Year: 510
Slicked back, brown hair? Check. Clean and shaven? Check. An exquisite, layered blue robe with golden trim, polished brown boots, and a golden pendant with a rotating orb of his planet hanging from his neck? Check.
"First time I've dressed this fancy since graduation," Atlas commented, admiring the get-up.
Not only was it fancy, it was just heavy enough that it didn't feel like he was strutting around nude. He could've adjusted the weight as light or heavy as he wanted through a little pop-up panel but settled it roughly to where it felt like wearing a business suit.
"I'm pleased that you like it," Wisp said.
"Pleased… Pleased… Nothing better in your diction?"
"It looks grand, Weaver."
"Thank you," Atlas sighed, though a little deflated. It had been the bird's choice- he was too undecided himself and had nearly defaulted to a typical Earth business professional suit. Wisp's choices, as usual, made up for his gaps in imagination.
After his sleep, two new consoles glowed on his Central Divinity Setup. Atlas's gaze drifted over everything. His massive planet, An-Ki, floated at twice his size, suspended in a metal chassis- a reminder of his supernatural circumstances.
In front of a metal rail circling the planet, six consoles glowed at ground level. All six now pulsed with a bright green hue. A step-up platform directly in front of him had a chair with the same six consoles arranged in front of it. One setup for sitting, the other for pacing.
And opposite the globe, a mirrored setup- more aesthetic than functional. He liked to think of that side of the globe as his wartime interface and this side as peacetime.
-World Creation-
-Central Divinity Interface Management (CDIM)-
-Species-
-Divinity-
-Forge-
-Weaver Trade & Diplomacy-
Wincing, Atlas was reminded of his drunken stupor as his gaze fixated on the Forge console. To salvage the mess, Wisp had separated the destroyed gene forge points from the species tab and gave it its own console. Atlas hadn't opened it yet as he was too ashamed of himself and his past actions.
The second console was one he had never seen before: Weaver Trade & Diplomacy.
"Please keep in mind when you see your statistics: they are merely numbers."
"That doesn't sound too promising," Atlas muttered, walking up to the new console and tapping it. Immediately, statistics appeared on the top-left corner, diplomacy bottom-right, and trade on the right.
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Weaver Statistics:
Weaver: Atlas
Weaver Universe: 42-4712
Weaver Assistant: 33729
Divinity: 62
Divinity Average (Based on Similar Year): 250
Universe Combat Power: 8,720
-Breakdown: Specials (162) * 10, Demigod (1) * 100, Commons (7000) * 1-
Median Universe Combat Power (Based on Similar Year): 25,000
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"What do you mean 'don't look at the numbers'?" Atlas gaped. "The other Weavers with universes my age have three times more combat power!"
Wisp nodded, landing atop the console again. "Yes. They do. But as I explained before the system is a little... faulty."
"All of those corrupted creatures? Your humans, those dragons under your Primordials- those are all commons."
"Huh, so it's deceptive..." Atlas mused, calming back down as he tapped his fingers against the console. "So this is like those games where there's a combat power stat but you might stack it all toward debuffs or buffs, or maybe your 'common' unit is just broken compared to others."
"Indeed. Your combat power may not mean much if the enemy's forces heavily counter your species and vise versa."
"Hm... and the median measurement- does that ever change back to mean?"
"Depending on the data," Wisp nodded.
"So we have some heavily skewed data," Atlas mused again. "If it were more symmetrical, we'd probably be using the mean. If I'm remembering my basic data analytics correctly."
"More or less, Weaver Atlas."
Nodding, Atlas's gaze moved over to diplomacy on the bottom right and then trade section.
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Diplomacy
Allies: [0]
Enemies [0]
Non-Aggression Pact [0]
Defensive Pact [0]
Trade Agreements [0]
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Coins: 100
-Weavers can buy divinity, gene points, pre-built species, trade species, equipment, and more here. Weavers can trade with each other or deposit their items into the system for coinage. One such example is to sacrifice one hundred Primordial creatures for one Primordial gene-
1 Organic Material = 1 coin
1 Magic = 2 coin
1 Divinity = 10 coin
1 Gene point = 100 coins
1 Special Gene Point = 1000 coins
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-Initiate Trade-
-System Transaction-
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"Hm... Technically I have enough if I sacrificed all of my Primordials for two Primordial genes. Doubled my gene pool... I have 160 Primordial believers and fifty to sixty more non-believers..."
