by Simon Archer
It was weird because I’d actually tensed my leg muscles to fight momentum, but since we weren’t actually moving, I just sort of felt silly. Or, at least, I did, until I noticed Veronica had done the same thing.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” she said with a laugh.
“Same,” I replied with a smile.
“Anyway, this is what I want to show you.” She pointed straight up, and that’s when I realized it was hailing. Or, at least it seemed like it was when the photo was taken.
“I’m not quite following.” I studied the hail and then tried to reach out to touch it, but my hand just went through it.
“Don’t have that upgrade yet. If we did, you could handle it, and the algorithms inside it would do its best to simulate what it should feel and look like.” She waved off the comment at my sigh. “Those are what we’re after.”
“Diamonds?” I asked, confused. “So?”
“Diamonds are worth money?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “A girl’s best friend and all that.”
“Do you want me to go to a gas giant and fill up a sack with the gems that rain from the sky? Like… they’ll know what they are.” I gestured at them. “The resell value of gas giant diamonds is terrible.”
“Yeah, it's right up there with lab cut ones.” Her face squinched up in disgust. “But those aren’t any diamonds. They’re Xeno-diamonds.”
Instantly, it all made sense. Xeno-diamonds were rare, even on gas giants, and could be used in a variety of technology.
“No way,” I said, eyes wide. “How is that possible?”
“I’m guessing it's from the sulfuric acid in the air. It’s influencing the diamonds in a strange way to introduce a tiny flaw in the lattice which then compounds…” She shrugged. “Not that it matters, if you get there, we should be good for a while.”
“Or, we could keep them for upgrades…” I gestured at the equipment. “Most of that isn’t even diamond. Hell, most isn’t even ruby, emerald, or sapphire.”
“Hey, Xeno-amethyst is a perfectly okay substitute,” Veronica replied, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that she didn’t quite agree with her own statement.
“Anyway, I’ll go get it, and then we can talk.” I smiled. “Thanks for finding this.”
“You’re welcome, sugar.” She gave me a pleased nod. “And when you go, can you take this with you?” She offered me a tiny device that looked like a flashing blue crystal on a chain. “If you channel Aura into it while you’re out there, it will collect data on the surroundings, then we can add it to the simulator…” She made a ‘you know where this is going’ gesture. “Then it will be better, etc., etc., etc.”
“No problemo,” I said, taking it from her and putting it around my neck. “I’ll get your data since I’m going, anyway.”
“You’re a doll. Now, if you don’t mind. Some of us girls need to work for a living.” She made a shooing motion. “Off with you…”
12
Transitioning back to God mode from normal mode was always a bit disconcerting, and every time I thought I’d gotten used to it, I realized I hadn’t. For one, the influx of sights, sounds, and smells were almost overwhelming, and even though I’d mentally prepared myself for it, I found myself scrambling to turn it down.
The crazy thing wasn’t that though, because that all occurred in the first femtosecond of time when I appeared in my system. Faster than that really, so close to instantaneous that the actual timeframe couldn’t be measured, and it was just easier to ground it in my limited concept of time.
I could, of course, jack the timeframe up to whatever I wanted, but there was something about the nearly frozen nature of time in this setup that I liked. With things practically on pause, I could do whatever I wanted and then when I increased the time, it would almost always unfold in ways I couldn’t quite predict despite how often I’d seen it happen. There was a nuance to things that could be missed when the timeframe was higher.
Of course, the same could be said for when it was so slow that almost nothing moved. In a way, it made me wonder what it must have been like to be the Flash or Superman. How time must have seemed so slow to them. An eternity would seem to pass in every second. A simple conversation would seem to take an eon.
Thankfully, that wasn’t a problem I had because I could just make my minions be in the same space of time as me.
Only, none of them were here now. While I could still feel Gobta and Queenie through the godly tether, I’d opted to leave them behind at the Halls of Research since they were still fucking with their skills and whatnot. Apparently, they could artificially change their skill trees around and dynamically reset their skill tables and whatnot while in the Danger Room.
It made me want to mess with it later, but for now, I had to keep my eyes on the prize, and that prize was the Xeno-diamonds.
With a tiny modicum of will, I teleported myself to the surface of Zeus and immediately realized that while the simulator was good, it had a flaw, and that flaw was that it wasn’t quite as real as being there. For one, well, I could really feel things in a way that was hard to describe because it could go almost as deep as I wanted. I could “feel” the atomic structure of the ground. Taste the air, even though the atmosphere was too heavy to breathe. I could smell the wind and the sulfur within it.
Still, in addition to collecting the Xeno-diamonds, I’d also agreed to collect data for the simulator. I quickly reached up and activated Veronica’s necklace by feeding some Aura into it, and as I did, I realized there were more settings than I had thought. Evidently, I could set the level of Aura the crystal used to increase the data capture. It started at about one percent of Aura per unit of time and worked its way up to nearly one-hundred percent. It also varied based on how quickly time was going.
Since time wasn’t moving very quickly right now, I found that the optimal capture rate was somewhere around ten percent of my Aura per second. However, since I was moving in femtoseconds, each about a quadrillionth of a second, I wasn’t too worried.
