The screen hovered in front of Atlas, glowing with the soft blue light of the System interface. The message from Zhuge sat there, blinking like a cursor on a terminal.
> [Zhuge]: "Enough to make God bleed. Interested?"
Atlas leaned back on his stone throne, the rough texture digging into his shoulder blades. He looked at the bio-battery humming beside him. The Kobold inside was twitching in its coma, generating a steady trickle of 5 Energy/Hour. It wasn't enough to run a civilization. But it was enough to run a chat room.
"Diplomacy," Atlas muttered to the empty air. "The art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock."
He tapped the reply button.
[Atlas]: "Define 'enough'. And define what you want the glue for. I don't fund terrorists unless I know the target." [Zhuge]: "Caution. I like that. My Alchemists created a compound. 'Black Powder'. High combustion. But I have no delivery system. My people are scholars, not soldiers. They can't throw it far enough. I need a binding agent to make sticky bombs to defend against a Harpy raid. 10kg of Powder for 5kg of your Glue."
Atlas analyzed the deal. Gunpowder. The great equalizer. With Gunpowder, his C4-Dolls wouldn't just be concussive blasts; they would be fragmentation grenades. But more importantly, gunpowder could be used for propulsion.
[Atlas]: "Deal. But we use the System Trade. I don't trust your couriers." [Zhuge]: "Agreed. The Tax is 10 Faith Points. I'll cover it. I assume you're broke."
Atlas scoffed. He was broke. He had zero Faith because his people were mindless dolls who physically couldn't believe in a god yet. "Smart guy," Atlas whispered. "He knows I'm playing a non-standard race."
[Trade Accepted.][Receiving: 10kg Alchemical Black Powder (Grade B).][Sending: 5kg Adhesive Clay Secretion.]
A small wormhole swirled open in front of Atlas. A heavy wooden crate thudded onto the mud. Simultaneously, a lump of the "Sticky Clay" he had harvested from Unit Alpha's hands vanished into the void.
Atlas pried open the crate. Inside was a fine, charcoal-colored dust. It smelled of sulfur and crushed dreams. "Grade B," Atlas noted, rubbing the dust between his fingers. "Rough grain. Smoky. But it'll bang."
Now came the real problem. He had the explosive. He had the delivery system (the Dolls). But he lacked Automation.
He couldn't micro-manage every single doll. If a thousand enemies attacked, Atlas couldn't mentally pilot a thousand units. He needed them to think for themselves. He needed AI.
"I don't have silicon chips," Atlas said, pacing around his mud island. "I don't have plastic. I don't have copper wire... well, I have some."
He looked at the mud. "Clay. It's mostly silica. Sand. Redstone?" Atlas stopped. Minecraft.
In the game Minecraft, players built complex computers using "Redstone"—a fictional mineral that acted as a primitive wire and logic gate. "Redstone doesn't exist here," Atlas reasoned. "But the logic does. Boolean logic. IF/THEN/ELSE. 0 and 1."
He activated his Talent.
"System. Access Memory: [Minecraft]. Concept: [Redstone Logic Circuitry]."
[Analyzing...][Concept: Geo-conductive Dust capable of transmitting binary signals.][Material Check: Copper Dust (Conductor) + Red Clay (Insulator/Base) + Spirit Energy (Power).][Substitution:]The System can realize a "Runescript" that mimics the behavior of Redstone logic gates using Copper dust suspended in hardened clay.[Cost: 100 Origin Points.]
"Too expensive," Atlas hissed. He only had 50 points left after the battery construction. He needed to simplify. He didn't need a supercomputer. He just needed a Proximity Trigger.
"Simplify. Memory: [Metal Gear Solid]. Item: [Claymore Mine Laser Tripwire]." [Error: No Laser Diodes.]
Atlas rubbed his temples. "Okay, mix them. Minecraft Logic + Biological Sensor." He looked at the C4-Dolls. They had Tremorsense. "System. Create a logic gate that connects the Doll's 'Tremorsense' nerve directly to the 'Detonate' command. If Vibration > Threshold, Then Boom."
[Concept: Reflex Arc wiring.][Cost: 20 Origin Points.] "Sold."
Atlas knelt in the mud. He took a handful of the Gunpowder and mixed it directly into the chest cavity of a new Clay Doll. Then, he used a pinch of copper dust to draw a crude circuit pattern on the Doll's forehead. The copper glowed faintly.
