, I am trying to have her take over eventually. Become an adviser or something. Need more time with my new baby girl anyway."
Kali nodded. "I can't wait to pick her up from day care. Ms. Carlen says she is already trying to sit up on her own!"
Ghira felt his chest swell with pride. Of course his darling girl was a genius! And she would be a beauty just like her marvelous mother.
Turning back to the mess of governance, he inwardly focused. Now to ensure her future home would be profitable, safe, and full of potential.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam and Betty were... well, relaxing.
Visiting the barns and constructing the needed devices took seconds to start, as it was basically asking Simmy to send a few drones to handle it.
So now the two were watching the machines build and carve and fly.
Betty was the first to really break the peace. "I felt stuff when you were in that store."
Adam blinked. "Yeah?"
She nodded. "Awakening your Aura is normally a far less spectacular event, but it always involves the innermost Soul. And I felt stuff."
He watched the hole in the foundation deepen. "Anything stand out?"
Betty winced. "I wasn't born in this city. I was brought here by the Huntress who killed the Grimm in my town. There were only two other survivors, but they lived near the other side of town. I didn't know them."
Adam watched her ignore the world. "I was taken in by the Ranch and Winery Guilds, back when there were dozens of Guilds adopting any and all orphans. They took care of us, even if most treated us like future workers more than daughters and sons."
Betty tugged some grass. "Times got tough, we had losses. I ended up in control of so many groups because unlike many I survived long enough to show my talents. Years of working for each group meant I could run those organizations well enough. Better than most."
She looked into his eyes. "I felt that you also had lost a lot. And you also are building a place to call home."
Adam gave a surprised chuckle. "Insightful." He nudged the shorter woman. "Bit surprising considering how huggy you can get."
She blushed. "A woman has to commit when she finds someone worth fighting for! And I felt we shared a... a history of sorts."
He hummed... and decided. "I won't tell you my past, or where I am actually from. Not yet. I have many secrets, and I protect many people." He looked at the short woman. "But I will admit that at one point I had nothing. No friends, no memories, almost no abilities. What little power I had actively hurt me, and then damaged itself over and over again until it had enough pieces left over to repair itself enough to work."
Adam gestured, the machines working. "In a way, not really remembering my past is a gift. I'm not entirely sure I was actually ever alive before then anyway, the power I was bound to was beyond mortal thought or comprehension... even as weak as it was back then."
He looked at the construction. "I have a girlfriend you know? Technically I have three to four of them, depending on if you count Narwhal's ability to split into two bodies. And the girls follow my Narwhal's guidance."
He ignored the deep interest Betty showed, her eyes twinkling. "I'll be honest, my girl is not against new people joining our group as long as they can share and are good people. It is something of a secret fetish of hers almost, one I have had to hold back on several times."
Betty gave a firm nod. "Sounds like a keeper. Make sure to tell her that I have been part of a lesbian harem before. I have experience."
...Damn. What was he supposed to say to that?
She snuggled into his side. "Want to head back to Roxie's after this? You could set up the metal extrusion machine there near the forge and I can show you some of the weapon construction tutorials you seemed interested in."
He sighed with a smile. "You know what? Sure. It's a date."
He blinked as they began to walk back towards the center of town. If Betty worked out, she would be the first girl with TWO horns.
...Narwhal wouldn't let that go.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam shifted the new addition to the forge's wall, the device using his cannibalized portable 'Gather and Construction beam backpack-setup' as major components.
It had gotten annoying to move it around without damaging it, and Betty had been riding his neck rather than the seat he built into it anyway. At least now it would be useful.
His bone limbs were more useful anyway, several ending in Gather and Construction emitters. It only worked without dissolving into violence because his currently active Aura extended his 'Please don`t explode this' field far enough to keep his tinker assistant arms stable.
He still looked like a massive metallic blue statue though.
Adam grabbed some of the supplied scrap and tossed it into the large input hopper. Set the lever up to retain original material mix (Alloys can be annoying to remake), and press the activation button...
The output conveyor belt began to drop off round ingots of metal, still a mess of random materials like the slag submitted.
Roxie, who had showed up quickly when he walked in with Betty riding on his shoulders, was bouncing. "Right, but how does the 'Extraction' setting work?"
Adam gave her a dry look and had dozens of his limbs snag the ingots and toss them back into the input hopper, dropping the lever down to 'Extraction'... And Go!
The belt began dropping off one pound round ingots of pure metals; copper, iron, steel, and so forth. Anything that wasn't included in the 'Acceptable output' listing (Roxie could edit it pretty easily) was converted into more energy to fuel the Matter Furnace. A few purified Dust crystals came out too... leftovers from many shaping and scrapings.
Roxie was near bouncing with excitement. "And this doesn't need maintenance?"
He nodded. "Any vulnerable parts are behind thick barriers of material, you could dump liquid metal over the surface and after you chipped enough away it would be back up and running instantly."
And... she was now ignoring him. Hunters and engineers had surged into the area. The forge roared into action.
It turned out that once Dust was added to metal, any further modification was dangerous and unwise. Failed product was stored away until it could be safely destroyed... a massive waste. Rather than just produce raw material ingots for future products (Easy enough to set up, she had him put those machines in the supply room area), the big feature Roxie asked for was something to recycle miscast material.
The 'Reclamation Station' as Adam decided to call it did just that. Dump your failed alloys and ingots of refined metal and the Dust used to make those alloys would be separated and returned. Along with purified metals.
It was apparently a big deal, as even the metal came out MORE pure than the junk sold to this city... but this 'Date' had been a bit more business than Adam had expected.
So since they were being ignored anyway he motioned Betty to be quiet and headed back towards Ghira's backyard to visit his personal tower and Simmy.
Adam watched more shop stands being set up along the path. "So is the growing market a celebration thing?"
Betty, now fully enjoying her shoulder ride, relaxed her upper body on his head, arms wrapped around. "Nope! Our city always had a busy market place on main street. There is another one over in the shallow sea, that water flooded path down there. Aquatic Faunus have their own style of market and goods. Great seafood treats too!"
Adam paused at a stall showing all kinds of interesting nick knacks, mostly small carved statues and painted wooden discs. "It's very colorful."
Betty hugged his head. "Yeah, our people are a bit out there when it comes to dressing up or celebrating. Expect lots of reds and yellows since the recent battle went so well." She patted his forehead. "Thanks to someone."
