———
*chewing noises* "Mm..." I hummed a bit savouring the taste of the wolf meat, I managed to set up camp again, this time a bit farther away, now I'm currently by a mostly rocky area save for the few trees and shrubs, a large rock formation with an almost rough and uneven terrace-like structure and a rather beautiful natural arch extending from the formation and towards the edge touching the forest. Mild amounts of growth complementing the formation as a whole actually.
The rocky region spanned a decently large area, though still pales in comparison to the area occupied by the forest. And it also felt like a small buffer region, bordering the forest in-front of me, and the hilly plains just behind.
As for the formation I'm on, it's a medium-sized landmark when compared to the rocky area, but on the human-scale It really was a pretty big rock formation, I would compare its size to the home of the lion king. My distanced and elevated position on the terraces gives me more view just in-case another wolf would find me, after all the high ground gives the advantage, space Jesus is proof of it.
As for how I managed to drag the wolf corpse over here, I diced it up spitefully, and put the pieces in my inventory. Sage confirmed to me it was edible.
I had nearly forgotten about my hunger too, just as much as I forgot about the dampening properties of sage. I was a bit perplexed by it actually, I don't have photographic memory, but my memory was usually above average, perhaps even gifted, I don't easily forget something that recent. I had already begun to suspect the transfer wasn't completely seamless, the chances of it somehow scrambling my mind a bit is likely, and the extent of how much was affected even if mildly was unknown. But I buried that thought quickly as I focused myself in the present at the moment, and eventually consumed the last bits of meat on the stick I held.
"*burp*" I lightly burped a bit after I set down the fifth wooden stake I used into the removed exo-skull of the wolf, essentially serving as a makeshift bin, and opened up my HUI.
["Hunger has been Satiated."] Sage's voice immediately informed me, before I closed it.
"*relieved sigh* Well, that was tasty." I commented, it really was, the taste was exotic and was adequately juicy. It's not a wagyu, but it's great considering it's a wolf.
I looked down towards the trench shotgun, picking it up before I stared off into the forest. In all likelihood, I don't think I can deal with the unfavourable fauna here alone. I opened up my HUI again, viewing my abilities as I recalled the one I put particular interest over. ('Personnel Creation')
Initially it was a pretty childish thought of making a few friends, and a subconscious understanding that many in this world may not align with my modern values, but now I'm starting to see it as a blessing in disguise that I chose it. Pragmatically, Defence in the face of an entire horde of these wolves and more is something I can't handle alone, at-least not in my current state. I'm more than aware I'm still fragile and underpowered at this concurrent level. I'm going to need help.
Though one thing still does bug me, the basic standard being 'unconditional loyalty', 'incapability of refusal'. If such things are implanted into their minds, will they even be normal? Even if that mindset has been implanted, they are still human, and with the will of a human in mind, will betrayal or desertion be likely if I don't play my cards right or if their treatment gets too harsh? The panel information didn't detail such events.
"Sage?" *ping* "Regarding personnel creation, are there any risks of betrayal or mutiny?"
["None, Sir. All personnel created will pledge complete loyalty to you, mutinies are virtually impossible. No matter what rank, role, occupation, and age, they are spiritually subordinate to you, and view you positively from the get-go. The only risks are the possibility they may view you as a God, seeing your judgement as absolute, which may result in the development of fanaticism towards you."]
"Okay... I don't know which is even worse, now." I said after sage finished. Being betrayed or getting worshipped like a false God... One makes me pessimistic, another makes me uncomfortable.
Now looking back, Aurora didn't really mention how to use personnel creation "*sigh* Alright, so how do I actuate it?"
["Your current abilities are influenced by the mind, to utilize personnel creation is to simply imagine the personnel you wish to create, their roles, their attires, their ages, or genders. Though to minimize complexity, you can create them through even just one of the criteria whilst I handle the rest. Then simply say 'Create'."]
"Alright. Thank you." I said as I closed the HUI, and I made my way down the rock formation, sliding down to reach the bottom. Finding suitable areas for creating personnel. I stopped in place when I pretty much travelled to the opposite side of the rock formation, the mildly hilly plains just a distance ahead, with a few mountains much further, tinted blue by atmospheric dispersion. The rocky terrain below is fairly okay.
I mentally switched to Personnel creation. And focused on two of the criteria, their role: soldiers, attire... Hmm... Well, I'm currently limited to the First World War by my current level, not including the capability of making more modern equipment, of course at the cost of mental stability and Mana.
*sigh* Screw it, I'm taking the Late-War German Feldbluse, and work forward with imperial german army equipment. not the best by any means, but the stahlhelm design did have a few protective advantages, and who's to say we can't add onto or change the uniforms and equipment, perhaps even using those from other nations at the time, there is no layout I'am limited to.
And I particularly want to focus on camouflage as combat in thick foliage against these predators will be more than common. Also the imperial German army did field pretty effective infantry weapons useful against them.
