Chapter 57: Domicile Difficulties

-Alexander POV-

Question. What is the best way to defend something in a land of precognitives, pericognitives and postcognitives, a world where privacy is non-existent and a Thinker could have your name, email and social security number by day’s end if they wanted to?

Well, as I had already made use of, you simply made it too inconvenient to go after you. Nilbog had used it, the Machine Army had used it, Bonesaw had used it and I was using it again, but with a twist.

There would be no horrifying plagues this time, instead the central chamber itself was my weapon.

I hummed, a nano-tipped gold and uranium alloy buzzed to life as energy poured through them and the room grew. The air wavered, visibly roiling as more air was pulled in to fill the empty space that had just been created.

As for me, my eyes were closed in concentration. This technology that produced the spatial warp was still immature and unlike other examples, such as Vista, the matter that was stretched over dozens of miles had a tendency of…not holding up too well.

Cracks and seams formed, breaking apart, and I hurriedly fixed them – drawing in more matter from the outside to keep up with the expansion. This was the twelfth time I had done this, all previous attempts failing for one reason or another.

I had made sure none of those failures were too dramatic in nature, always quickly reversing the effects if I suspected the mechanism was about to fail. In fact, it was vital I did this because a sudden failure would be highly explosive.

Picture this. There is a room dozens of miles wide. It’s empty, for now, but you know it’s current size is a result of something artificial, and if it fails the room would instantly revert back to a room only a few meters across.

Why was that a problem? Because suddenly all that gas that had filled a room miles across was now occupying only a few meters. The gas would quickly heat up, becoming plasma in less than a second and would expand, destroying the room in a conflagration of fire.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. That explosion would almost certainly cause sea level rise and massive tsunamis across the globe. The intense heat produced by the explosion would whip up super hurricanes that would ravage this world for years to come.

Literally nobody wanted that. Not Scion, not the Simurgh and not any Shard.

So, just like with Hyderabad, nobody will want to venture here in fear of a sudden catastrophic breach. Even my enemies, whether they be Cauldron or the Simurgh, will work towards ensuring that never happens.

They’d also subtly work towards disarming my little trap, but frankly I only needed it for a few years and if they managed to do that in that amount of time then they deserved it.

Now you might be wondering ‘Alexander why the fuck are you doing this?!’

Which was a fair enough question, but ask yourself this: if you knew the scary and intelligent Endbringer was building megaprojects in Antarctica would you leave them be? The answer is no. It’s: fuck no.

As much as I was a fan of some deep immersive lore building in my creations, I hadn’t just created those tunnels for fun. They were simply another means of dissuading others from entering my crib.

I grimaced as a part of the Spatial Expansion Mechanism sparked violently. I quickly throttled the power down, swiftly stopping the expansion and allowing it to slowly begin contracting.

I kept a metaphorical eye on the technology the entire time, if so much as a single circuit began to crack I would step in and utilise the magic circle I had constructed in the chamber to shunt the excess matter into space.

Wasteful? Sure, but it was better than the alternative and with any luck it might confuse the space pigeon.

I mentally reached out to inspect the mechanism and, to my complete lack of shock, the wiring had once more begun to melt under the strain of channelling so much energy. The cooling measures I had devised using my knowledge of specialised thermotrophic bacteria, a strain that could quickly absorb and move away from the source of the heat and dump it elsewhere.

Evidently it had not been enough.

Should I tweak the alloy of the wiring once more?

No, in terms of mundane metallurgy this was the best I could accomplish without dipping my toes into something more…exotic.

I was trying not to go crazy with magic until I had a better grasp on it, maybe if given another two or three levels in AetherPunk.

Besides, if there were better alternatives then why not use them?

Theoretically I could create a region of altered space-time that allowed for 100% energy absorption without loss, which was fucking bonkers by the way. Unfortunately in order to make that I would need a stable way to alter space-time to that level, and the slightly smoking mechanism before me showed just how far away from that I was.

Thing is? Expanding an internal volume over a thousand times over? Baby stuff, barely an inconvenience compared to the stuff I was dreaming up.

