Shattered Moonstone

Chapter 8



Date: SLC 24-12-1568, The current human god Valor has completed the requested hero summoning from harvester world, Sol 3 Terra. Though the summoning was successful it would appear that tampering with the procedure has led to the summoning of 46 different souls. Valor claims this to be an accidental overcharging of the spell circle and after investigating I have deduced this to be a possible explanation. However, I will continue to monitor the situation for the time being leaving this ticket open. I have contacted the System Administrator from Sol 3 Terra, designation S3T 56987438, Oracle about the accidental over-summoning. I have also filed a report about the increasingly hostile actions of God Valor to the Mother system in hopes to have a formal intervention. 

Date: SLC 03-01-1569 I have discovered a 47th… creature from the over summoning incident. Unlike the other souls from Sol 3 Terra this one had no designation and has henceforth been designated X47. X47 unlike the other 46 souls did not go through the appropriate summoning enchantments and seems to have integrated into this world fully conscious instead of going through the average 10–12-year gestation period most heroes undergo, I have dispatched a system terminal to make contact with X47 while it waits to be born.

Date: SLC  20-01-1569, Contact with X47 seems to be impossible at the current time and will attempt again after its birth. I have designated a terminal, the terminal designation Omega 697852.6321 to keep watch over the creature. 

I have received word back from S3T 56987438, Oracle, stating it is unsure of what the creature may be and is currently running a system count to find out what souls are missing from Sol 3 Terra, once the count is concluded we will discuss a way to manage the incident and keep such events from happening in the future. I have already begun the drafts for a patch to the hero summoning ritual.

I have received no word back from the Mother system yet about my request.

Date: SLC 28-09-1569, Terminal designation Omega 697852.6321 has been lost, I received a report before its termination that X47 seemed to be complacent and was attempting to assist a young soul that had been injured. I have sent another terminal to inves…. it has also been destroyed, just what is going on down there.

Date: SLC 29-09-1569, I sent an observation drone to investigate this time and found X47… disassembling the System terminals? How is that even possible? they should be nigh indestructible by mortal means, even gods would have a challenging time… it’s just pulling them apart. Is it… it's wiring them together, what is the purpose of that machine, should i do a system shut down… its yelling? 

Date: SLC 29-09-1569; X47 self-designation Me, had created what can only be described as an overly complex suicide machine, in an attempt to save the soul A769585246.1572 designation Amethyst Lapidary, it created a device to convert its own souls aether into mana and bathe the young soul in it. Much to my amazement it worked, with the sacrifice of 2 system terminals, and a large portion of X47’s own… soul mass. It managed to dilute enough aether into mana to charge the small soul and coax it into recovery. I have removed the spell “Soul magic, Soul sacrifice.” form the system after it was created in this endeavor. X47 has been sealed inside the Amethyst Lapidary’s soul space for now while it recovers. 

For the record, I had considered banishing X47 from this plane, however given its… willingness to sacrifice itself for another soul on a whim I have decided to hold off on this endeavor.  

I have not heard back from the Mother system nor S3T, Oracle.  

I have included a recording of mine and X47’s meeting which should explain why I have taken it upon myself to appoint my designation in the system. System Administrator, N6T 5796842, Eryl.

Date; SLC 06-12-1569; Being X47 has remained conscious during its suspension. I could not have predicted that, and it seemed… agitated when I returned to the soul space that it took me too long to come check on it as I had promised. I was unsure on what to do with the creature at this point, however it seemed more than content to tempt my patience upon my arrival, asking me for another terminal because the one I had left to watch it had “strangely just stopped working” stating it was a, and I quote, “dumb box with a faulty power box”. I am not sure what a power box is, but I assure you all my terminals are in pristine condition. I however, decided to replace the terminal given it was its disconnection that alerted me to the situation.

Date: SLC 15-02-1570, I have made the decision to allow X47 access to the library function on the system terminal. given its predisposition for smashing the terminals when it is bored, and the adverse effects of being isolated could have on its already clearly unstable mind and because I cannot have it trying to summon me through the terminals every day to ask questions. I do not know how it keeps ripping through the enchantment circles, but I have put in a request for more protected terminals.