After I was satisfied I was recording data, I teleported myself to the coordinates Veronica had given me. It, of course, wasn’t raining diamonds when I got there, and even if it had been, the hail would have seemed like it was frozen in space and time because of my time dilation.
Not that it mattered because my prize littered the surrounding ground, or at least, I was reasonably sure it did because I didn’t have the requisite skill to tell which of the crystals littering the peak of the mountain were actually Xeno-diamonds. And, on a side note, I really wanted to call this mountain Olympus, so I did.
Fortunately, I had a plan for that. I quickly summoned Scout, and as he appeared next to me, I used his Scouting ability and instantly saw the planet’s immediate area appear on the minimap.
“Okay, Scout, I need you to mark the Xeno-diamonds, okay?” I didn’t actually speak the words, more projected them through the godly tether, but either way, the map flashed once, and then several of the crystals around me began to glow with a soft white color.
Creature: Scout has identified the desired item within the area. The current Accuracy is sixty-seven percent. Accuracy will increase based on level and item desired.
“Well, looks like we need to power level you,” I said as I began to pick up the marked diamonds and slot them in my inventory, “but, this will do.” It was true. If even half of these were actually Xeno-diamonds, we could get some serious upgrades and still have some leftover.
I moved forward and picked up the closest diamond, and as I did, I felt a zap of power flow from the gemstone and into me. But that wasn’t what nearly knocked me on my ass with surprise. It was that I actually got a message I’d never seen when in God mode before.
You have found a rare gemstone: Xeno-diamond. Grade: Unknown
You have learned the skill Prospecting. Increasing your skill will increase your ability to locate and gather rare ore and other materials.
“Holy shit,” I said as I st
ared at the message wide-eyed.
I’d somehow gained a skill while in God mode, and as far as I’d known, that wasn’t even possible in Terra Forma. Sure, okay, this world wasn’t Terra Forma exactly, but at the same damn time, it wasn’t all that dissimilar either.
Then again, I knew Xeno-crystals were pretty fucking rare, and of them, Xeno-diamonds were the rarest of the bunch. Maybe that was the key? Maybe the rarity trumped God mode? After all, it wasn’t like I’d been able to sense them, and I’d been to this planet a few dozen times.
I shut my eyes and thought about it. Back when I’d played Terra Forma, I could, of course, find rare minerals, and even rare herbs once I’d leveled the skills high enough. But I’d never been able to do it beforehand. And by then, my skill had been maxed, so I wouldn’t have gained experience from it, anyway. Hell, it had been rumored that Xeno-crystals didn’t even appear in God mode before you had maxed the Prospecting skill.
In the real world, maybe they did? And if they did, if someone found one without the skill max, maybe that would have leveled it?
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I mumbled as I shook my head because when this was all over, and the real Zacxs was good and dead, I almost wanted to go back to Terra Forma and find out if this would work.
Either way, though, the message sealed it. This was the real thing, alright. I was, in fact, holding a Xeno-diamond. Almost like it knew I was thinking about it, the Xeno-diamond seemed to radiate power, and now that I was holding it, I could almost feel the thing pulse in my hand in a very interesting way, almost like it was trying to suck power out of me. That all made sense because the crystals could act both as storage devices for Aura and as foci for various instruments. Hell, often they did both at once.
I knew that conceptually, of course, but it was significantly different from feeling the effect first hand. And as I held the gemstone in my hand, I realized something. I was feeling it at a drastically slower rate than normal. What would it feel like in real time? I wasn’t sure, but it definitely merited some testing.
Still, that was a question for later. Now, it was time to collect my prizes. I took one long moment to analyze the Xeno-diamond with my Prospecting skill, and when I felt I’d collected all the data I could, I combined that with my Overdrive ability. Then I overlaid that what information Scout had given me.
Instantly, a few more crystals we’d missed before popped into view, while a few others faded away, leaving about a dozen of the fist-sized gemstones visible on the peak.
That’s when I had an idea.
As I began to gather the marked crystals up, and yes, I grabbed the ones that faded just in case, I turned back to Scout. “Say, can you identify all the Xeno gems on the planet?”
He didn’t say an affirmative so much as his antennae just twitched and then a map of the area with various colored dots appeared as I began to collect my prizes. Unfortunately, it only extended outward a few hundred yards. We were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way, by exploring the planet manually.
“Well, at least it will give me a chance to power level Prospecting,” I said as I grabbed the last of the Xeno-diamonds on the peak and saw another message pop up.
Your Prospecting skill has increased to level two. Your ability to locate and gather rare ore and other materials has increased by five percent.
It probably goes without saying that I spent the next several hours combing every last inch of Zeus for Xeno-crystals. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. My internal clock told me I spent about six hours doing it, but in reality, I’d barely been out here a few moments with the slowed timeframe. Either way, I’d managed to level my Prospecting up to level six, which had made it easier to find the Xeno-crystals, so by the end of things, I had several dozens of them. Of course, I had no way to gauge the quality of them because my Appraisal skill was all but non-existent when it came to gemstones.
