The explosion wasn't fiery. It was a concussive white flash that vaporized the moisture in the air.
When the smoke cleared, Atlas's island had a new crater. Three of his Dolls were gone. Completely atomized. But so were the ten Void Rats. There wasn't even blood left—just scorch marks on the remaining mud.
[Battle Report][Victory.][Enemies Defeated: 10 Void Rats.][Loot Drop: 10x Void Rat Fangs (Material), 1x Minor Spirit Orb.][XP Gained: 50.]
Atlas walked down from his throne to inspect the crater. The seven remaining C4-Dolls were standing around the blast zone. They were damaged—shrapnel from the ground had torn into their soft bodies—but the mud was slowly oozing back together. Regeneration. A perk of being made of slime and dirt.
Atlas picked up a Void Rat Fang. It was a sharp, black curved tooth, about six inches long. "Sharp," he noted. "Useless for my Dolls, though. They don't have hands to hold daggers."
He opened the [Global Marketplace]. It had only been an hour, but the economy was already taking shape.
The "Smart" players were emerging. Atlas filtered the listings by "Highest Price."
> Seller: Zhuge (Alliance of Reason)> Item: Basic Spear Making Guide (PDF equivalent)> Price: 50 Faith Points.
> Seller: Merlin_Reborn (The Arcane Circle)> Item: Fire-Starter Stone> Price: 20 Faith Points.
"Information is being monetized," Atlas murmured. "And the strong are already forming alliances."
He looked at the "Wanted" section. Thousands of players were begging for food. But a specific group of players—those with Beast Races (Wolves, Lions, Hyenas)—were asking for something else. > Buyer: Warlord_Khan (Race: Gnolls)> Request: WEAPONS. My Gnolls have claws but they break against rock monsters. Need piercing damage!
Atlas looked at the 10 Rat Fangs in his hand. He could sell them as daggers. Or... He could use his Talent again.
"System. Concept Check." Atlas held up a Rat Fang and pointed at a C4-Doll. "Memory: [Wolverine - X-Men]. Concept: [Bone Claws]." "Can I fuse these fangs into the Dolls' knuckles so they can retract and extend them?"
[Analyzing...][Concept: Retractable Implant.][Material: Void Rat Fang (Hardness: 3.0), Clay Body.][Cost: 5 Civilization Points per unit.]
"Cheap," Atlas smirked. "Because it's purely biological mechanics. No magic involved."
He spent his newly earned XP/Points. The Rat Fangs dissolved from his hand and reappeared inside the forearms of two of his Dolls. Snikt. Three black curved blades popped out of the Doll's white clay knuckles. Snikt. They retracted back into the mud.
"Perfect," Atlas whispered. "Now they aren't just suicide bombers. They are assassins."
He sat back on the throne and opened the Global Chat again. He didn't type. He just watched. A user named [Oracle_Emma] posted a sticky thread that was rapidly gaining upvotes.
[Topic: The Hidden Stat - 'Cohesion']> Oracle_Emma: Listen up. I've analyzed the death logs. Players are losing control of their races because of Low Cohesion. If you treat your subjects like slaves, they will rebel. If you starve them, they run away. Talk to your units. Give them names. It boosts the 'Faith' resource generation.
Atlas looked at his Faceless Dolls. Talk to them? They didn't have ears. Give them names? They were mass-produced biological weapons.
"I can't play the Faith game," Atlas realized. "My race is too primitive to worship me yet. I need a different resource source."
He looked at the [Minor Spirit Orb] he looted. Item: A crystallized ball of soul energy. Can be consumed to gain XP or used as a power source.
"Power source..." Atlas's eyes narrowed. If he wanted to survive, he couldn't just stay in the Stone Age with clay and bone. He needed Energy.
"System," Atlas asked, a risky idea forming. "Does the [Matrix] movie count as fiction?"
[Affirmative.]
"The concept of using living bodies as batteries..." Atlas looked at the Spirit Orb. "If I capture an enemy... say, a Goblin... can I put it in a clay pod and drain its bio-electricity to power a machine?"
[Calculation: Feasible. Requires Copper (Conductor) and a Containment Blueprint.]
Atlas smiled. It was a cold, calculating smile. He didn't need to generate Faith from his own people. He could just harvest it from his enemies.
"I need Copper," Atlas decided. He checked the map. The fog of war shrouded everything, but he could see the faint outline of a jagged, rocky island floating below his own. "Expansion time."
He commanded his two [Fanged C4-Dolls]. "You two. Go to the edge. Jump down to that island. Stealth mode."
The Dolls obeyed instantly, moving with a silent, eerie grace that defied their clumsy appearance. Atlas watched them leap into the void, aiming for the lower island.
He was no longer just a victim of the reset. He was the hunter.