He gave the order, and the rune within him stirred.
The miniature shook, and just as with the Gobzkin Shaman, it grew bigger, like a sprout.
Adam couldn't slip or lose his focus; he needed to match his concentration to the process, imagine it, and keep up with its progress.
As the miniature grew in size, Adam felt his control increase over it. It was overwhelming him somewhat, but he could still exert control, and as it reached his eye level, Adam started to stand up along with it, matching its growth until they stood at the same height.
And it stopped.
He stopped.
He knew that this was as far as his control went, and he didn't want to push it. Besides, it was big enough already. Any more than that, and the miniature's integrity felt like it would snap.
Then it moved… it simply stared at Adam. Then, after a moment of silence, the first comment was uttered.
"Hallelujah!"
On his ass, Kave was looking up at the miniature that sprouted into a magical familiar made of gray plastic, and that alone was wild enough to restore some of the sanity he'd lost. The world is madder than he is, and witnessing something is far greater than merely hearing and believing it.
On the other hand, Adam was shivering lightly as he tried to stabilize his thoughts.
This was new to him, totally different from anything else, and he was treading carefully.
He felt it.
The way to control that plastic familiar; the sensation was kicking in, and as if familiarizing himself with a new controller, Adam's fingers started twitching without him noticing.
The plastic Man-at-Arms matched the light movements of his hand, and slowly, he was grasping it.
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≪ Auxiliary Man-at-Arms ≫
< Familiar, Common >
A brave Man-at-Arms of the Solarium, a soldier who is willing to sacrifice himself for the cause of humanity's survival. Auxiliaries are the most common Men-at-Arms, serving as the lowest of the command chain and rarely surviving to make it up the ranks. Unless they specialize in a greater role, they will never exceed the rank of Corporal.
——————————
"I understand now."
The information added nothing new to Adam's knowledge, as expected, but he felt more familiar with the mechanics of his Puppeteer power with a lower-quality familiar, just as Kave predicted.
"That's impressive!"
Speaking of which, Kave seemed not yet to have recovered from the shock, but as Adam and Kave turned to each other, they exchanged a triumphant smile.
"Since you're seeing it, it's probably not like the unicorns in the back, right?" Kave said.
"That unicorn, you mean? I thought it was with you." Adam pointed.
"HOLY SHIT!"
Kave freaked out, but Adam laughed it off:
"Just kidding, man."
"Well… fuck you."
Adam helped Kave up, and the two looked at the Man-at-Arms together. Adam explained what he felt and how he managed to make the power work. This made him start looking around for something to make notes with. He offered his journal and a pen, so Kave flipped it open and started writing from the other end.
"Alright. So what we know is that you can do shit like that with your mental power; your system calls it Psyche... basically Intelligence, but not that overrated kind... more like brainpower, willpower, all those terms we used in games," Kave started explaining while scribbling.
"I agree with that part."
"Good. There are two matters still: Upkeep and Control. Is there a duration? Do you feel like it will return to normal after an hour or something, or maybe when you go to sleep?" Kave asked.
Adam looked at the miniature he summoned and shook his head, saying:
"It's strange. I feel that if I take my mind off it, the summoning will collapse. It is occupying a part of my thought process."
"Well, that's the Upkeep. The Focus mechanic, as in Dice of Destiny. It also means that your other skill, Sanity, is brain endurance, as I theorized. How long you can maintain it depends on it," Kave said.
"Well, that's all nice and dandy, but when you look at Captain Creed…"
"It is a totally different case from this. He has an ego, is able to speak our language, and understands not just you but me, too. So, things like exclusive telepathic connections between you and him are not the case here. He's totally on autopilot," Kave said.
"And his weapon and powers are real, too. He is essentially the real thing. This Man-at-Arms is just an enlarged miniature," Adam said.
"But you can see the change. Look here…" Kave said excitedly, approaching the Man-at-Arms, "There are no glue marks, cracks, or similar imperfections. It transformed into a different being as it enlarged, but the details became much better. Also, he seems stuck to the base, so we probably need to remove it."
"Yes, I wonder what I can make of that," Adam said and scratched his head.
"Well, all signs lead to Transmutation if we are still applying DoD's magic logic. Creed, on the other hand, is Conjuration."
"I see. Nice geeking this one out, bro."
The two looked at the summoned Man-at-Arms, and their thoughts started to align.
"We need to go for a Unique Quality, don't we?" Adam asked.
"Yes, Common is rather shit, no offense," Kave agreed. "Imagine getting a few hundred of these bad boys."