S3T, Oracle has finally finished its count, seriously who let that harvester planet get so populated, regardless, it has confirmed that 47 souls are in fact missing yet it could not give me the designation of X47, it simply stated that though it was in its system it was a destinationless soul that should not have been able to be pulled from Sol 3 Terra. It could not clarify more stating it did not have proper clearance to access the file on X47 but has sent a request ticket to Mother system in hopes to get answers. We have decided to call it even after I explained X47 to Oracle and stated, “that critter sounds like a right handful. Why don't we just forget the whole your gods stealing 47 souls from me, and you just send me what that... whatchamacallit… X47’s up’ta every now and again, sounds like it might be entertaining.”

Mother system has yet to report. 

Date: SLC 01-01-1572, X47 has grown considerably, it seems to consume knowledge at an alarming rate, yet its demeanor has not changed. it still insists on calling the system terminals “Inutil boxes'' despite my best efforts to correct this… misnaming of my terminals, it insists that they are “heartless machines that should never be trusted with anything more powerful than a light switch” I have attempted to ascertain the reason behind X47 apparent hatred for the system terminals but I have yet to get anything more concise than “all boxes are evil” and I fear it might have gone insane. Thank the system, it has learned how to “sleep” and has taken to sleeping for increasingly more regular intervals. I… I may have changed the timer display on its terminal to slow down for its resting period and speed up during its waking hours.

The Mother system has replied to my inquiry and has refused to open an investigation for lack of evidence of actions against the system or balance of the world Valor resides over. However, the Mother system has approved my designs of a more restrictive hero summoning ritual and will implement it system wide shortly. She has also gifted me several Aether infused terminals from its personal system with self-repairing functionality to fulfill my request for more sturdy terminals and has begun an investigation into X47 herself to find the origin of the strange creature that has found its way to my world.

side note, I have begun developing a sub-system for X47 and the human family that will soon have to deal with it, I will use the aether terminals for the system once it is ready

Date: SLC 11-06-1574; I have condensed X47 assimilation into a more physical form into an attached file. Though its growth has been rapid, I feel it might be impaired by the gaping hole that it still has in its soul, that is noticeably smaller every day. It has surprisingly taking to a humanoid form quite well minus the constant questions about certain appendages, it seems quite confused on the concept of toes, and has expressed a desire for a tail despite me explaining to it that its soul is taking the form fitting for the body it is inhabiting and a tail is not possible it still asked 4 time if the new “nubby thingamajig” was a tail once for every limb. at least it seemed to understand the concept of a head. 

Date: SLC 24-02-1575; Six. That is the number of dismantled terminals now housed in my dimension. The damage to this most recent terminal was… impressive and terrifying. I don't know what I expected once X47 had grown arms however I did not expect it to so thoroughly destroy a system terminal that would take me hours to piece together a single enchantment ring from it. when I confronted it about the destruction it seemed uninterested stating “that’s what dumb box 6 gets for lying to me about its size.” after yet another thorough explanation that its conforming to a human body and not disappearing, and the system terminal was in fact the same size as it was before and telling X47 that the system terminals are unable to change their dimensions like it accused, I have decided to not allow it access to another terminal for the time being.

Edit: S3T, Oracle has had no end of amusement at my expense over X47 antics and though it should be obvious I will state it anyway. X47 seems to be a simple yet easily agitated creature, it is hyper intelligent however, it seems to lack the drive to do anything but exist and amuse itself with passing fancies, it’s almost as if it was a child with the knowledge to build a bomb. With that said, I know that the system terminals can in fact change dimensions. I refuse to give X47 a reason to destroy any more of my terminals. I will however state I do feel somewhat bad for deceiving it, it seems to trust my word and has stopped referring to me as a “filthy box lover”, I will admit I have grown to somewhat enjoy X47’s antics. they are refreshing after dealing with the gods of this world for so long, it seems to care not for such politics and simply exist as it sees fit.