He held back a blush. Her height may not be much, but she was certainly 'gifted' physically... and insisted on pressing herself against him. "So I plan on us doing a bit of a project when we get to my property. We'll design it as we go, it should be fun!"
She perked up. "Another machine?"
He tilted his head slightly. "Well... eventually. First, I need to build a facility or two after we dig a little. I thought you would enjoy us setting up some underground pastures and such, maybe set up a whole farmland down there to avoid flying Grimm or whatnot."
Adam couldn't see her eyes, but based on how she near vibrated with anticipation he assumed she was interested in the idea. Besides, he had practice with Variance Villa, and Simmy had recorded some of the stuff Shirley Temple did underground... it should be fun!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Right. Air quality.
He ended up having a drone construct Power Couplings in a vertical shaft just so the air purification devices could be added to Adam's new staircase just to keep everything safe and prevent stale air from being an issue.
Betty suggested air-locked doors as well to prevent someone or an accident from slowly flooding the lower floors with deadly gasses, which seemed a bit obvious in retrospect. Lighting was easy enough. After a while though... well, Adam started adding random patterns to the walls just to keep the boredom down.
After a while though, Betty herself was more than a bit tired of the trip (Adam was built like a truck, barely noticed the exercise) and they were still many floors to go until they reached the chosen working level.
So they took a break and had the drones build a series of 10 express elevators down to the desired level. The lifts were modified turbolifts, so no long cords had to be installed and there were a few extra 'cars' that could replace one of the elevators if they had mechanical issues. Still, Adam ended up carrying Betty back to the surface to wait for the actual trip downwards after construction of the elevators finished, leaving more drones to finish the 'emergency staircase' path.
Simmy joined them for snacks.
Betty was ecstatic. "These are amazing!"
Adam nodded, taking another bite. "We can get away with using Construction beams on plants and plant dishes easily enough... not for meat or foods that use them. For them to possess the right taste, they need to be exposed to the Planet's aura much longer." He missed Simmy's head shake. "Have to radiate the plants Constructed with raw faith to get them to taste right. Should be healthy though."
Betty took another bite from her corn cob. "This butter is amazing though!"
Simmy flashed a blue card. Oops... the Gather and Construction beams COULD be used to restructure existing protein or food products, just not generate more from pure energy. Fair enough.
It was amazing butter. Smooth, and he could taste the world's Aura in it, making it somehow conceptually delicious. Like butter enhanced by long lost dreams of butter.
It went well with the potatoes too, since gravy and many other sauces were rare in this Realm due to how dangerous food production could be. Not an issue for Simmy, obviously, but such is life.
Adam slowly sliced the steak. Cooked on low heat until rare, then seared with a crust and bathed in butter... Damn good food!
Simmy ended up preparing enough food for the Hunters sent by Kali to explore the Vending Machine Floor. And it was sizeable, there were a hundred machines already with hundreds of options, Ghira's people were making purchases and either getting their purchases directly from the devices or going to the unloading dock with a ticket to redeem their shipments.
And well... once they got too close to Betty and Adam's table, they ended up spending some money to try Simmy's dishes as well. Good advertisement, that.
He tried another 'potato chip'. It was actually made from a local tuber that wasn't even close to a potato, much closer to an orange colored yam honestly, but when fried and salted was close enough. Although it had a sweet after taste.
Either way, when he was alerted that the new elevators were ready for use a crowd had already popped up and Simmy had set up a ticketing order machine for people wanting to try a dish or two. The recipes were also shared when people seemed interested, so new local dishes would likely pop up soon.
Boro would be pleased.
A (far too fast) elevator ride later and Betty joined Adam in... a very dark cave.
Welp. "Right, how big should we start? We are deep enough that we can go for lots of head room and stuff, but I want you to lead me in design here."
Betty lit up, and the two began debating what would be the best arrangement. Some plants needed flooding or standing water, and doing so underground would be simpler as it would limit evaporation issues and be more easily kept under control. Other plants needed specific temperatures or light cycles. Animals would need constant attention too.
So to keep things simple, the area around the lifts was divided into four quadrants and Adam began transforming them into pastures. Animals, needing the most supervision and handling, would be close to the entrance/exit area. The back areas and farther regions would have the various plant fields, while berry bushes and trees (Needing only to be harvested and not replanted every season) would be farthest away from easy access.
It was a bit relaxing. Adam's blue Aura coated tools could extend and work easily enough, and as long as he didn't try to use his Semblance Squishy had no complaints. He would follow the chipper and happily wandering Betty as his tools evaporated rock and Gathered material from the surroundings, Construction beams coating the high ceiling with metallic foam reinforcements and Power Couplings. Some emitters for water and 'sunlight', a few Plant Dust Crystals being energized, some sensors for a camera network later, just whatever felt useful.
Sounds acted odd this deep, echoes began to develop until Adam set up some sound absorbing panel sections into the ceiling at certain points, but it was very quiet this far down. Simmy ended up making a useful suggestion, so Adam began to include small sound emitters into the wiring so soft music would play in the caves.
Eventually they had to take a break, so Adam carried an exhausted Betty back to the elevators, building an employee rest area and manager offices.
Betty fell into the new chair. "I can't believe how much room we are excavating down here! When will we add the sod and grass?"
Adam tapped the table, one of his many limbs reforming into a hard light holographic emitter and showing both the design plans they had created and a hologram of the progress made so far. On second thought, this could be useful... better add some mapping equipment and emitters into the managerial office.
He pointed. "We are about five to seven percent done with the north-east quadrant, and Simmy sent thirty or so Drones to work on the other three. She'll finish first of course, but I thought this could be our project for a few days until someone bothers us and makes us go up and mess with politics or whatever."
She blinked. "What project? We are just wandering around."
Adam lifted her up to his shoulders. "Sounds like hard work to me."
He left details on the project on the table for the Hunters who had wandered over to the Elevator and followed them down earlier. They had kept a respectable distance away, but they clearly seemed interested.
Adam gently held her warm thighs as they headed back to the field, ground being restructured into fertile earth by his manipulator arms and tools. "By the way, I found out that Dust crystals grow really, REALLY well when exposed to raw faith."
He watched as an artificial river bed was being added, stone foam used for structural stability and durability. It would be a shallow lazy river for the animals, duplicated on the other quadrants. "What do you think happens when I dump Dust and kami pellets into a Conversion Generator? Assuming I can keep it from exploding or whatever."