That said, I was willing to bet that Veronica wouldn’t have that problem at all. So, hefting my proverbial bag of loot which was really just for show since everything was in my inventory, I teleported back to the Hall of Mirrors and then made my way to the Hall of Research.
I’ll be honest, I could barely contain myself as I practically skipped over to Veronica’s lab and knocked on the door. Only that sound was enough to startle her into shrieking and whirling again. When she saw it was me, she shook her head and sighed.
“Sugar, I’m going to have to put a bell on you.” She looked at me. “And why are you looking like the cat who ate the canary?”
“Oh, that’s because of this.” I strode triumphantly over to the table and dumped my proverbial bag of gemstones onto a clean table. Which, yes, was actually more awesome in reality since I just produced them from my inventory with a thought, so it was almost like they just materialized there.
“How in the nine lives of Meowdin did you find all of these?” Her eyes were wide as saucers as she looked over the table. “You have emeralds and diamonds and--” She did a shimmy of delight, followed by a squeal. “That’s not a ruby!” She grabbed the single red gemstone I’d found and practically shoved it in my face.
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion as I stared at it. My focus brought in a small tooltip which was when I realized it was just called Xeno-crystal. When I’d grabbed it, my prospecting had leveled from five to six, but I had figured it was just part of the accumulation of experience, but now, I was starting to wonder if that was all that it was.
“This is a red beryl.” She swallowed hard. “It’s like the fifth rarest gemstone in the entire fucking universe.”
“I’m not following,” I said, and not because I’d never heard of it before. I mean, it wasn’t like anyone had ever found one in Terra Forma, or if they had, it hadn’t been of note, really. After all, once you upgraded all your stuff, xeno-gems were mostly just sold for profit.
“Okay,” Veronica said as she blew out a long, slow breath. “Rubies and sapphires are made from the mineral corundum which is, basically, a type of aluminum oxide. Emerald, on the other hand, is made of beryl. It’s a completely different type of gemstone.” She took a huge breath and then continued, “They usually get their color from chromium, vanadium, and iron, and depending on how much of those elements are present in the emerald determines how green it is.” She held up one of the emeralds, which was also just identified as Xeno-crystal. “The chromium and vanadium give the emerald its characteristic intense green color. I could show you the breakdown, but basically, that’s why they look like this. While this one has more iron.” She grabbed one that had a blue tint to it and showed it to me. “The increased amount of iron makes it blue.”
“I think I’m following,” I said as she grabbed the red beryl and held it up. “The trace elements within the gemstone gives it its color, and some colors are rarer because those trace elements may not exist where the gemstones naturally occur.”
“Exactly. The reason this beryl became red is that it has a trace amount of manganese in it.” She stared at it for a long moment as if trying to understand how it had even formed on Zeus. “I won’t even try to say to you how rare that is, but I will say this.” She took a step closer to me. “Go back to where you found this specific gemstone and see if there are non-xeno-versions of it there because if there are, we may be able to fund a bunch of projects without selling a single Xeno-crystal.”
“You had me at fund a bunch of projects,” I said with a laugh as I pulled off the crystal she’d had me wear to collect data. “But can’t you just use this to determine that for yourself?” I offered it to her, and as I did, her face broke into a smile that was like watching the sunrise.
“Oh my god, you’re right!” She snatched the crystal from my hand and, in a flurry of movement at superhuman catgirl speed, shoved the thing into an interface embedded into the wall and then input a few commands.
Just like that, the simulation reopened, only now it was just like Zeus had been when I’d been there just a few minutes ago. The
n the whole thing whirled and blurred before stopping at the spot where I’d picked up the red Xeno-beryl.
“We’re rich,” she said, mouth practically hanging open as she stared at a small cave with a handful of red gemstones protruding from the rock. “We need to mine those…” She turned to me. “Right now.”
“Okay, we can do that,” I said with a smile, “but hear me out. I’m bad at mining.” It was true. My skill was practically non existent because I’d done virtually none of it in non-God form. “So, if we want to extract these with the maximum amount of profit, we should hire someone who is, like, good at that.”
“They won’t be able to survive on the surface of a gas giant.” She shook her head. “Or did you forget that part?”
“Right, so we should save this until I’ve leveled up mining. Otherwise, we risk me fucking it up.”
“That’s a fair point,” Veronica said with a nod. “Let me find someone who can show you what to do. I’ll let you know when I have someone I trust enough to show you, and who knows about gemstones specifically. It will probably take me a bit.”
“That’s fine,” I said as I got a ping over the Hall’s communication system from Melanie that asked me to come to see her at my earliest convenience. “I’m gonna go help Melanie.”
13
“Thanks for coming so quickly, Garrett,” Melanie said when I entered her lab, and I realized instantly that she’d been waiting for me the whole time. Mostly because it seemed like she had prepared a slide show.
“Well, I’m nothing if not punctual,” I said with a laugh.
“Good.” Melanie nodded sagely. “It’s good to be punctual. You know what they say, after all: While the cat’s away, the mice will play, and you definitely don’t want them to play.” Her nose twitched at the thought. “Thankfully, we don’t have mice here, but if we did…” She drew her thumb across her throat.