"Hold on- this means my combat power and stats don't account for my non-believers?"
Wisp nodded again. "Because there is no guarantee they will fight for you."
"But I can still throw them 'accidentally' into the crossfire..." Atlas mused aloud, tapping the console. "Not enough coinage here for anything useful... Equipment for one creature... maybe as a dire circumstance."
'I need to know more about my enemy in the Weaver War. How can-'
Atlas's gaze rose to fixate on Wisp. "What information have you collected related to my Weaver War?"
"Yes, Weaver Atlas." Wisp exhaled softly before taking another breath.
"Weaver Atlas, your enemy has a combat power of 75,000-"
"WHAT?!"
"It is an insect-based society, with an insect Weaver."
"Oh… never mind then," Atlas breathed out, calming down just as quickly. "A swarm type. Let me guess-most of those are commons?"
"Unknown," Wisp replied. It waved its wing, and a pop-up appeared in the air, showing a visual of the enemy's combat power as an exponential curve on a graph. There was a little dot just before its steep rise, with Wisp pointing to a small gap and another small dot. "Based on its current trajectory and the time until your Weaver War begins, this Weaver will be at 150,000 combat power by the time the war starts."
Silence fell as it sank in. Atlas's eyes stayed wide and his fingers stopped tapping the console.
"Shit…" Atlas muttered. "I can only hope there aren't as many Primordial equivalents compared to my side…"
"Hell, even if there are just a few, I doubt I'll win. I need to increase my numbers… or gain an ally. Increasing numbers- The Smiling Tree would've been good for that. Eleos is too young."
"The spawn points for this Weaver's invasion- they're still random, right?" Atlas asked. "I can't choose or pay coinage to determine the first invasion site?"
"No. However, while I cannot give you a detailed force breakdown, I can tell you that this Weaver's planet is desert-type. And you, Weaver Atlas, have only one major desert on your world."
The eastern continent. Home of the Dark Elves, Ira, harpies, allied and rogue Primordials, and most importantly...
'Selena,' Atlas thought, biting his tongue. 'Myra can handle Primordials without issue as long as they don't swarm her too heavily at once. Selena… as long as Myra doesn't find out. No, would she care if it protects her people?'
The display of the enemy's combat prowess vanished, replaced by a pop-up with three empty placeholders.
"In the meantime," Wisp said, "you may choose up to three organisms to accompany you into the first Weaver Gathering. These three can be used to improve standing among other Weavers- intimidate, or open talks for species trades."
"As a reminder: Weavers, when defeated, can be assimilated or turned into vassals. Being too weak, or too strong, early on can cause conflict."
"Obviously this Weaver doesn't care though, does he?" Atlas grumbled.
"No. It does not." Atlas flinched slightly at Wisp's emphasis on 'it,' wondering if it felt the same way about him as well. "You can declare wars in fast succession to absorb, gain divinity, gene points, and coinage from anyone you like. Stronger Weavers tend to ignore the weaker due to low rewards but this early on, this Weaver doesn't have to care."
"No one with older universes wants to take him out?"
"No one has the opportunity until the thousand-year mark. Then it opens up invasions for universes up to year 1,500. At year 2,000, up to 3,000. And so on. You don't have to worry yet but once your universe reaches 5,000 years, all limiters are removed."
"Free game after that," Atlas nodded. "Fair enough."
"That's when most Weavers who haven't grown enough, or made enough allies, are eliminated."
'Even if they have that,' Atlas thought grimly, 'who's to say how long they survive if a Weaver from a 10,000-year-old universe shows up and wipes them out. There are plenty of those gamer types. There are probably plenty of Weavers like that too.'
Adjusting his gold-trimmed blue robe and all the belts and layers, Atlas pressed the pop-up. Three lights began to shine beside him.
"Let's see what Myra thinks and how these two handle it…"