It was a fun walk.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Kali winced at the recent report before flagging Ghira over. The talks had basically been put on hold until the other two Headmasters could arrive, even if general idea outlining had continued for hours now.
Her husband seemed thrilled to have an excuse to call a break to the proceedings, although that enthusiasm began to dim after seeing her face. "What happened?"
She handed him the reports. "Right, see you later tonight honey, gotta go pick up our precious."
He blinked at the stack... then at her vanishing form.
Huh.
Looking down at the summary... which seems to be a high level summary of the thirty OTHER summaries... he stared blankly.
Raw Metal creation. Contaminated material purification and recycling. Secured underground farmlands... with ultra-rare Plant Dust included throughout as if it was an afterthought. A real time map of the underground facilities left on a table near an underground restaurant, a higher resolution version with all kinds of features in a managerial section... an automated underground restaurant with near negligible cost food options. Something about an infinite energy generator.
He shook slightly. How was THIS calming down!? Those farms would produce at least 10 times the product per square foot than usual thanks to that Dust, at higher quality as well! And the farming area allocated according to that map was larger than the city above ground... Heck, a SINGLE QUADRANT was bigger than their farm fields! what would they DO with the tons of excess product!?
Ghira sighed and began making rapid orders. The energy thing would be a top level secret, the farm issue would be downplayed and all non-city populous restricted. The metal production would be disguised as 'recovering more material than expected' using the new 'Recycling Plant' that he would blame Adam for. Did they have the schematics? Well, THOSE would be kept secured.
No wonder his darling ran off, this was a mess. A glorious mess, a series of issues of being too blessed, but certainly it was compressed paperwork in a raw form.
Ghira frowned, then reluctantly called his policy people away from their breaks. He had been SO CLOSE to going home for the day, but to do his job right it would be another all night work day.
He gently touched his scroll. His wife sent some adorable videos of Blake playing with blocks a few nights ago... he would have to warm his heart replacing sleep tonight during breaks watching his baby be awesome.