[Unit Modified: Proximity Mine Doll.][Logic: IF Enemy Distance < 2m, THEN Detonate.]**
"It's not a soldier," Atlas grinned. "It's a walking trap."
Sector 7G - The Lower Island (Cavedweller's Domain)
Two hundred meters below, the player known as Cavedweller was pacing back and forth in his ruined mine. He was furious. "A slime!" he screamed at his cowering Kobolds. "A white slime stole my Overseer and blew up my copper! And you idiots just watched!"
The Kobolds whimpered. One of them, a shaman with feathers in his ears, stepped forward. "Master... sky... demon..." the Kobold croaked in broken common tongue. "I don't care if it's a demon! It has my copper!"
Cavedweller looked up at the floating island above him. It was a dark, muddy blot blocking out the stars. He opened his build menu. [Structure: Siege Ladder]. Cost: Wood + Rope. Too short.
[Structure: Catapult]. Cost: Wood + Stone. He couldn't aim straight up.
"Think!" Cavedweller smashed a rock against the wall. He was a "Miner" class. His advantage was tunnels. But you couldn't tunnel through air. Wait. He looked at the Stalactites hanging from the bottom of Atlas's island. The island wasn't just a flat plate; it had a jagged underside of rock and dirt that hung down like the roots of a tooth.
"If we can bridge the gap..." Cavedweller looked at his inventory. He had Rope. Thousands of meters of hemp rope his Kobolds had woven. And he had Grappling Hooks (Mining Tools).
"New plan," Cavedweller growled. "We don't siege. We invade. We climb the underside." He turned to his Kobold pack. There were forty of them left. "Equip the hooks. We are going mountaineering."
Atlas's Domain - The High Ground
Atlas was busy molding. With the gunpowder secured, he had transformed five of his Dolls into [Boom-Spiders] (inspired by Deidara, but flightless). They were small, the size of dinner plates, with six legs and a bulbous abdomen filled with the black powder. They scurried around his throne like loyal pets.
Suddenly, the [Bio-Battery] flared. The light pulsed red. The Kobold inside was waking up. Or rather, reacting. Adrenaline spike.
Atlas looked at the stats. [Subject Anxiety: Critical.][Cause: Kinship Resonance.]
"Kinship Resonance?" Atlas frowned. "That means... other Kobolds are nearby."
He ran to the edge of his island. He looked down. The fog was thick, but he heard it. Clink. Scrape. Clink. The sound of metal on stone. Not from the island below, but from underneath his own feet.
"They grappled the underside," Atlas realized. "They are climbing the stalactites to breach the surface from the edge."
He respected the hustle. It was a bold move. But it was also a fatal mistake.
Atlas stepped back from the edge. "System. Unit Alpha. Unit Beta. Front and center." The two humanoid dolls, now equipped with Bone Claws and Adhesive Pads, slid next to him.
"We have climbers. Dealing with them on the edge is dangerous; they might pull you off. We let them breach." Atlas pointed to the muddy ground about ten meters from the cliff edge. "Burrow."
The Dolls sank into the soft mud, vanishing from sight. Ambush Tactics.
Minutes passed. The scraping sound got louder. Then, a hand appeared over the cliff edge. A grey, scaly hand holding a rusted pickaxe. Then another. A Kobold pulled itself up, panting. It looked around. It saw the empty mud. It saw the lone figure of Atlas sitting on his throne in the distance, back turned.
The Kobold signaled down. One by one, they climbed up. Ten. Twenty. Thirty Kobolds. And finally, Cavedweller.
The enemy player struggled over the lip of the island, covered in sweat. He stood up, brandishing his whip. "Hah!" Cavedweller shouted, his voice cracking with exhaustion. "Caught you sleeping, you slime-loving freak!"
Atlas slowly swiveled his throne (he had installed a crude swivel mechanism using grease). He looked at the army of thirty Kobolds. They were armed with mining picks and hatred.
"You climbed a long way," Atlas said, his voice calm. "You must be tired."
"Tired?" Cavedweller laughed. "I'm furious! Give me back my Overseer, and maybe I'll only kill half your population!"
