Overseer's Rise: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 27
“What?”
“I feel like there’s something I should know, as a Misericord, but I don’t. It’s something important. Something only the other Misericords know.”
“This makes no sense.”
Viv had summoned her Thunderclaw arm, the black metallic-rocky scales glinting. “Are you saying you need to talk to other Misericords?”
Another jerky motion of Harley’s reptilian head that looked something like a nod. “It’s like something I’m supposed to remember, but I can’t. I need to talk to the others.”
Rory frowned. The others sounded like a too-familiar term for a bunch of creatures he hadn’t even faced directly yet.
“Then maybe we can combine it with my plan,” Dez said.
Harley’s turn to look at him was sharp enough to make them all jump a little. Viv had even summoned a red electric arc sparking over her Thunderclaw arm.
“We can’t kill them,” Harley said.
“What?” Dez’s brows drew down heavily. He raised his arms, black flames blazing to life around his fists. “Harley, you need to remember who you are. What you are. Remember, man. You’re a human living in Belcourt palace. Remember.”
Harley bared his sharklike teeth at Dez’s words. Slowly, he straightened, obviously exerting an effort to calm himself. “Sorry. But I think it’s a good idea that we try to capture them or something. Let me talk to them. I think there’s more going on with them than we’ve seen.”
Dez and Viv both seemed sceptical of that claim, but before they could say anything, Rory stepped in.
“I agree,” he said. “There’s more to the monsters than what appears on the surface. Which is why I asked you to turn into one in the first place. But if you need to find another Misericord…”
Rory turned to Dez, who eventually relaxed and sighed.
“Yeah, alright.” Dez glanced at Viv before quickly looking away. She looked a little annoyed. “I can take care of that.”
They didn’t speak about it directly further, but the plan of operation was obvious. Dez would lead Harley and a small team with him to confront the Misericords remaining outside. Harley would attempt to make contact and learn whatever important piece of information he felt he was missing, and if something went awry in the proceedings, Dez and the others would step in to make sure everyone remained safe.
Rory was marginally worried they were about to attempt to make contact with monsters who had shown no inclination or capability of any civil discourse so far. But he trusted Dez to make the right call in whatever situation they ended up in.
For Rory, he needed to check the Crafting Station one more time. By now, he was certain the circuitry had to be done, which meant they could finally get started creating the things they needed.
Chapter 33
Dez had a little trouble convincing some of the others to join his and Harley’s trip to confront the Misericords outside the palace. Nobody seemed enthusiastic about having one of the monsters in their company, even if it was one of their own in truth. Eventually, though, they managed to corral April, Miles, and some of the former Neophytes into going along with them.
Rory wasn’t sure the last group should have gone. Their limbs were still monstrous, and handling firearms wouldn’t come as naturally to them as it would have been to humans. But he didn’t argue against them going. For some reason, Harley said they might help decipher.
When they were gone, Rory decided to head over to the Crafting Station to keep himself busy instead of worrying about things out of his control.
The others decided to spend some time training and taking care of chores. Like Rory, they were also worried about the day’s outcome. But there was no point in being too anxious. Best to keep themselves busy with other things. As such, Viv had taken up the others on a session to practice with Sigils and raise their Tiers.
“Do you live here now?” Rory asked when he found Ferdous in the Crafting Station hall.
She was standing at almost the exact location he had left her yesterday, looking in the exact direction as last time too. Ferdous even took a while to turn around when Rory arrived and called her name. Her eyes had a bit of a manic look to them. He couldn’t even tell if she had slept at all last night or not.
“Do you like my makeover?” she asked.
“I actually do!”
Ferdous had added some work benches and tables to the mix. Coincidentally, they had all been arranged against the far wall of the little hall, right where Rory had assigned the different components of the Crafting Station. They were a little awry, though. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed without trouble.
“Please tell me it’s ready,” she said.
Rory figured enough time should have passed. “Let’s check.”
He wasn’t sure how to go about it. The last time Rory had attempted to use the Zonal Configuration came back to him, so it helped to remember where exactly he had assigned the specific spots.
But the thing was, he hadn’t directly Warded the Sigils used in the Crafting Station to their specific spots. He had simply inserted them into the Sigil of Crafting Station. That didn’t tell him if he could activate the required Sigils for the required functions in the same way he would have had he Warded them normally.
“Are you wondering how we’re supposed to make this work?” Ferdous asked. She was quite astute.
Rory nodded. “I don’t think I’ve told you which area corresponds to which function yet, right? Here, let me show you those first.”
He walked around the far end of the hall, pointing to each specific area’s function from what he recalled from the Tier II Zonal Configuration. It was hard to be exact about the measurements of the assigned areas, but he made his best guess. They could get a tape measure—there had to be one somewhere—but it wasn’t important.
“Did you assign the Crafting Station specifically to me?” Ferdous asked.
“Not yet,” Rory replied said. “I wanted to see if it worked properly first.”
“But you don’t have a specific ideas for its process yet?”
“Hmm, let me see.”