Date: SLC 24-8-1578, The eldest daughter has attempted to “identify” X47 through the timer that links the soul space it occupies to Amethyst soul page. X47 was able to stop this under its own power however, it was able to overpower the enchantment rings quite easily in the system terminal, I am starting to understand how it was able to overpower them so easily in the past, simply banging its head against the terminal was enough to leave a dent in its enchantment circles. After that display I have decided to include an escape function to the “Babylon” Terminals I will be using for its family once it is ready to leave the soul space. This function will cause the terminals to teleport away from X47 if they receive damage past a certain threshold so they can repair themselves given I cannot replace the aether terminals if it manages to break them, I feel this is necessary. I have also decided to remove the Babylon terminal access from the main system and encrypted them with a safety key to the system. Given the current situation I will have to apologize to X47 if I am correct about Valor, but the protection of the system comes first and foremost.

Edit: I have informed S3T, Oracle, that I will be unable to provide it with updates for some time, I will have to go to the planet's surface to fulfill the administrator's duty of training the heroes once they awaken from their gestation. The homunculus I used with the last hero was destroyed so I will be forced to make a new one this time. I am thinking of using an elven base this time, just to spite Valor. That aside, I have completed the Babylon terminals, I have included the library that X47 had access to, now just to integrate it into a skill for the lapidary family. After investigating the family, I find myself wondering why Valor needed to summon heroes at all. Every member of this family would be capable of fighting the last demon lord, two of them might even have been able to beat it. the fact that none of the have evolved into a seed of either kind is… alarming, I have sent another request to The Mother system with the new information, after doing a scan of my entire system, excluding X47 and Amethyst who has been in contact with X47 there isn't a single soul on my world that has evolved in… just under a thousand years. Where did all the aether go then?

Date: SLC 26-08-1578, Valor's priest has attacked Amethyst. X47 with reckless abandonment and absolutely zero self-control tore two separate terminals from my system and forced them out of its soul space. I remained in contact with it for as long as I could, I explained what it would need to do to keep itself and Amethyst alive after the sudden introduction into each other's soul space. If it were any creature other than X47 I would probably be concerned for Amethyst soul however I find myself unable to worry. I have confidence that X47 will somehow save not only Amethyst but itself as well, I do not quite understand why but I seem to have developed some sort of “faith” in the strange creature. I only hope that it's human mother names it quickly to get rid of the self-designation it gave itself.

edit; I have been forced to expedite the introduction of Babylon to the Lapidary family, settling on forcing it into a bloodline skill.

Attachments: 

X47 Soul scan; Error. No soul detected, attempting scan… Error. 168 soul fragments detected. list of soul fragments, 75 different humanoid creatures, note 20 different species of humanoid detected 8 of which have been extinct for centuries. 36 different avian creatures, note 4 separate dragon fragments found, as well as several griffins and other large flying predators. 44 different land mammals detected, note most seem to be large predators ranging from large cats to dire wolves, as well as several different beasts such as hell hounds. 9 different higher being fragments detected, 4 of gods 5 of devils. 2 separate legendary creatures detected, note 1 large fox known as “moon eater” and one unidentified. 1 great white shark, note, this soul is the most complete soul in X47 and comprises the entirety of its “right foot” 1 ɘ̷̟̪̩̄̉̿͝ͅɿ̴͉͇̰̬̂̽͛̕ɿ̸̧͚̩͍͗̈́̍̌o̸̩̲̖̠͊̎͛̈́ɿ̷̡͎̰̹̋̽̊̅ detected, note notated notes of noted observational notes have been noted… ơ̸̫ǹ̵͔ḛ̸͌ ̴͙͊s̸̜̔h̵͈̏o̸̗̓u̴̙̔ḻ̵̈́d̵̖̋ ̶̪͌n̵̠̈́ǫ̷̋t̸̙̊ ̷̀͜m̴̹̒ä̸͈́ḳ̸̉ë̴͎́ ̵͔́n̴̩͑o̷̧̐t̵̫̚e̴̅ͅṣ̷̆ ̷̜̑o̴͔͛f̴̝͛ ̵̳̈́ț̶̌ẖ̶̎ȇ̷̬ ̴̞͠v̵̮̇ỏ̸̧ì̶̭d̴͈̈́ ̸̯̚ẅ̴͓́h̷͕̃e̵̹͌n̷̝͒ ̷͔̂t̴̺̑ȟ̸ͅē̶̘y̴̡̿ ̶̢̐c̸̭̈́ą̵̉s̸̪̅t̸̯̍ ̴̪́t̴̖͊h̶̭̀e̸̦͐i̷͒ͅr̴̪̾ ̴̡̍ǵ̷̟ạ̷͝z̷̨̚e̶̓͜ ̶͔͠ů̴̳p̶̥͌ő̶̬n̶͍̉ ̴̛͉i̶̝͋t̵͆ͅ