Atlas shook his head. "I can't return the Overseer. He's... occupied. He's an integral part of my infrastructure now." He gestured to the glowing clay pod next to the throne. Cavedweller squinted. He saw the face of his best worker behind the semi-transparent clay membrane, eyes rolled back, copper wires stuck in his neck.
"You..." Cavedweller's face went pale, then red. "You turned him into a BATTERY?!" "Recycling," Atlas corrected.
"KILL HIM!" Cavedweller shrieked. "KILL HIM AND SMASH THAT THRONE!"
The thirty Kobolds roared and charged. They were fast, kicking up mud as they sprinted toward the throne.
Atlas didn't move. He didn't summon his claws. He just watched the distance counter in his HUD. 20 meters.15 meters.10 meters.
"Now."
He didn't shout a command. He just toggled a switch in his mind. [Activate: Redstone Logic Loop.]
The ground beneath the charging Kobolds shifted. Unit Alpha and Unit Beta erupted from the mud directly in the middle of the pack. They didn't explode. They spun. [Skill: Whirlwind (Bone Claws).] The retractable rat-fang blades extended, and the Dolls spun their torsos 360 degrees. Slash. Snap. Tear.
Blood sprayed. The Kobolds in the center screamed as their legs were slashed. The charge faltered. The Kobolds panicked, bunching up, trying to attack the two white demons that had appeared out of the ground.
"Group up," Atlas whispered. "Good."
Cavedweller was screaming orders. "Don't bunch up! Spread out! Surround them!" Too late.
From behind the throne, five small shapes scuttled out. The Boom-Spiders. They didn't run at the Kobolds. They jumped. Using their insect legs (spring-loaded with clay tension), they launched themselves into the air.
Weeee.
They landed right in the center of the chaotic melee. The Proximity Sensors triggered. Logic: Enemy Detected. Distance: 0m.Action: Discharge.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosion was different this time. It wasn't just white smoke. It was fire. The Zhuge Gunpowder ignited with a furious orange roar, amplifying the force of the clay detonation by ten times. The sound was like a thunderclap that shook the very foundation of the island.
Heat waves rippled across the mud. When the smoke cleared, there was no melee. There was a crater. Unit Alpha and Unit Beta were gone—sacrificed in the blast. But the Kobold army was decimated. Twenty-five of them were dead or dying. The remaining five were crawling away, missing limbs, deafened by the blast.
Cavedweller stood near the cliff edge. He hadn't charged, so he survived. But he was covered in soot. His whip was burned. He stared at the carnage. He stared at the spot where his army used to be.
Atlas stood up. He walked through the smoke, unbothered by the heat. He stopped ten paces from Cavedweller.
"You have a choice," Atlas said. The distortion in his voice made him sound metallic. Cavedweller trembled. He looked at his pickaxe, then at Atlas. "You... you're a monster. What kind of race is that? That's not Clay! That's... that's tech!"
"Choice A," Atlas continued. "You jump off. You take your chances with the fall." "Choice B?" Cavedweller stammered.
Atlas pointed to the Bio-Battery. "I have an empty slot for a 'Generator Mark II'. My current battery is getting lonely."
Cavedweller looked at the pod. Then he looked at the sheer drop into the endless void behind him. He dropped his pickaxe. "I... I surrender. Please. Don't put me in the pod. I can mine! I can refine copper! I have the [Smelting] skill!"
Atlas paused. A player with a production skill. That was valuable. More valuable than 5 Energy/Hour. "Smelting, you say?"
[System Alert: Enemy Player 'Cavedweller' has offered Vassalization.][Accept? (Y/N)]
Atlas smiled. "Accepted. But you don't live on my island. You live down there. You meet a quota of 100kg of Copper Ingots per day. If you miss a day..." Atlas snapped his fingers. A tiny glob of explosive clay formed in his hand. "...I send the spiders down."
Cavedweller fell to his knees. "Yes. Yes, Lord Atlas. 100kg. I can do that."
[Territory Expanded.][New Asset: Sub-Island (The Copper Mine).][New Subject: Cavedweller (Vassal).]
Atlas looked at the sky. The purple nebula seemed a little less threatening now. He had defense. He had an economy. He had a workforce.
"System," Atlas thought. "I have Copper. I have a Smelter vassal. I have Clay." "It's time to leave the Stone Age." "Access Memory: [Dr. Stone]. Project: [Vacuum Tube Computer]."