He had an idea of how he wanted it to work, but he wasn’t sure what action would activate the different components. But he didn’t want to waste time waffling.
Rory pulled out a small knife and placed it in the area he had assigned the Sigil of Blueprint. They didn’t need external Mana since he had connected it to the Mana source being generated on the roof from sunlight. There ought to be enough by now. Enough to reproduce a knife, at least. Nothing happened, however. The knife simply lay there.
Ferdous glared at the knife like it was the little dagger’s fault for the Crafting Station not working. “Yeah…”
That’s when Rory understood what he was missing.
“I think there’s something else I have to add, specifically to the Zone,” he said.
Ferdous looked at with an excited gleam. “What?”
“I need to create a specific Input in the Zonal Configuration. One of the Inputs has to come from whoever is in charge. I’m pretty sure of it.”
“Oh! That does make sense.”
“Hmm, not sure how we’d go about it, though.”
Rory tried to think of what could be the most convenient. It would be easiest to use voice, but it wouldn’t be great if anyone could come up and use it with impunity. He wanted some sort of check to be placed over it first.
“What are you thinking?” Ferdous asked.
“Voice activation,” Rory said. “I’m just not sure we can make it a specific voice. Worth trying out, though.”
“Why are you staring at me like—oh you want me to talk?” Ferdous suddenly looked a little bashful. “Like, is there a specific way I’m supposed to be saying something? A specific trigger word? Can you even Weave something like a person’s voice without, you know, Weaving them?”
“All things we’ll have to figure out as we go on. Let’s go. Use some words you’d use to control this Crafting Station.”
“Okay, here goes.” Ferdous took a quick breath, then stared straight ahead. “Scan. For copying anything placed on the blueprint area. Then, create. Draw, generate, picture.”
Rory frowned. “Picture?”
“What’s wrong with picture?”
“Uh, nothing. Go on.”
Ferdous kept coming up with more words that she could potentially use to control the Crafting Station. She even added a few phrases here and there. Rory asked her to repeat them, and then repeat them again. She frowned a bit, but he explained that he wanted her to grow more confident when saying the key trigger words.
After Rory was satisfied that Ferdous’s voice was ringing with enough command, he activated his Sigil of Weaving. It wasn’t difficult to focus on the words emanating from Ferdous’s mouth. At least, not mentally.
His Sigil of Weaving was a different matter.
It seemed the storm of white lines rotating around his hand had a harder time locating where exactly it was supposed to go. Maybe it really did need something more tangible than just words. Even when he had created such things like a Sigil of Efficiency, he had focused the white lines on very real things like different components. Now there was no—
But there was, Rory realized, grinning. As Ferdous continued speaking, Rory focused specifically on the vibrations of the air. That was essentially what sound was, as far as he recalled from elementary science classes. Sound was just how ears perceived different air vibrations.
And it was those vibrations in the air that he could Weave to give them the Sigil he needed.
He just needed to make sure that the Weaving recognized that it came from a specific person. Otherwise, anyone using the same commands could get whatever they wanted from the Crafting Station too. Not ideal.
It worked, to an extent. The white lines flew to the air just in front of Ferdous’s mouth, which alarmed her a bit. She calmed down once she saw the Weaving wasn’t affecting her directly. Soon enough, Rory had a new Sigil in his hand.
New Sigil!
You’ve obtained a Sigil of Command. Lay out your iron wishes and bend the universe to unshakeable will. Nothing is beyond the power of your command.
[Teal V] allows controlling 3 m3 of matter for 4 minutes.
Stats
Type: Concept
Rarity: Exceptional
Tier: Teal V [0%]
Efficiency: High [69%]
“Ooohh.” Ferdous admired the Sigil in Rory’s hand, a white crystal coin with the image of a disembodied head shouting something. “This is it, right?”
Rory tried not to feel too disappointed. It was a long shot that he would have been able to create a Sigil that only worked for a specific person. Maybe it was an ability for a more powerful Sigil of Weaving.
“Sort of,” he said. “I was hoping I could get a Sigil that would work only for you. Sad—”
Rory paused. A Sigil for a specific person. Of course, Rory couldn’t make a Sigil itself work only for one person. But what he could try to do was create a combination of Sigils such that one wouldn’t work without the other. That would ensure that only someone who had both could use them.
“I need something from you that can act as a trigger,” he said to Ferdous.
She frowned at him. “Wasn’t everything I’ve been saying supposed to be a trigger?”
“Those were commands for the Crafting Station, yeah. But see, the Sigil of Command I got would technically work for anyone. We need it to work only for the person who’s in charge here. That’s why I need some other kind of trigger from you, something that will ensure that it’s you who’s issuing the commands.”
“I… hmm, I need to think what that might be.”
“Keep thinking. I’ll be back. Just need a specific ingredient.”
He left her wondering. Rory’s little trip took him to where they had stored the extra firearms in the storage area within the remaining tower. They weren’t in any position to waste any weapons, but he was going to need it. If this worked out, they’d be able to craft more weapons than they’d ever need.