I grumbled slightly, my plans for the complete subjugation of physics stymied for now. I once more turned my attention back to the slightly melted wires.

It had taken longer for the mechanism to fail. Previously it had endured for only two minutes before I was forced to halt the spatial expansion. After several iterations on the base technology it had lasted for over ten minutes.

The efficiency of Nanopunk had allowed me to create stronger alloys to endure the strain of manipulating reality.

AtomPunk had helped with more efficient power generation, preventing waste heat from building up too quickly.

CyberPunk was of great aid in terms of programming, greatly shaving off bloat and allowing the speed of Spatial expansion to quicken by about twenty percent.

SolarPunk had come in with a suplex and thankfully reminded me that I was in fucking antarctica, and allowed me to use that to my advantage.

I’ve already explained what BioPunk had allowed me to cook up, an all purpose coolant a century beyond modern day versions.

All of that and I was still a few minutes away from completing the goal I had set for myself,

A goal that wasn’t strictly necessary. With my matter manipulation I could still the movement of atoms, stifle heat transfer in the crib and allow the mechanism to work unhindered. I could do all of that, yet I didn’t.

Partly because the plan I was cooking up, the skeleton of it at least, required machinery and inventions that could be operated and understood by a normal human.

And because, as much as it hurt to admit, I had undoubtedly become too reliant on that power.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a shock to realise that. After all if given a power that seemed purpose built to synergise with your other power wouldn’t you use it. It had allowed me to craft entire cities in the span of a few days, and call into being wonders that humanity could only dream of.

It had given me a sense of not quite arrogance, but certainly complacency.

It wasn’t until ShardPunk had arrived that I realised just how much I had relied on my ability to shape matter as a crutch.

Sure, I had blended tech trees before in the cities I had built but it was never quite to the extent I was doing it now. Each of my specialties could compliment and build on each other, if allowed to, and I had never even thought of the implications of that.

Part of that was my fatalistic mindset at the time, but another had simply been that I didn’t need to eke out every advantage. After all, I could manipulate matter. Why attempt to streamline the production of housing and necessities when you could print them on demand? Why attempt to push the boundaries of medicine when you could directly alter the human body at your whim.

So very logical, and so utterly stupid!

I resist the urge to sneer as I close my eyes and begin to count to ten.

It was something Renji had recommended, along with a dozen or so other tips that he had clearly pulled from trawling across the internet.

I didn’t have it in my heart to tell him that the genuine effort he showed did more to help me than any of the self-help bullshit he found ever could.

I opened my eyes, slightly calmer. Okay, I was good – I was so good! Let’s look at this burnt piece of crap one more time!

I examined the mesh of circuits, yet came up with nothing. I had been working on this for hours now, and my mind felt like a soup of grey boredom.

Y’know what? Fuck it, I’ll just make the heat sink bigger! That should do something.

I turned around and made my way to the smooth round opening I had left in the side of the chamber. Knowing me I was probably going to turn it into a sickass giant gate when the spatial expansion was finished.

Maybe add some gold filigree to it? Or should I make it more foreboding and austere? Decisions, decisions.

Ducking down, I heading down the flight of stairs that were to the right of the entrance I had just came from. The heat sink I was heading down towards was deep, near an underground aquifer I was using to help in dissipating the heat.

As I descended the air rapidly became more and more humid, and as I reached the final level I could even see faint wisps of steam reaching through the door that lead to my destination.

Please don’t tell me I have to build a heat sink for my heat sink,” I moaned quietly – mostly as a jest. I reached towards the door and pulled it open, releasing a slight waft of steam that caused me to squint as the warm air reached my face.

The room within was a dimly lit cavern, the light originating from bioluminescent lichen I had littered across the cave. An endolithic lifeform I was quite proud of.

Near the centre of the room was a smooth circular hole, revealing waters that had been untouched by humanity – perfect and pristine.

Oh, and Renji was taking a soak next to the cables that extended down into the aquifer.

“Oh, Alexander! Come to join me?”

Despite him interfering in my experiment my lips curled into a faint smile.