"It would be a logistics nightmare," Adam shivered.
"Hehehe!" Kave laughed brightly for the first time in a hundred days, "I'll leave the Conjuration and Control to you; you leave the RTS to me."
"Whoa! You're thinking big, aren't you?" Adam's eyes widened.
"Your system says you can summon familiars and objects, right? Well, I just had that idea," Kave said and turned to look at the blanket where tools were gathered.
In the center of the tools was the Refinery Rig Pencil Sharpener.
"Oh…" Adam understood what Kave wanted to do.
"… Yeah!" Kave smiled a toothy smile, like a total maniac.
It was now decided. Those two were about to bring a Grimdark Sci-fi Empire into the world.
°°°
In the center of Brighthaven City, one of the most important cities near the east coast, a large public square revealed something magical.
Akin to a crack in the very fabric of reality itself, a deep, dark Rift was forming in midair, its edges shimmering with an unnatural energy that distorted the light around it. The air crackled with an ominous power, and the area around the Rift lay in total ruin, a testament to the destructive force that had been unleashed.
Buildings, once proud symbols of architectural achievement, had collapsed into heaps of rubble and twisted metal. Cars lay burnt and overturned, their blackened frames serving as dark reminders of the chaos that had unfolded. Every aspect of the prosperous civilization that once claimed this city as home, from its bustling academies to its peaceful residential areas, was reduced to nothing at the hands of the green-skinned savages who had poured forth from the Rift, their eyes burning with a savage hunger for destruction and conquest.
Around the Rift was a warband of Gobzkin, scraping what the raiders had left behind and fighting with each other over the meager remnants. They were the lowest ranks of the Gobzkin horde, the Workers, the weakest breed, weaker even than the Gobzkin Bandits and Scouts. In their search, one of those wretches might encounter a fateful opportunity that would raise his rank and make him evolve into something stronger and more powerful.
But the truth about Gobzkin society is that it is the same as it is everywhere else. The strong oppressed the weak; classism was clear: those who can't take the world by the reins and make it theirs are trampled and left in the dirt.
But as those wretches were looking for something of value to make their miserable lives a little less so, they all looked at the Rift at the same time, as a figure stood at the front.
Of all the things they could find, prey is the best of all, and not just any prey, a female.
This would fetch them a high price, so high, in fact, that the chiefs might even give them names. After all, females of other species are highly valued among Gobzkin; they are the best prey possible, more beautiful than any Gobzkin female, and their offspring are always stronger. In fact, most Gobzkin high chiefs and princes are hybrids.
So when that tall and slender female appeared, the Gobzkin didn't think; they charged.
To their dismay, however, this wasn't an ordinary female. This was the type of female that would raise a foot and, as it stomped, the very earth itself turned against its inhabitants.
KRACK! KRACK! KRACK! KRACK!
This was no natural phenomenon; it was magic.
The land beneath their feet moved strangely, and in a split second, spikes rose from the ground where the woman stood, like a tidal wave.
All Gobzkin were annihilated; not one was left to tell the tale of the killer they faced.
"It is clear," the woman spoke, and behind her was the Rift, to which she directed her words.
Still, it would appear that she was not talking to the Rift just a second later, as another woman walked out and stepped onto the land.
She paused for a while, and her ribcage rose as she took in a deep breath and let it out.
"I smell death, sister," the woman who had just arrived spoke.
The other one shook her head and smiled wryly behind her ninja-style mask.
As for the one in the back, carrying a trader's backpack, she was beautiful with big eyes and dark, flowing hair. However, her skin was gray, the whites of her eyes were absent, and they were larger than any human eye.
Indeed, that is no human.
"A new world, sister," The ninja sister spoke.
"Are we the first ones to arrive?" The trader's sister asked.
"I think not. The monster activity in the Rift is more than usual. It is hard to say whether the others will make it as fast as we did," the ninja sister replied.
"I pray for their safety and for them to find safe passage to this world… perhaps a couple of days later, since we need the merit of first contact," the trader sister said with a mischievous smile.
"If you're feeling competitive, let's get to the task," the ninja sister said. "I'll find the nearest alien settlement."
"How marvelous! To contact a new alien race for the first time. The High King will praise us highly indeed," The trader sister said with an excited tone.
"Don't get too excited! People are pushed to the edge when living for survival. Be ready for accidents," The ninja sister said.
"Fine! But please, don't attack them first if they irritate you. If we succeed in making allies with this world's aliens, the fate of our land will be rewritten anew."
And so, the two sisters of mysterious origins started walking towards the nearest band of possible survivors.