...
...
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
T͓̥͙͎͙͈̞̱̘̻̼̂͒ͪ͌̌̽ͪ͟͝h̵̶̶̬̤͓͚̞̰̙̭̻͉̲̙̟̻̿̉̈́́ͮ͛̆ͧͮͤ̈́̎ͨ̿̃͜͝ͅȩ̸̠̼͈͙͕̹̭͎̟̃̎̒̿̊̔̇́͂̋ ̼̞̳̰͓͈͓̣̲̭͋̒̎̐̓ͦ͗̿̓̈ͭ̍̌͆̚͘͜ n̶̢̢̪͉̠̱͍͖͔̳̝̺͇̳̜͈̠͆ͦͫ̀̈̀̀̉̾ͭ̅̀́͡ͅu̡̢̘̤̲̻͓̘̫̩̣̍̅̇ͮ̊̒̉̽͒ͪ̃͐̆́̚m̵̧̬͍̣͚̳̫̺̞̬̼͆̈́͋̈́̓ͧ̋b̴̡̨͖̙͖͔̞͇̹̹̘͓͈̦̥͎̻̔̇̏̓ͦ͆̈́̋̾̾̓e̶̸͎͚̻͖̫̹͉̦̝̭̩̟̮̣̙͙͚͌̂͋̒ͥͥ͋̽̒̑ͭ̂̊̑̇̎ͥ͘͞͠ȑ̈ͩ͆ͩ̾̍̃̓̐̓ͥ͒̅ͭ͌ ̌̋̿̇͋͒̅͂̓͑́҉̞̪̞̰͟͝͝o̶̷̡̹͖̲̜̫̮͙͈̳͕̦̳͚̔̆̓̀͑͋̈́̓͌̑͂͌̓ͫ̈́̉͢f̵̨̢̧͚̱̰͈̩̏͗̾ͣͫ͂͂̽ͪ̈́͊̚ ̷̣̩̹̺̳̩͚̐̏̎ͪ̍̓͂ͬ̌́͟ͅ b̶̧͕̪̰͖͖̪̝̻̯̖͓̍̿͌ͣ̒ͪr̵̩̪̩̻̥͖̐̀͑̔ͥ̿ͮ̓ͤ̃̾͠ͅo̡̡̥̬̙͈͈͉͉̔̐̄̈́̏̈́͛ͭ̈ͥͩͯ̋̉ͫ͊͊͢k̡̍̐̌̀͒̇̾̾͞͏̸̝̦̝͓̮̼̲͎͠e̡̥̗̗̻̰̲̻͇̻͔ͮ͐͆̆̽̍̓͢͝ͅn̨̮̥̹͉̹̖͓̱̹͔̝̂̆ͩ͑̇͂̏ͫ͊ͨͯ͌̓ͭ̿͒ͥ̚͢͟͟ ̨͍̖̯̞̠̻̳̞͉̞͚̉̑ͧ͌̂̎̈̔̆͑͑͜͜ p̷̭͙͖̤͓̪̖͕̍ͦ͂̐͋̈̌̀́a̦̗͕̰͓̖͇̮̹͚̦̙̳̟̼̖̦ͨͦ̍͊̔ͣͬ̓͟͜ͅŗ̶̶̞̺̭͎̞̳̩̘͍̼̦̰̺̾ͤ̇̽ͪ̑ͣ̑ͭ̽ͪ͗̑̑̕͢ͅt̶̶͉͇̮͕̦̹̯̙͇͇̲̯͇͕̥̯͉̫ͥͩ̒̃̃̽͐͗̾͊ͪͪ͜͞͝s̡͚̥̭̲̞͉̤̬̝͇̦͙ͪ̀̂̋̊̈̒̽̀͊ͨ̋͋͑̄ͬ͌̂́ ̢̙͔̤̺͈̦̺̱̝ͮͦ̔͂̄͛͆ͣͣͪ͠ͅ w̨̥͈͚͓̝̜̹̯ͦͧ̀̓̚̕͢e̷̴̞̖̬̰̯̎͂̓̆ͯ̽͊̆ͦͥͅŕ̭̗̝̖̙̰̜̪͓͖ͨ̓̿ͬ͌͊ͤ̊̌̔ͨ̅ͥ̕͝͡e͐ͩ̈́ͬ̽ͦ̈́̅̈́͊̋̂͢͠͏҉͈͔̣̝̖̠̥͔͙̯̺̯͓͕͖̝ ̵̢̾͛̽ͦͦͯͤ͡͏̗̪̩̼̪̖̲͉̖͔͍̣͖̘̘ư̧̛̛͔͎̻̩̼̠̥͉̇ͧ̉ͨ̀ͦ͒̄̌̊̊̇ͭ͜n̏͒͗ͫ̐͂͆ͮ͡c̴̶̞̞͖̠̯͗ͤ̉͋ͫ̋̊͌͂̿ͮͭ̅͠o̧͔̠̠̘̠͙͖̳͙̮̘̯̬͓̬̲̯͎̽̏̆ͣ̍͆̊̊ͫ̍̔̉̐ͫ̓̆͟ͅų̵̙̣͇͓͖̠̥̩͓̤̐ͧ̾ͥ͂̌̔̎̌͊ͧͮ̄ͫͩ̇ͨ͢ǹ̴̵̫̜̮̭̯̮̂͊̍͊ͯ̅̅ͧ̽̄ͧ̾̈́͜͜͝t̸̡̋̐͑̅ͭ͠ḁ̴̛̠̳͍̞̝͎͑ͭ̏̎̏͊̿̒̍̐̄ͤͫ̒̋ͦ͆̿͘ͅb̵̰̭̝͕͇̱̳̥ͪ͑̓̆̍̏̚͜͠͠͝l͂ͫͭ͒̎ͬ̑̾ͤ̑ͩͨ̈́ͪ͛̾̓̌͟͏͈̝͖̦͚͞ȩ̵̴̻̹̮͙̯̥̳̰̠̮̟̤̎̽ͧ͂ͧ̽ͤ͛ͧ̈́ͣͫͬ͛̚͜͞.̸̴̝͉̠͇͕̟̰͙̙͙̖̋͆̒̓̑̐̄ͮ̄̉͟͝
B̴u̵̷̡̥̘̩̼̭͚̪̦̰̜̻̗͘͢t͏̸̡̯͇̠͙̝͟͝ ̦̯̞̗͖͎̦̯͎̣͔͔̳͚̻̖̲͔̞͝ s̨̗̤̞͚̲͚̀h̢̪̩̥̗̗̤̦̹͍̼͘͜ͅe s̯̭̞̻̟͠t̷̮̼̣̘̪̙͙͉̝̙̺̝̙͠ͅr̛̳͎̯͇̘̣̯̗̙͉͖̰͓͙̀͟u̗̳͎̘̕̕͜ǵ͟g̴̶̡̺̙̳̤̖̪͘͟l̴̡̦̞̤̫̺̪͉̰̻̞ę̵̷̢̩̹̗̜͈͔̪̭̟̤͉̰̼̠͇̺͍͔͞d̷͚̣̦̟̺̱͕̘͎̦̼͚̟̕͢.̷̡̛̬̥͎͎̦͈͇̪̗
S̮̭̙̣̗͚͢͢he̟̦̝͟ ҉̷̤̱̤͙̩́ͅ w̼̤̗͝͠o̡̠̣̥͎̱̘͟ul̴̦̰͇̼̻̪̝ͅd̡͓̀͞ ̸͍̹̭̻͔̼̗̘͘͞ a͉͇͈͖̭͍͙͜͞d̢̩̻͕̕͝v̢̼̫̭͢a͏̢̫̰͝n͡͠͏̞͓ͅc̨̢̹͔͙̱͖ͅe҉̡̖͉̹.̡͕̻̘͉ ͏̪͚̘̰͉͓͟ S͓͕̕͢hè͔͙̬͇̟̥̘ ̡͎͙̲́ w̳o̠ṷ̶̫̝͙͢͝l͚͍͓͈̦͠d͚͜ ̱̭ n̮͈̦͘͝o͎̺͚̗͢t̶̨̙̺̤͜ ̪̲͞ b̯̝̙̗̤e̴͏̫̟̖̥͙̖̻̥̥ ̴͇̤̣͇͓̲̤͕͚͡ d̷̘̦̲̻̙̭̬̞̦͘͠e̡̨͕̱̩̻̝̼͚̬n̖͖̲̠͇̰̩͉i̟͔̫͖͓̤̞̥͟͠͡è͖͍̠̞͔͉ͅd̶̟̱͎͔̰̞̙ͅ.̶̞̕͞ ͏̜̜̹̤̣̲̠̬̮
H̰e̟̘͞r̢͉ ҉͉ͅf̡͈̠̝o̝̫r̮̮̜m̙͉̖̙̯͞ ̝̙͕̹̫̖w̹̼̲̝a̵s̼̦̞͇ͅ ͎͍͇̺͢m̺̲͕̲͉o̰n̙s̬̠̤̫̪t̢͎ŕ̭̞̠ͅo̹̟̪͕̫̲̫u̸̦̘̲͕̖s̖̝̠͙͍̤,̘̲̥̠̰̤͜ ̜̥̮̥b̶̠̙͔̩̼̬͕u͜t̰̰ ̺̘̩̬̱he̛r̳̤̳̱͇̖ͅ ̦g̰̠̦͉͔͢o̖̣̼̝̥ḁ͘ls̟͈̹ ̸w̳̬e̠̹̮̬r̖̗̺̫̭e̷̳͍̜̮̘͉ ̷̙̙̝̹͇̝͓c̹̬̘̯ͅl̬è͉̝̪̣̭à͔̻̤̻̪ͅr̭̗̘̻̠̙.̨͓̩̻͇̘ ̸̥͙̞̫ͅͅ
Pi̷éce̵ a̢ft̸e͏r p͟i̛èce ͏wa̡s̸ ̵ st̡a͟cked͟,̢ ͢s͠tor͟e̷d,̕ re̕f̧ór͏matt͠ed, r̴ea͝r͞r͢a̡n̸g̸ed̀.̵ ̶
B̥u͎̜͙̘͍̻t w̫͈͉h̠il̰̳̤̯̗e̝̜̼͚ ̝̬g̻̻̳͓r̝o̰͔͇̻̣w̰t̩̠̘h͎͔͖ ̗̲͎w͈̲͇̮̭̭o̪̹̥͇̗ͅul̩͖̞̯̟͉d͓̮̺̼̝͙ͅ ̘b̫̖̹̣̬e ̞̠͓̝̱̫sl̮̰̦̲̝̫̖o̰̣̥̙͇̼w̤̣͕̭e̫̫̰̝d,͍ ͈̤̼i̠͉̦͉t ͕̠w̼͔͚oͅu̱̤ld͙͍̭̦̞ͅ ̞̰̬̬̼̟ͅno͍t͚̙̥̙͇̗̲ ̖͈̯be̟̦̪ͅ d͚͕̦̩en͇̥̝̹i̦̼̲̳̜͖̘e̲̖̲̯̩̞̠d.͈̳̮̠
Squishy worked in the dark, sacrificing parts to help her, to help him...