Rory took out a small handgun then used his Weaving specifically on the trigger and the safety mechanism. In moments, he had a black Sigil with the image of key.
New Sigil!
You’ve obtained a Sigil of Trigger. Activating things is fine and all that, but what you need is a specific response to a specific stimulus. Pressing buttons just won’t do. Sometimes, you need a real, triggering mechanism.
[Teal V] allows triggering medium object reactions with specific, settable stimulus.
Stats
Type: Concept
Rarity: Uncommon
Tier: Teal V [0%]
Efficiency: Medium [46%]
That was actually interesting, though Rory didn’t have much of an inclination to try it out on other things. Not yet, at least.
He hurried back to the smaller hall where Ferdous was waiting for him. She eyed the new Sigil in his hand.
“What’s that?” she asked. “Something to help me control the Crafting Station?”
“Yeah.” He showed her the new Sigil. “With this, you can set a specific trigger to ensure that it’s you controlling it.”
“Couldn’t you have used… what was it called? The Sigil of Activation?”
“I could, but all the Sigils of Activation I’ve used so far don’t really specify anything. They use broad stimuli. We need something specific to you. I am going to need one, though, just not by itself.”
Rory took the Sigils of Activation, Command, and Trigger, then combined them into one with his Weaving. The new Sigil he received glowed white, circled by a ring of teal with five triangles. Its image depicted two arrows forming a circle.
New Sigil!
You’ve obtained a Sigil of Control. Exert influence. Dominate control.
[Teal V] allows controlling medium object reactions with specific, settable stimulus.
Stats
Type: Concept
Rarity: Exceptional
Tier: Teal V [0%]
Efficiency: High [56%]
“That’s it, right?” Ferdous asked.
“I hope so. I’m going to see if it works. Just hold on a minute. I’ll make sure to put you in charge of it too.”
“Thanks,” Ferdous called as Rory hurried away.
He got himself to the column with the Sigil of Settlement in the main hall. It felt strange to have the whole place seemingly deserted and all to himself.
No time to wonder, though. Rory opened up the Zonal Configuration with the Crafting Station again, then did as he had explained. He created a new Input under the options, then put the Sigil of Control there.
Once that was done, he assigned Ferdous as the person in charge for the Crafting Station. That should ensure only she could control the various Inputs via the assigned Sigil.
“Hey,” she said brightly as Rory returned, a little tired from all the walking he’d had to do. “I think I’ve got it.”
“You already set up a trigger?” he asked.
Ferdous nodded. She said something in a language Rory didn’t understand, but one of the benches at the far end lit up with a soft radiance. The Crafting Station was active.
“What was that?” Rory asked.
“It’s control in my mother tongue,” she said. “Was thinking no one else would be able to use it. Make sense, right?”
Rory nodded. “It does. Hopefully, if we have to… change the assigned leader for any reason, we can change the phrase too.”
“You should be able to, yeah.”
Rory was glad Ferdous didn’t take the idea of being replaced personally. As much as he was glad for some oversight, and he had no inclination of removing Ferdous from her position, something could happen that would make her unavailable to control the Crafting Station. In such a situation, they’d need to replace her as the assigned leader to keep using the Crafting Station.
“Time to try it out?” Rory suggested.
“Yeah!”
It went exactly as Rory thought it would. When he put down the knife on the table above the area with the Sigil of Blueprint, an azure light popped up like a scanner at Ferdous’s command.
After she commanded the Crafting Station to start drawing in the needed Mana and the material from the required element Sigils, another bench started glowing. This light grew intense enough that Rory had to actually squint. When it finally started to fade, Rory’s eyes widened.
A new knife lay on the bench, the blade the same shape as the one he had put in and the hilt made from pure wood.
“It works!” Ferdous said.
Rory remembered to breathe as he picked up the knife and observed it critically. It seemed fine. Solid, dependable. The blade was sharp, the grip had enough traction. He could certainly use this.
But as he grinned in success at Ferdous, someone shouted his name outside. Allen came rushing in just as Rory reached the door of the little hall.
“What’s wrong?” Rory asked. The look on Allen’s face convinced him there was definitely something wrong.
“They’re back,” the younger man said. He swallowed. “And they’ve got a Misericord with them. Alive.”
“Oh.” The events with the Crafting Station had nearly made Rory forget about Dez and Harley’s mission, which had been the point of it, in all honesty. But Allen’s expression worried him. “But?”
“They didn’t… come out of it well. Someone died.”
Chapter 34
Rory had a hard time trying to be happy that Dez and Harley’s mission had been technically successful. They might have brought in the Misericord Harley was seeking, but it had come at a cost.
Melvin had died in the mission.
Rory hadn’t had much interaction with the former Neophyte after the last incident where they had gone off as a group to try to rescue some stricken Otherworlders. Nevertheless, he had been proud of how Melvin and the rest of that entire group had eventually settled in at Belcourt palace. They had become an accepted, even integral, part of the community. And now he was gone.
