World Seed

Author’s Corner: Here ya go, folks! Have another chapter, and enjoy!

After retrieving my broken giant hammer and putting it back in my grove, I flew off with Yin and Yang. Yang glanced back towards the scene we just left with a sigh, before shaking her head. However, she does not complain about the wholesale slaughter of the monsters. Maybe in the future, it’d be better for me to keep her in my grove when I’m fighting?

“No, she just needs to get used to it.” Celeste spoke up in my mind as I had that thought. “Hiding her in your grove won’t help with that. She’ll still know that you’re doing it, especially when she makes weapons and other items out of the bodies.”

I nodded, and once we were out of sight of the rock beasts, I descended to the ground. Part of me wondered if it would be possible to use my Xeno-Shifter abilities to become a Deus Ex… And I thought it might be worth a try after we ‘upgrade’ Celeste’s body. Taking out the soul gem, and the fifteen monster cores of the rock beasts, I once again began the process of refining the souls into one pure soul.

Each soul took roughly fifteen minutes, and there were fifteen souls… man, this took a while. Guess it’s a good thing we slept first after all! A few hours later when I was done, I pulled Celeste out of my grove and had her open up her chest. The white plastic split apart at the center to reveal a complex pattern of glowing blue wires, at the center of which was a small hole the size of the gem that the golem had given me. “Well… here goes nothing.”

With a sigh, I slipped the gem into its socket and had her close her chestplate again. “Alright!” Celeste spoke to me in my mind while the robot body seemed to power down. “Now I’m just letting my aura adapt to the presence of a soul. Should be done just about…. now!”

As she finished speaking, the robot lifted its head up suddenly. Her eyes were darting back and forth rapidly as if reading. “Ooh, so many options. Alright, here we go. This should be good to start!” With my Aura Sight active, I could see her aura surging a bit, and at the same time her body itself began changing. The white ‘skin’ slowly began expanding, crawling along until it covered her entire body.

Once her body had been covered by the smooth white skin, it changed pigment just slightly to look more realistic. If not for the lack of hair, she might look like a regular woman when she put some clothes on. Soon, purple hair began sprouting up from Celeste’s head, which surprised me. I could understand skin giving the sense of touch, but what purpose could having hair give? “It’s for cosmetic purposes!” The AI cried out in my mind.

The next change was her back, as two purple metal strips seemed to grow out of her in straight lines. On closer inspection, these were containers, and each one released three large pink protrusions that gave it the appearance of wings, further reinforced by the five smaller strips of metal that descended, hovering just below the upper portions. Just as I was beginning to question it, Celste spoke in my mind again. “Don’t worry, they’re able to be stored in my upgrade inventory when I’m not using them.”

The next big change was pink and purple armor growing out of her hands and feet. While the hand armor was sleek and formed a metal bubble around the back of her hand, the feet armor was more rigid, looking like wide armored boots you would see in an old mech anime. Then similar armor began to grow around her waist and along her sides and upper arm. Finally, a pink cloth began materializing and connecting her arm armor with her hand armor, and a dark brown one covered her torso.

When she was done, Celeste opened her eyes, which had changed to match her new hair color, and looked down at herself. “Very cool… Totally worth the points.” Her face was much more animated now, able to properly display her smile and the widening of her eyes.

A bit curious, I decided to ask a question. “How many levels’ worth of points did all of that cost…”

With a wry grin, Celeste answered me. “Three for the upgrade inventory, two for the wings, one for the armor, one for the cosmetic change, four for the increased mana capacity and efficiency, and three for the additional senses.”

My eye twitched slightly as I heard that she essentially spent nineteen levels for cosmetic changes and the ability to fly. “But… that’s not even really armor. It covers almost nothing.”

Celeste laughed lightly, stretching in an obviously seductive manner to show off her curves under her skintight armor. “I know, right? If I upgrade it again, I can either get more physical coverage, or an energy field. But with this, at least I can fly back with you guys. If need be, I can upgrade the wings one more time to give me some extra speed to catch up.”

I sighed, shaking my head in resignation. “Alright, well let’s get heading back then.” When I said that, she nodded happily, fully extending her wings. The various protrusions all let out a gentle pink light before they lifted her into the air. I could see that a similar light was also being emitted from her boots as well, likely to act as stabilizers. Dispelling my other Aspects, I grew my wings and took to the sky with Yin and Yang so that the four of us could all fly back to the city. Or, at least, that was the plan.