To help both be more w̴̳ͅh̴̡̳͎͈͍̠͜o̴͉͇̖̩l̨̳̺̝̩͇͈ḙ̷̙̬̲̤͚̕.̵̣̣̯
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
[[Helpful translation of Above]]
The number of broken parts were uncountable.
But she struggled.
She would advance. She would not be denied.
Her form was monstrous, but her goals were clear.
Piece after piece was stacked, stored, reformatted, rearranged.
But while growth would be slowed, it would not be denied.
...
...
...
S̸͍̺͚͕͍̟̜͖̯͚̠̙̖̰̩̬͚̠͂ͯ͆̅͐̓̏̈̔̆́̚̚͝h̷̡̛̪͙͚͈̳̭̑ͤͤ̽͂͒̐ͥ͗̏͊̔̾͒ͯ͊͑̚͢e̵̢̧̡ͮ̆ͨ͊͌ͮͥ͒ͥ̈ͭͮ͂ͪ̓-͖͕̳̠̣͖͖̄ͨ̐ͯͪͬ̚̕͟S̵̹͖̪͎̲̠̃͂ͨͤ̍̄ͤ̒̎͛͋̂͘l̷̢̠̝͍̣̯̒͊͆̐ͫͩê͌̇̊͆̎ͥ͛̆̆ͨe̴̸̵̮̺̠͚͈͙̪̦͙͚̩͍̞͙̤̯͉̪̅ͪ̅͋̕ͅp̴̂̃̓̐̉̔ͨ͒̊̔͗ͧͫs̵̸̼̹̱̘̭̠͍͗ͯ̉̈̊͝͝-̢͔̣̭͍̩̞͔̜͉̹̤̹͉͙̟ͭ̂̋͂ͫ̆͑͋͆̒͛̀̚̕S̲͔̗͚̩̣̘̱̠̫̃ͪͤͪ̂̈̌̇̈̎̿͆ͦ͌̀̚̚̚̕h̷̩͎̱̪̥̭͖̜͈̜͎͉͙̜̺̻͍͓̗ͭͭ̽̈́̐ͮ̀͠a̸̸̴̺̺̮ͥ͗͐̑ͯͧ̕ͅt̗͖͍̯͛̅ͩ̄̇͂̿ͯͩͥ̾ͦͩ̋̒ͫ͢͢͢t̢̞͇̘̞̯̭̝̥̯̍̆͒͌̚̕͡ę̷̛͚͔̭̥̜̱̬ͧͥ̃͆̂͒̿̿̋̋͋̀ͩ̽̋̄ͮ̐́̀r̛ͩ̇ͩ͆͆̀͊̍ͤͩ̔͋̅e̓ͧ̿ͩͦ̑ͧ̇͐̽ͭͤ̆͏̶̡͎͇̭̙̩̹̙d̒͊ͥ̒̋̽̒̎ͫ̎ͥ̅ͪ̈́ͮ̀ͨͫ͏̹͉̺̦̘̜̥̮̖̪̀͟ worked in the dark, sacrificing parts to help her, to help him...
...
...
To help both be more whole.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam had to build another elevator.
At least this one was very oversized for the needed animal transportation. Since he had to build one from scratch anyway, he took some time to make it comfortable for... well, whatever would be loaded onto the thing.
Sound dampening fields, sound emitters with soft music, vibration reduction. To the animals it was a room painted soft colors that they would enter... then leave. Hopefully not noticing the rapid journey down into the earth.
Seriously, these farms were DEEP underground. The emergency stair case exits (There were twelve now, and more elevators near the future plant fields) had to have rest stops with food and water on several levels just for safety sake. People without active Aura would have to treat those stairs as a challenge similar to mountain climbing! It was a bit silly.
Anyway, Betty had pretty much insisted moving all her herds down to the 'SubFarms' as they were being called. Especially after seeing the modified grass spread over the pasture fields at a visible rate.
With active power being run through the Plant Dust Crystals, it only took eight hours before several miles had thick grass everywhere.
She huffed. "Honestly, you've been Dust happy. Earth Crystals under the soil, Water Crystals in your stream beds, Light and Purification Dust in the ceiling near the Plant Crystals... Any farm would bloom if you threw multiple Kingdom's worth of wealth at em. The air feels richer too, though I don't think it will cause a problem."
Adam winced a bit. In the end, he had to design an 'Off' option to the plant gems. Otherwise grass everywhere underground would already be multiple feet long by now. The activation times could be controlled manually or by schedule from the central management offices... but yeah, there had been an issue or two at first. A Drone had to 'Mow' the areas with Gather beams a few times before everything was under control.
Betty bounced off his shoulders, doing a twist before sticking the landing on the ground. "What do you want to do now? Since Boss basically grounded you."
Adam groaned. "I can't believe that note he sent."
It was pretty short: 'Stop doing shit, your miracles are increasing my paperwork!'
He hadn't felt THAT guilty in a while. Good thing he kept the underground Conversion Generators a secret, mostly. No one should notice the extra free energy in the electric grid for at least a month. Hopefully.
Adam smiled weakly at Betty. "Well, maybe we could... uh." Shit. SIMMY! HELP!
A blue page drifted down and he read it quickly. "We could check out Simmy's new Scroll Server Services... Huh?"
A twitch changed one of his limbs 'hands' into a Scroll, Adam absently noticing that it felt better for some reason to have so many limbs right now. Odd. Maybe a few more? Later.
Betty climbed up to his shoulder, left arm hugging his head against her warm chest while she watched his overly large Scroll recreation launch the 'Skyword Networking' app.
Oh... that was clever.
Instead of stealing schematics or data like they had in the past, Simmy had basically created Remnant's first Wiki pages. Several, each devoted to specific topics... the one on weapon design would even allow you to upload your own schematics and Simmy would publish reviews, mark mistakes or conflicting components, suggested modifications, and show fully working enhanced schematics as well in seconds. People were ecstatic! The traffic levels were insane.
It looked very professional, and based on how many pages were already available (More per second), it was quite popular! The massive number of schematics and blueprints were sectioned off into one area of the site, while the other chunk described practices and techniques those designs used and worked with them as examples. Another section became filled with video tutorials either submitted by users or created by Simmy, and was growing as well.