“I don’t think it’s quite big enough for that,” I observe.

“You could just make it bigger.”

“True,” I nodded, now slightly conflicted. I didn’t exactly want to interrupt Renji, but in order to cool this back down to redo my experiment with the mechanism I would need to return the water back to an icy temperature just above zero.

I also don’t think he’d appreciate me carving out more room when he was trying to relax, it was a fairly loud process after all.

I sighed, ready to tell Renji to get out as politely as I could before stopping.

‘Wait, isn’t expanding this room and making it cooler just me using my power as a crutch again? Didn’t I just chastise myself for that?’

The realisation percolated in my head for a brief second, before I let out a weary sigh.

“Yes, I think a soak would be for the best. I’m clearly not thinking straight.” Renji gained a curious look at that, but I didn’t give him an explanation as I widened the hole to accommodate my girth and quietly slipped in.

Despite my efforts to be gentle waves kicked up as I displaced the water, causing Renji to sputter as he attempted to shield his face with his arms.

For my part, I was just groaning in pleasure as the warm water reached my skin.

‘It’s been so long.’

It felt like the presence of an old friend, I had always enjoyed a good bath back when I was still human. The last time I had been submerged in water was back in Kyushu, and that had not been a fun experience.

This was much better.

I closed my eyes, luxuriating in the peace of the moment.

“So, uh-“

“Renji? Do you want me to go back over my unhealthy interest in Flechette and Parian’s relationship.”

Renji let out a sound eerily reminiscent of a dying horse, which was all the answer I needed.

“Exactly, so let me have a moment of peace.” I sank deeper into the water, letting it come up to my chin.

Bathing in warm water, in Antarctica of all places, and enjoying the quiet companionship of a friend. My time since being stranded here may have been stressful and full of pain but, at times like this, it was almost worth it.

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Renji and I eventually left the waters once they began to cool, which took a while. Given that I possessed the body of an Endbringer and Renji was a magical android neither of us had to worry about wrinkles from staying in too long, which was nice.

The soak had also been desperately needed because, upon coming back to my prior problem, I realised that I had been something of an idiot.

I was having problems regarding charge and the transfer of energy? Wasn’t there a specialty literally built around that.

TeslaPunk Level 1 – Welcome to the world of electricity, Victorian styles and lots of brass! With this specialty you will gain the capability of wide spread and cheap electricity for all!

I had been hoping to save my last charge for another level in ShardPunk, but I would inevitably gain another charge from building and innovating upon my home base. Besides, the more variety I obtained in my knowledge base the better.

And upon gaining this new specialty the very first instinct I had was to smack myself.

TeslaPunk was a world that imagined cheap and affordable electricity in virtually every facet of life, all wrapped up in Victorian imagery. So of course they had the solution to my problem, and it was a blindingly obvious one in retrospect.

If you couldn’t use a physical medium to transfer the energy without their integrity failing then just don’t use a physical medium dummy!

The solution, as it turns out, was lasers. Sweet, ionizing, lasers. Enough to create a laser-induced plasma channel, which allowed for an electrical current to pass through. Easy enough in theory, but back home the idea wasn’t anywhere near viable enough to become practical.

With TeslaPunk? I knew a thousand different ways to manipulate electromagnetism, and with that knowledge my ability of interface with the higher truths of this world, without the use of my power, had skyrocketed.

I chuckled, as the mechanism once more unravelled before me – gold spooling outwards like the web of a spider.

Things were proceeding apace.

AN: AM SICK! Got a cough, a headache and it feels weird to swallow. Still not as bad as it was a few days ago though.

Bit more of a building chapter, focusing entirely on one specific aspect of the base: the spatial expansion of it. Partly I wanted to go into this as it shows just how much thought needs to go into each bit of entity tech Alexander deals with. Another was to show the pitfalls of his overuse of matter manipulation.

Sure, it’s useful to have but it’s ensured he never needed to dive into certain aspects of his Tinker power. Which he’ll need to, as it’s apparently part of his super-secret plan to take on Scion.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!