Amethyst Lapidary soul scan. Soul A769585246.1572, noted as on its 1572 reincarnation, if soul continues to not evolve in the next 8 reincarnations it will be sent to a harvester world for mana cleansing before reinstatement into a cultivator world. Most notable reincarnation was 1571 as a blink squirrel soul A769585246.1571 showed great promise as a potential demon seed given its propensity for tormenting adventures and its vast capabilities with spatial magic and teleportation, however it was eaten by a griffin during its midlife while protecting its young.

X47 first contact.

X47 growth log and growth period. 

Lapidary family line.

Aether log of Nova 6 Terra. 

Cultivation of Nova 6 Terra from last seed germination to present time. 

Eryl let out a loud sigh as she finished the log, in preparation for her descent into the mortal realm. She paused for a long moment considering the attachments she was going to send to the Mother system, hopefully Mother would be able to make sense of the soul scan data from X47 but she no longer had time to waste on it. 

Valor had grown increasingly restless in his attempts to get the administrator to leave for the mortal realm to train his heroes in the last few years, stating that she must fulfill her admin duties to protect this world with the heroes. If she did not know better she would have accused him of trying to undermine her as administrator but she knew she was the only one in the godly realms that could descend onto the mortal plane, given she was the only ascended to still have a mana based soul core she was the only one who could go to the world and not instantly suck it dry of all magical resources.

This fact made X47 even more odd, it was an aether based soul, why was it not sucking all the ambient mana into itself to fuel its soul as a god or devil would? Instead, it seemed to just… be making more aether itself? Even with a hole in its soul it had not absorbed a drop of ambient mana from the world, and if her scans were accurate there was no aether for it to absorb. 

No matter, it is not a threat to the system, and it filled a role for Eryl at this moment, so she decided for the first time in eons to ignore it and not look a gift horse in the mouth. With X47 running around in the mortal realm, it gave her what she felt to be the safest place to hide the key to the system while she went down to play sage for the heroes Valor had summoned. With Babylon being tied to X47 even if Valor wanted to attempt to take control of the system in her absence he would need to not only find X47 but figure out its hatred for the terminals was the key and that oaf would more than likely attempt to kill it before even trying to figure it out and given how easily it dispatched one of his paladins from a different plane of existence… Eryl paused, a slight shiver running through her, maybe just maybe letting that monster loose in her world was not the best idea. but as quickly as the thought came, she dismissed it. 

Even if I wanted to get rid of X47, I could not, it rips terminals apart like paper. What chance in all the hells would I have against it? No, my best bet is to keep it complacent, happy, and most importantly on my side. She thought as she set the world system into “auto” mode, leaving it to run on default for a couple hundred or so years would do nothing but leave a backlog of notifications she would have to sift through, but it was never an issue the last dozen or so times, so she felt confident in doing this. She double checked to be sure Babylon was removed from the system and delivered to the Lapidary family and X47 in proxy, then with a flick of her wrist sent the log report to the Mother system and exited her realm, not bothering to inform any of the other gods or devils she left for the mortal realm to fulfill her part of the hero summoning, to train the heroes and keep them from abusing their gifts and bringing unbalance to the system.

What she did not know is that just as she left, two very confused and angry gods burst into her realm, Soter wondering why one of their followers were suddenly pulled from their favor, and Valor wondering what that blackened demon monstrosity that ate his bishop was.


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