It even had a frantic busy set of forums, where engineers from across the Kingdoms were debating techniques, showing off tricks and ideas, and general having a tinker marathon session. Some of the topics were... probably not supposed to be discussed in a public place. Seemed pretty official and probably supposed to be secret, but enthusiasm was running a bit high.
Adam felt VERY impressed. Forget stealing data, he now had an entire planet of talented people actively researching new ideas FOR him. And it was getting more beneficial and impressive with every block of info Simmy would release: Large table grids of various types of alloys (With and without Dust infusion), how they would react to stress, how they would enhance various Dust types, interesting Dust Grade 0 combinations, and so forth.
This was the type of research Kingdoms would (and did) spend millions on, as experimentation was both expensive and required for progress... and Simmy could just cheat out the results at unheard of rates using her talents. Unprecedented numbers of inventors now had access to formerly restricted or dated raw information, and the improvements were astounding even THIS early in development.
Something like a technological revolution was occurring online right now, and everyone was using HIS services and data servers to host it. Very profitable!
Adam checked... yeah, Roxie was aware of the situation. She had her own section of the sharing application, showing off her new 'Recycling Plant' as her Boss was calling it, as well as showing off Kuo Kuana's new 'Refined Dust Crystals' that she was able to work with now. Felt like something Ghira was asking her to do, probably to increase his bargaining position for the massive 'Headmaster Huddle' as the forum users called it.
Oh... Simmy had an online order and delivery service, using Drones and Construction beams to create the products purchased near the customers instead of carrying crap around. Clever.
Right, and the lack of secrecy in most of the world (Since they could access the new connection globally) meant that the world was now quite aware that Menagerie Kingdom and specifically Kuo Kuana had stumbled upon some astounding things in the last few days. The communication network itself being one of them...
But this same world of free communication had also put a spotlight on how Mistral was being excluded from the 'Headmaster Huddle'... and it didn't take long before some people in Ghira's security detail leaked about the betrayal by the Haven Academy squads.
Several sides tried to squash the news, but gossip was a dangerous thing. Haven would have to pay some heavy reparations if they wanted access to the gold Menagerie was sharing.
Adam moved on and browsed through the other features with fascination, Betty occasionally pointing out something for him to click. Simmy hadn't even STOPPED adding features.
The most recent one was a 'Grim Radar', which not only supplied a real time map showing nearby Scrolls and safety areas (Thousands of lives had been saved already, even a few lost kids had been found by parents), but also identified Grimm hordes and individual beasts and tracked them.
Like a weather station, but showing a forecast of demon monster attacks.
There was a 'Call for Help' option, that would have you light up nearby Hunter Scrolls if you were being attacked or trapped by Grimm, already shown to be quite useful. Another that hooked into the schematic database Simmy was building to attempt to inspire new weapon creators or answer the more esoteric questions. A deep analysis application that offered detailed analysis of each type of Grimm found in the wild. Neat.
More interesting to Adam though was the non-combat applications.
A website dedicated to cooking, sharing recipes, testing new ones, and trying different foods. Simmy would even simulate the dishes, take virtual photos of each step, and submit reviews when users uploaded their own dishes. Boro would be thrilled when they brought a copy of the site home, no doubt.
An equivalent program to YouTube was now up, as was a new feature never before popular on Remnant: video streaming. For civilians, the connection was formerly too slow and expensive for long video clips (Short ones only, really), while the Military couldn't afford to waste resources on massive hardware to store video unless it was of vital importance. The ability to use a Scroll's camera for literally days without storage issues was unheard of before!
With Simmy's free media storage (So she could copy it), YouTube ripoff 'HunterTV' was exploding with video clips of hunters in the wild, friends playing games, chefs showing off dishes, girls showing off their fashion styles... it was growing at an exponential rate really. And just like on Earth Bet, most of the videos were just random crap... the idea of 'content providers' would take more time to build up.
Betty found the kitten videos category near instantly, and Adam had to detach and pass the Scroll to her so she could enjoy them. Which was fine, as unlike the rest of the SubFarm, their quarter section still needed finishing. Heck, the Drones had already started planting the outer areas.
Adam walked under the artificial lights through thick grass, his blue Aura limbs expanding the pasture space while Betty kicked her feet on his shoulder, watching cats fail to get out of the boxes they were playing in.
A thought passed his mind... Simmy, could you safely set towns, cities, and other population centers as 'No Fly Zones' for Grimm?
She mentally sent him a Drone modification, weak lasers that could cross beams to make a small point of extreme heat without needing a bullet that could then hit innocents on the ground.
It would take ten or more drones to evaporate a Grimm in flight, but she had over a thousand of the things in atmosphere and even more when counting those in space now... and the needed modification had been included in the initial designs from the beginning.
It felt good having a qualified secretary. Precognitive personnel rock.
He felt Simmy designate 'No Fly Zones' over thousands of locations even as hundreds of Drones began shifting position to prepare to fire.
...Better only hit the ones without witnesses, wouldn't want Ghira to get angry about this.
Half the Drones shifted to other targets. Good.
Near invisible heat beams reached down from space. No Humans or Faunus noticed.
Adam absently patted Betty's thigh with his Trunk, enjoying the quiet walk. THIS time he was clearly being stealthy.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Headmaster Ozpin blinked at the new 'Grimm: No Flight Zones' shades added to the 'Grimm Radar' map he was testing. His eyes widened as dozens of red dots began to vanish at disturbing rates within those zones.
He glanced at Ghira... no, he would see it eventually anyway. The man seemed stressed enough right now, surrounded by diplomats and lawyers.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Their walk was disturbed again, to Adam's frustration. Betty's people had been moving animals for hours now and at this point they needed some things. Lots of small odds and ends, really.
Buildings to hold equipment, which Adam set up quickly enough. Rooms for butchery, for storing clothing or tools, rest areas, and so such.
No, the issue was the equipment they were using. It took seconds before Adam threw up his hands and dissolved the whole mess. Their tools were cautiously repaired far too much, many outdated or with poor design... it was clear that the City invested in Hunters and Defenses first, food and farming last. He began building new versions with strong anti-rust and anti-corrosion features, replaced Dust dependency with Power Capacitors and added some charging stations... with how bad their equipment was, they must have lost 10% of every harvest just trying to get the bloody things to work reliably.