(A/N: *wink* *wink*)
I extended my hand forwards in the same manner I did when using Matter manipulation the first time. "Oh wait..." I double-checked whether or not mental strain dampening was active, when it was I sighed in relief before I continued. Imaging how many personnel I may need for the moment, and thought 'Create'. Eventually numerous luminescent neon & light-blue cubes in an unorganised variety of sizes manifested in-front of me, Some simply appearing while others were expelled from my palm in a spiral.
Multiple Mildly glowing figures began to form from the condensing cubes, and after a few moments the manifestations ceased, and I lowered my arm. The figures themselves had lost their ethereal appearance. And in their place, now in-front of me are a platoon of soldiers numbering at around 50, roughly the size of a large platoon, wearing the selected attire complemented with appropriate weaponry for their basis.
"Huh..." I plainly muttered, with a hint of amusement, quietly enough.
"Platoon, Attention!" A girl's voice broke the silence, as the rest of the soldiers immediately responded with simultaneous salutes. The girl soon stepped forward ahead of the rest of the formation as they lowered their arms.
"Platoon sergeant, Kara Anderson, reporting for duty, sir!" She spoke, her vigour and tone reminiscent of a vigilant soldier, I can already sense her aura of dedication.
It was a bit interesting to see a female in that specific uniform, in a time where women were simply limited to civilian or housewife roles, before the time when women could even enlist. In-fact I did notice the moment they were created that roughly half of the soldiers created were female. It should also be worth noting all of the soldiers are younger than expected, ranging from 18-24.
Also I was caught, even if mildly, off-guard by her position, I did base ourselves off of Imperial Germany for the time being, so her using the English term of her rank wasn't really expected. Then again, I did subconsciously want them to be more on my level of communication, modern, and in a language familiar to me, that may be the reason for it.
"At ease, it's a pleasure to meet you, sergeant." I spoke being as formal as possible in attitude.
"Likewise, Lieutenant. Apologies for my assertion, but from this moment, I shall be serving as your second-in-command." She said, "We shall live and die in accordance with your command, sir."
"..." I paused for a bit, suppressing my thoughts on protesting that remark and didn't respond for a few moments.
"Sir?" The sergeant soon spoke, I then realized the sudden silence and quickly responded.
"Pardon me, that wasn't polite of me." I said being led on by my Canadian urge.
"Politeness is unnecessary, Lieutenant."
"..." I thought for a moment "Just one question, If... I order you to shoot yourselves, will you? No question, no hesitation?" I asked
"Yes, Lieutenant."
"...*sigh*, Now I have another thing to worry about." I faintly spoke my thoughts.
"Sir?"
"Nothing." I curtly responded. "No need for you to acknowledge it much." Before I turned around to the rock formation and back at the platoon. I quickly suppressed thinking about their self-acknowledgement as simple pawns to me, knowing they're soldiers, they were born to fight, end, or unfortunately die in wars, it may just as-well be instinctive.
But I still couldn't shake off the feeling of apprehension, they may really be more willing to take a wave of fire just for me to escape unscathed.
"Separate the platoon into their respective squads, three will be guarding the surrounding perimeter, while the rest will be remaining close to me whilst a necessary outpost for operations will be constructed. These will be your first orders."
"Affirmative." The sergeant responded, turning back to the rest of the platoon relaying the orders and specified each squad. I turned back to inspect the formation as the squads either rushed to their posts or followed behind me.
The formation is actually a pretty good spot to build into, the structure itself was sturdy and not too imbalanced, it was enormous, and the terrace-like parts can easily be useful, I can easily base this outpost around the concepts of bases or houses built into the angled slopes of mountains or chaotic terrain. Structure fabrication is just perfect for this.
I decided to follow an aesthetic with a mix of brutalist, postmodern, and prairie, all the while using a strong dark-grey concrete for the basic structure of it, perhaps I could even use a bit of a durable type of stone to just blend it in with the formation.
—~~— —~~— —~~—
A girl and boy quickly ran through the dense foliage of the forest, constantly looking back behind them, the boy leading the girl ahead repeatedly looking forward and backwards, the girl oftentimes staggering as the dense foliage easily concealed protruding sticks and branches that often snagged on her robe.
"Kh!" The girl uttered as she nearly tripped, but the boy quickly supported her and continued the run. "Come on...!" The boy uttered lightly but curtly, as the girl attempted to recuperate and attempted to catch her breath.
The boy looked back and quickly reacted by shoving the girl down, as a flaming arrow streaked by, missing the girl and grazing the boy's shoulder. "F**k!" He cursed hurriedly patting out the mild burn of the cloth.
Several men in ragged armour and/or dark clothes were off in the distance, beginning to close it. The girl hearing their distant jog immediately pushed herself forward, and the boy reactively pulled her again as they ran off, this time trying to make an erratic direction of movement.
After more distance was gained, The boy suddenly came to halt as he looked forward, but the girl concentrated on looking behind her and incidentally impacted the boy and both of them briefly fell down a slope.
"*cough* Ouch..." the boy uttered. "I'm sorry...!" The girl replied as she pushed herself up, at-least to her knees after the fall.
"I'm... I'm fine, are you?"
"Y-Yes..." She replied, before she looked up the slope, a sense of anxiety prevailing in her mind.
