Adrian sighed reluctantly, seated in his administrative chamber. A couple of consciousnesses managed general processes, while several dozen piloted overseers. Most of himself, however, was engrossed in the development of military technology.
Each closed their eyes, working in synchrony. Eradication of the pleasure god cult, creation of technology that, by the standards of his former world, would seem like science fiction; redesign of the factory, industrial production of new batches of homunculi, logistical control of drones, daily alchemical sacrifices, maintenance and expansion of war machinery meant solely to keep him alive one more day.
One of them archived the dataset to avoid redundancy from so many minds.
We had little time for personal research lately. Barely ten of us were in sync to maintain \[the root] and \[the source] with minor adjustments. Nothing that would shift the balance in our favor, just calibrations to prevent minor failures. Meanwhile, a lone overseer harvested dragon energy for future use, a project delayed by the lack of intellectual labor.
But there had been progress. More than advancements, we uncovered the theoretical foundations and limitations of both projects. Data came instantly, as if we had asked the question and were already answering it. That's how we functioned, sharing memories among so many minds, a swirl of information from all directions.
First, \[the root]. Little was changed from the original design, except one that expanded the coverage of metaphysical roots of the soul, distributing them in broader patterns throughout the physical body of the being. And it worked. \[The root] steadily strengthened the soul, albeit slowly.
If implanted in a newborn and allowed to grow naturally, their soul at fifteen could surpass that of an average adult by a factor of forty. That was far more than I originally anticipated.
"What good is a strong soul?" you might ask. Initially, I thought it would increase the magical potential of the being. That notion was mistaken. A strong soul doesn't directly increase the percentage of magic gained after using it: it imposes its will on reality more easily. As if its intent carried more weight.
But it doesn't distort reality at a whim, nor could it even subtly alter physical phenomena like matter. It's an internal distortion, subtle, like self-regulation of the processes that compose the being. That's why it increased potential as theorized, but not in the way I believed how the soul worked apart from several other things. Although we are far from ignoring concepts or altering physical laws, however...
For instance, you could decide that certain energy within you operates under new rules. And that, if used wisely, is "cheating."
I designed a technique for homunculi based on this principle of altering something pre-existing in the being like pure magic in this case: a \[Sword Art].
What does it do? It uses pure magic as fuel. \[The root] channels that energy into the sword, energizing it to "cut" concepts, within certain limits. I doubt it would harm a god or a greater being, but a lesser demon would fall easily.
Why is only the conceptual part relevant? Here's the point: pure magic is a completely neutral energy. It does nothing without a spell. It doesn't generate effects on its own. It's impossible to use it effectively without structure... except for \[the root]. This redefines the relationship between intention and energy.
Pure magic in this scenario stops acting as such to be used by the root.
If you only used the soul, you could choose the state of a bit in a machine. Insignificant in terms of power. That's why we use pure magic. And while other energies could serve, this is the only one we handle extensively within the factory.
Of course, there are limitations. You can't project that force outside yourself or an object you hold. Forget about altering reality at a distance or creating almighty runes. Also, the effects only last as long as your intent is active. Still, what does it matter? What it offers already exceeds its production cost, even better than expected.
I archived the information while a pair of us led a surprise attack against the demons.
There were other benefits of \[the root] as well. The longer you exist with it, the slower you age. My homunculi with a biological age of twenty could look twenty-five in two millennia. The figure is so high that maybe I'm wrong. It also strengthens the body: just by existing, you achieve average physical performance. And it improves progressively. Every day you're a fraction stronger.
Do you see all the benefits? I do. Hell, I may have accidentally created a magical version of Viltrumites combined with psychics. And I just wanted a stable version of Fate's reinforcement magic. Though I clarify, on a much smaller scale.
That thought amused us briefly before returning to our tasks. The attack was successful. Minimal casualties. Proceed with the experimental containment protocol.
Now, \[the source]. A very different project, here we do everything. It doesn't arise spontaneously, yet. I've only developed a few functions. The first was a \[Gear]: a weapon embedded in the soul's Kernel, like an app. Or better, like a program that, when executed, channels pure magic to summon a preconfigured weapon as a spell form. For now, only common weapons are available within this process but I hope to change that in the future.
At some point, it will move from Kernel to functional operating system. I have so many ideas... but so few idle minds to execute them. Frustrating.
At least my tools tell me I'm doing the best I can. But my self-criticism insists: I can do better.
We were organizing recent memories when we received new information from some overseers about the attack on the pleasure god's forces. The alchemical containment spell worked better than expected, but the gem containing the chaos energy is fragile. Very fragile.
Most of us directed a mental glance at the problem:
—Cover the gem with shields that disperse mechanical energy resulting from movement. Coat with shock-absorbing foam. Move using a gravity spell. Extract. Study. Look for weaknesses. New allocation of mental resources.
Conclusions executed. We all returned to our tasks.
...
One of the supervisors from the skirmish was now in charge of escorting the containment gem along with two others. He would prefer to stay in the factory researching, as others of himself did, but he couldn't complain. He was on the front line, and who else was more reliable than himself for something so important?
Jokes aside, at least he had Amistad. She loved seeing blood spilled and demons torn apart. Lovely girl.
Anyway, everything was going relatively well for one of the first deployments of homunculi after intensive \[training] and implementation of \[Sword Arts]. I had created a system of power almost from scratch using another magical system based on calculation.
He telepathically directed orders to the assigned Beta group. They were received. Everything began to move like the great machinery they were. The other overseers did the same, in perfect synchrony with him. Gears well placed.
But something caught his attention for a moment. One of the homunculi, designation F-IV-2, observed him for a few tenths of a second before following orders. Nothing beyond pre-established protocol, just an observation interesting enough to note.