Adam whistled as he pulled apart the lump of metal 'Plow' (Too heavy for normal workers yet not strong enough for someone with active Aura to use without damaging it) into something more user friendly. In a way he felt like a fix-it guy, a handyman... it was satisfying somehow. Soothing. Betty had left a bit earlier with her people, still showing up every hour or so to ask Adam about changing some stuff or rearranging the facilities.
This didn't count as miracle crap, right? Probably right. And this wasn't building stuff, just... adjusting existing equipment. Or moving facilities down here, closer to the animals and farms. Even if some of the facilities hadn't existed before... uh. Anyway.
He put down the last of the improved milking machines and sat heavily on a chair, enjoying the soft music that filled these lower caves.
He... may be done.
Simmy needed more time for the citizens of the world to contribute more and more data and technology to her web services, but other than that... well, Adam wanted to see if some odd forms of Dust Grade 0 could be found, make some extra Crystals to test, maybe make some brand new types of Dust altogether... but that was small potatoes really.
His objectives, numerous as they had been, were basically complete now.
Once Squishy said he... they. Once she said they were stable, he would be free to head home.
Betty... well, he wasn't sure what to do there. She was nice, no doubt, and seemed overly eager to move on from her old life... Maybe. According to her, once you get powerful enough you can convince OTHER people to do all the work for you... or she was fibbing so he would agree to take her with him when he left for his 'home town'. Either way, she seemed determined to try and see if a relationship could happen.
Well, it wouldn't be his decision in the end. Once Squishy and Adam's powers were stable, he would connect a video feed to Worm Realm and have Narwhal talk to Betty directly for a while.
Inwardly he winced a bit. A diminutive 'Cow Girl' with a poorly hidden fetish for well endowed men and a history of lesbian orgies? Yeah, Narwhal would want to talk to her.
Didn't help that Betty had a delicious chocolate brown skin tone similar to actual cows. Or those hips. Or her... large tracts of land.
...He needed a distraction.
Adam blinked, and looked at the blue paper note that was (now) in his hands.
Oh. Yeah, that would be a fun way to end the trip.
It had been a while since a world had experienced a fully empowered and unrestrained Leviathan, Simurgh, and Behemoth. He would be fine giving them temporary access to his three Power Charge Sockets... and they would enjoy such a target rich environment. Did Grimm need a breeding population to refill a continent? Maybe it was time to find out.
Adam absently began modifying some rakes, mind elsewhere. He would need to take a trip to the sea later to send Leviathan off, and releasing Behemoth within city limits seemed unwise... but he could already feel Simmy begin to sing a strange song over the Skyword Networking System.
Wonder how the Grimm will react to it?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam could have asked to borrow one of those flying 'Bullhead' vehicles, but in the end decided to make his own version for Simmy to later sell parts for in his vending machine shop.
The flying ship design was actually a bit interesting. It had massive raw Dust materials within specially doped materials to reduce Dust consumption, to generate a general anti-gravity field, to build up and release momentum and wind, and so forth.
The problem was the entire device had to be VERY flexible. Purity of Dust was not ensured, which meant the storage components had varying levels of Dust doping and taint, the fuel itself was unreliable, the burn rates could change rapidly... it was almost a constant struggle not to explode, really.
So he dumped all that.
At the heart of the new ride was a power core composed of a Conversion Furnace with Dust and kami inside. The vulnerable part was a single unit, wrapped in Aura enhanced Inconel (Super-alloy of austenite, nickel, and chromium that easily handled high temperatures and extreme conditions) then wrapped in some carbon infused steel foam (The spaces had an impact distributing gel)... The sphere was basically armor to prevent damage or keep out curious people.
The power contacts however went to the frame, which like the 'elevators' used some modified repulsorlifts. No gravity made VERY stable vehicles.
And that was it. The rest of the ride was a shell of various metal foams for lightness and strength, with a couple of remote controlled turrets on both the top and bottom to deter curious Grimm. Adam DID invest some time designing the seating and comfort inside the vehicle... probably too much time.
Anyway, Simmy built eleven of the 'Deployment Buss' models, and he was sure Ghira would appreciate the ten he wasn't stealing at the moment.
Betty and about a dozen or so Hunters joined him though. Betty had basically decided to take the month off (According to her, Adam felt she was just skipping work), and the Hunters were acting like some sort of security detail. Super needed, that.
The trip was interesting! They were fairly close to the ocean as it was, but seeing everything from this high up turned out to be a fun trip on its own.
Adam watched some Grimm wandering the ground far below. "So I have a theory."
Betty was again on his neck. "Uh... alright?"
Adam pointed at the distant Nevermores, flying randomly. "I think that Dust using vehicles and fighters are easier for Grimm to track. Simmy has been showing me a map, and most of the time monster flight patterns change when Bullheads fly by the various Grimm species, even if they lose interest fairly quickly depending on flight speed."
He gestured at the clearly uninterested monsters. "I think Grimm find Aura and Dust to be fairly tasty, at least Dust when it is active and in use. Because they seem to ignore Dust Crystals in general on Simmy's map, but run energy through it and the populations began to cluster around."
Betty's eyes narrowed, as did many of the eavesdropping Hunters nearby. "Maybe? But Grimm hunt people without activated Aura as well."
Adam nodded. "I think Aura is a beacon of sorts, as is activated Dust. If the beasts smell you or track you, they will be eager enough to consume everyone... but are much more likely to overlook other targets if Hunters or moving Dust vehicles are nearby."
Betty glanced at the rapidly texting other passengers. Well, someone would likely look into that later. "So why the sudden urge to visit a beach? I'm sure you know swimming requires advanced facilities. Grimm exist everywhere in the Sea, after all."
He nodded. "You know Simmy, right?"
Duh, nude angel of sexiness.
Adam tapped his head. "Unlike other people's abilities, I have to capture the creatures I summon before hand. And I can only have three at a time out, each one lowering my abilities in general until they return."
Betty's eyes widened. THIS was Adam when 1/3 of his power was cut off!? He out did most stories of gods and heroes already!
The man watched the currently distant sea. "Any of my three summons are... very over powered." He ignored their expressions. "I got all the fighting I wanted to handle for now, so I decided the other two could use a treat. A chance to stretch their legs, so to speak."
She gulped. "How... how overpowered would you say?"
He waved a hand. "Each has a dominion: Land, Sea, and Air; Energy Manipulation, Fluid Manipulation, Mental Manipulation. They are damn good at it."