"Has... Has your Mana replenished yet?" The boy quickly asked. The girl pulled her staff from her back, and the blue crystal at its tip began to glow an iridescent sky-blue. The girl clenched it tightly, but the glow eventually died out.
"It's too few... I can't believe they can do that..." The girl replied, before commenting afterwards. Their pursuers, The platinum eyes, are responsible for it. A collective group of specialised brigands, mercenaries, and rogue adventurers. It shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was, that they possess tools that can directly and severely affect a human's Mana reserve, especially a mage like her.
"Dammit..." The boy uttered as he quickly began to hear the far-off sounds of their pursuers.
"What do we do...?" The girl uttered. The boy looked around before seeing, a large boulder that seemed carved out by erosion, and saw a small crevice. He immediately grabbed the girl's hands and headed over to the boulder, looking at the crevice before grabbing the girl and cramming her in there.
"Are we gonna hide?" She asked. "You are going to hide, I'm going to lead them away." "What...?"
"The leader of that dispatch I know him pretty well, he is going to be after me first and foremost instead of us, once they're gone, you run the other way, and get as far as you can."
"But you'll-!"
"I'll be fine. And besides, you're a mage, you need that Mana replenished. Now stay there!" He said, before running off.
"S**t..." the girl uttered as she simply tried to push herself further in and avoid being seen, the shade caused by the dense overlapping droves trees aiding her.
——— ——— ———
I stepped back a bit, managing to barely avoid staggering after expending copious amounts of stamina in substitution for emptying my Mana reserve, and gazed upon the end result. It wasn't actually half-bad, Though I have to kinda remove my small campfire from there, but still I made pretty good use of the formation.
It felt like an editor's choice sandbox game, something like cities skylines, the sims or maybe even a bit of jurassic world: evolution, just a little bit. I was free in specifying the overall dimensions, thickness of the material and even respecifying certain areas. It actually hit close to home.
As for the power to the base, I was kinda limited to the simplicities (by comparison to modern-day) of WW1 era, such as diesel generators I had to put a bit further below the the surface for the noise to be muffled at-least by a bit, of course exhaust ports leading up here for their area were present.
"Neat..." I heard the sergeant mumble.
"Hmm?"
"Oh... Apologies, for speaking unauthorized-"
"No, that's fine. I'd rather you lot to at-least sound human." I replied.
I can't say I didn't notice how they worked, much of the squads acted unnervingly robotic in their tasks, in the sense they had barely any human touch to it, no chatting, no laid back moments, no establishing friend groups, often cautiously pointing their weapons on anything moving. They just go through with what they've been told like a program. Though on one hand, they are pretty much perfect soldiers in that regard, but on the other... It just feels off, and I doubt I'll get used to it.
"Get yourselves acquainted with the inside for the moment." I said, as Kara and squads 1 and 2 entered the base alongside me.
The interior was pretty utilitarian, but comparing it to typical US bases, it looked a bit comfortable. The squads stayed back, being sent towards the barracks' area, while Kara and I walked towards the administrative area.
"Why?" The sergeant asked. Upon hearing that I stopped and turned around to face her.
"What?" I asked.
"Why do you suggest we should be like that?" The sergeant said, referring to my earlier remark.
'...There we go again.' I thought. I didn't answer her question, but countered hers with my own. "What are you, sergeant?"
"I... Sir?"
"What. are. you?"
"...I..." she barely made out a sentence. She constantly glanced away from me as she tried to answer, already surmising it was a difficult question when she could've easily answered with her role or position.
"Having an existential crisis, sergeant?" I asked.
"No, sir." She simply replied, as she steadied herself back into her vigilant demeanour.
"...Sorry, That must've not been put in the right context, but... I do want you to think a bit." I said, trying to drop it. "You may go, sergeant, I'll call you if needed."
"Yes, sir!" She saluted before turning away, while I entered my quarters, sighing immediately after I shut the door.
'Well, that moment at-least gave me a bit of assurance, perhaps I could just... Let them develop over time, the sergeant at-least proved they are more human than they make themselves out to be, They're just a bit... 'hardwired', her reaction to the thought of an existential crisis was pretty evident of it.' I thought whilst walking around my quarters.
"Hmm..." I said stopping as I looked at myself in the mirror, I had been wearing my usual clothes even now, mostly black and dark-grey clothing, with even the mild scarring in the fabric, ones I ignored compared to the more bigger holes caused by that wolf, I must've looked a bit informal in spite of my behaviour. "I guess I should change." I said to myself.
I went to my quarter's bedroom, and attempted to use up a little bit of what's left of my stamina reserve, and created new clothing. I decided to match up with the rest in the uniform, I would've chosen an officer's uniform, but I'm keen on self-defence, and I'd rather be a part of the fray by now, especially knowing that I can actually use Matter Manipulation for direct combative purposes than simple creation.
I discarded my previous clothing, setting them on a nearby hamper, before putting on my uniform excluding the helmet. I exited the room and went over to the mirror and examined myself.
"Hm... Not bad. I wonder why it's often the bad guys that grasp the concept of style?"
"Oh, well... I'm going to be tweaking the uniforms and equipment either way." I exited my quarters.
——— ——— ———