Chapter 29: The Genesis Spear

With the would-be Boss defeated before he could become powerful, Hugh resumed his stroll into the Genesis Spear with Dex at his side. The interior was as barren and unadorned as the outside. A single stone stairwell wrapped around the walls, leading up to a platform several stories over their head.

"Nicely done," Dex said once they'd climbed high enough his voice wouldn't carry to the Nomads.

"It's not hard to roleplay when everyone is so easy to read," he replied with a faint blush. "People in the real world are a lot harder to deal with. They never do what you expect."

"NPCs will grow more complex over time in response to dealing with you," Dex warned. "The creation of Maeve as an alternate Nomad leader is a good example. That happened because you created a situation where one was needed. As their society grows more advanced, even baseline NPCs you never personally meet will develop personalities—likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, personal goals and individualized stats."

Hugh stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at the Navigator. "In other words, micromanaging hell. Screw that. I'll set some guidelines, but they can enjoy Free Will as far as I'm concerned. I'm less interested in the NPCs as people than what they can potentially build for me to explore."

"Here we are," Dex said as they reached the top of the stairs. It emptied out onto a platform with a tent where the old miser must have originally slept while he studied the Spear. In the center of the platform, blue light rose up in a pillar from a magical floor glyph.

"Tutorial?" Hugh prompted as he studied the glyph.

"It's less complicated than you might expect. The old man thought a person was supposed to stand in the light and personally direct the Spear's power, but all you have to do is put your Book inside. It's an update interface that alters your world according to whatever you've changed in your Book's pages. The only thing requiring you to stand in the light is Landscape Genesis. It'll return you to the creation mode you originally used to craft this continent."

"In other words, I have to spend some time unlocking pages if I want to make good on my promises. Great." With a huff of resignation, Hugh found himself a seat leaning up against the obelisk wall and pulled out his Book. He didn't take time to study every page as he systematically unlocked them. He focused on merely reading the titles, then moving on to the next.

Page twenty-five through thirty four were all Genesis pages ranging from Plant Genesis to Magic Genesis. After that, the pages took on a more mundane tone, citing things like Town Charters, Leisure, and Education. The only thing he found remotely interesting at all was the page for Area Bosses, which he promised to read more carefully when he had the spare time.

Page forty-eight changed things up a little by being titled 'Honor Guard' where he could create an NPC support team to follow him to other worlds. Page forty-nine was the page for the Gateway itself and page fifty was the interface for transferring to a different world without going through Nexus. However, he apparently needed a key to even see another world, which he could only receive from the world's owner. There was a field for 'Time Remaining' at the top of the empty list, letting him know World Keys would need to be treated as consumables, as well.

He foresaw tourism becoming a big part of Thrive's in-game economy.

Once he had the entire section unlocked, he returned to 'Page 26... Plant Genesis'. It took him a while to wrap his mind around how to work it. There were nine empty boxes at the top of the page, arranged in a grid square. At the bottom of the page, he was given an inventory of known plant scans. Each scan had a tool-tip giving him a ton of scientific information relating to the breed and genetic makeup of the plant, and known uses. Known predators were also listed alongside known prey.

A smaller image in the corner of the tool-tip showed him where he could place it on the page's Genesis grid. When he asked Dex about it, he explained the Genesis grid could be used to merge species to discover new ones. The rarer the plants he used, the more likely the resulting scan would acquire passive bonuses. And if he managed to find a combination leading to an unknown item, he'd be able to customize it as a Unique plant.

Hugh struggled with the desire to play around with it, reminding himself repeatedly he was only studying the page to choose a handful of helpful plants to get his Nomads back on their collective feet. He picked out several easily cultivated vegetables like carrots, corn, potatoes, beans, and onions. Then he picked out convenience plants like peppercorn, coffee beans, and tea. He wished he had a cocoa bean plant, but apparently scanning candy bars didn't count toward unlocking them. The last ones he chose were cotton, sunflowers, oranges, and aloe. He made a mental note to get his hands on a wheat scan as fast as possible so the NPCs could make bread.

Adding them to his world was as easy as pressing the 'Add to World' button at the bottom of the page, which moved them over to the 'Distribute' list. Once they were there, Dex showed him how the tooltips for each one changed with the addition of a 'Fast Grow' button. By using it, he could spend some of his magical stamina to speed through several seasons of growth.

Hugh tried it out, feeling oddly drained after spending only a point on each plant. It wasn't physical exhaustion, but rather a type of mental one like he'd just spent an hour studying a lengthy textbook.

"Your magical stamina is still undeveloped," Dex reminded him. "You only have a hundred and fifty points to work with right now. If you let your stamina bottom out, you'll start to feel a headache as the magic eats at your health. It'll worsen the closer you come to death."

"Thanks for the warning," Hugh grumbled. The next page, Animal Genesis, was set up with the exact same layout. He rushed through, picking out animals and adding them to the distribution list alongside the starter prey already there. Rhode Island Red chickens, Merino sheep, and Holstein cows were automatic additions, making him triply glad he'd gone to the zoo for their scan day. He also distributed Gypsy Vanner ponies, a few breeds of fish, butterflies, and Himalayan brown bears.

"Why bears?" Dex asked curiously. "I'd have guessed you'd wait to release predators."

"They had us watch a documentary in science class once about Yellowstone and how the environment went downhill because the prey animals were breeding out of control and trampling everything. I don't want to bring in wolves because they're lethal hunters against humans, but bears should help keep things in balance until the NPCs are equipped to handle something more dangerous. I know bears can be dangerous, too, but they don't run in huge packs, they're omnivores instead of pure carnivores, and they have lots of fur the NPCs can use. They seem like the best choice out of everything I have right now."

"You might consider a cat breed, too," Dex offered, pointing out the scans for a cougar, a sand cat, and a spotted serval. "You have three, but the serval looks like it could be domesticated with a little work."

Hugh didn't see a reason to argue since the long legged feline didn't appear to grow any larger than a mastiff and the tooltip claimed they were generally non-aggressive to humans. He set the page to distribute them, then went back and use the Fast Grow feature to speed up sheep, cow, and trout development for three seasons each. He figured everything else could be left to breed at a normal pace.

Promising himself he'd look over the rest of the pages later, he closed his Book and climbed to his feet. Under Dex's direction, he saved his progress using the bedroll in the miser's abandoned tent, then headed for the pillar of light.

He stuck his Book inside and let go. It hovered in place for several long seconds as the pages inside began to emit a bright radiance. The Book opened and its pages flipped by themselves. When they came to a stop, a bright pulse of light shot out and disappeared through the ceiling. The page flipped and another pulse came out.

"How long will this take?" Hugh asked as the process repeated itself multiple times.

"Once for each page you updated," Dex said. "Since you unlocked them all, it'll do a pulse for each. It shouldn't take more than another minute."

Hugh waited, trying hard not to show his impatience.