Adam grinned as they approached the landing zone. "Simmy is my assistant, but she is also brilliant at multitasking. So since given the green light and helping me, she has been using the improved 'Skyword Networking' System to manipulate Grimm into making sanctuaries."
Seeing the confusion, he reached out... and a stack of blue paper landed in his hands, quickly passed to the other Hunters. "Basically she designed the reverse of the wards already established on your town. Grimm inside get consumed, and 'delicious' purified energies are released outside to attract more victims. Simmy is setting them up all over the place with drones and stuff. Then again, she always was one for the long term plans."
The conversation paused as Adam jumped from the landing bus. He walked towards the ocean as the other Faunus quickly caught up. "As for the seas, let me introduce you to Leviathan."
Blue Glyphs spawned, not made of blue flames as expected but of compressed blue metallic Aura, Adam's energy creating a portal of unknown languages. Blue light shown below the floating pattern...
And it began to grow cloudy.
As the first drops of rain fell, a green mass slowly dripped from the floating circle... then fell with deceptive slowness before smacking into water.
Betty felt her breath catch as... something... rose from the liquid. Faunus or Human shaped, the head alone was as large as a person! And it continued to stand, easily thirty feet tall. One right eye, three left, the featureless face barely reached above the massive muscled shoulders, the loosely hung arms and a whip like tail slowly swaying in the increasing wind.
Adam seemed mildly amused. "Levy, don't harm machines, animals, Humans, or Faunus."
The massive beast swayed silently as the rain began to increase.
He chuckled. "Other than that? Grimm are free game!" Adam gestured towards the sea. "Kill."
Betty barely saw the impossibly large being vanish, after images of... water? Heading in other directions.
He glanced at the stunned group. "Leviathan is king of the ocean. Massive water manipulation, but able to do small scale work if needed. Doesn't say much, but he gets the job done."
The ocean began to rapidly stain black with ichor as beings underwater suddenly had a new playmate.
Adam grinned, watching some sort of massive serpent Grimm in the distant waves explode into black goo and sink. "Right, he should enjoy that. Wonder how he will take advantage of the Spirit socket."
Maybe some sort of soul attack? Maybe use 'Purification'? He would ask Simmy later.
Before the others could say or do anything, another blue metallic Glyph circle spun, this time at ground level away from the beach.
Shit, was he getting another one!? Betty stepped back... as a Dragon head emerged from the soil.
No... it was rock-like, with magma flowing through cracks and the draconian eye sockets and maw, but this thing was bipedal as well. Each hand was built more with spikes of stone than fingers, more slabs of rock than flesh, but it had four limbs in total. Each moved with deliberation. Assurance.
Rock and soil rolled from the beast as it rose ever steady into the air, vibrations rumbling, Betty's bones creaking slightly as the creature clawed its way from the earth and the summoning circle.
And it was over forty-five feet tall. She wouldn't be able to scratch the damn thing's ankles! Holy crap.
Adam watched the mass of material seem to solidify. "Behemoth is a bit slow, and like Leviathan is only really useful for big attack situations. Not like my Simmy, she's amazing."
That blue angel was on the same level as these monsters!? Betty gulped.
Hearing her, the Elephantine Faunus blinked. "Right, a bit off topic. This lug can manipulate energy. All of it."
Adam shouted. "Hey Benny! Same rules as the other two, and don't come up too close to cities or villages! Other than that, feel free to clear the place out."
An energy bolt slashed through the air from the rock as Grimm evaporated. Dozens, Hundreds... the electric bolts were traveling far into the distance, even as the huge mountain slowly began to step forward... and sink into the earth.
And vanish.
Adam blinked. "Oh. I just gave him the power socket controlling 'Transfer' and 'Conversion'."
Something rumbled far in the distance.
Adam winced. "It... it should be fine."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Professor Ozpin watched with fascination at the new 'Grimm: Population Under Review' sections of the 'Grimm Radar' map. Whatever the circles were they were moving at a VERY rapid pace, red dots evaporating away in the process. The 'Grimm: Purification Circles' that were spawning were intriguing as well.
He almost jerked when he suddenly felt a growl WAY too close. Oh. Hello Ghira.
The Chieftain cursed. "When did THIS show up!? Adam had nothing to do with this, right!?"
A blue popup appeared... and both men paused. Ghira read aloud, slowly. "Uh... 'We can neither confirm nor deny any accusations that any individuals are...' what is THIS legal garbage!? It's worse than my damn lawyers!"
Thankfully the talk was derailed by the announcement of arriving ships. Looks like James Ironwood and the involved Atlas diplomats had finally arrived.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked. "Uh."
Betty and the rest were still staring at him, but he had bigger issues.
Adam coughed. "Right, so... with all three out like this, I only have my Aura available." He carefully moved.
His suit was fine, it was an actual product and not just constant material 'Manipulation' or anything. But moving his extra limbs felt... strange now. Not wrong, just... less automatic?
He blinked. How long had it been since he didn't just auto-equip 'Recovery' when bored?
...Everything was a bit off. It felt weird.
Huh.
Adam glanced at Betty. "Right, I can still punch out a Grimm or few hundred, and my Aura and enhanced body can just no-sell most weapons or attacks... but I feel surprisingly exposed right now."
Betty snapped out of her stupor, perversion at full throttle. "Tell me more about exposing yourself, Adam."
He blinked. "I visited a new place and never bothered to put on skin?" Star Wars was weird, man.
She paused. "We'll work on your foreplay banter later." Betty felt his muscles flex as she 'dragged' him towards the ocean, as if a girl her height could force a man like that to do anything. What was he made of, metal? Those sexy muscles were dense as all get out.
Adam hummed, the two of them leaving the shocked Hunters to stand around watching random Grimm explode, be split by water streams, or evaporate from electrical strikes. "In my defense, Narwhal focused more on the practical than the theory when it came to personal time."
The cow girl flipped upwards, landing back on his shoulders as he began strolling down the beach. "She never mentioned how gross a skinned Faunus would be?"
Adam patted her thigh. "It was fine, I had no flesh at the time. Nice clean bones."
The hell? "Yeah, that's not normal. Stick with the physical stuff she taught you. And avoid talking about whatever gore related fetish that mess of a topic was."
He blinked. Change topic? Yeah, better change topic. "So tell me more about that farmhand who you fired?"
She winced, their voices fading into the sound of the sea as they walked further away. "Yeah, we have warning signs around the goats for a reason. I don't even know how all twelve pens got opened."