Chapter 383

  A Sim-Ocracy

  I could already tell whatever was going to happen would be trouble.

  How did I know? Did any of my mystical powers related to danger flash to life? No, but I still knew it was trouble when seven of my eight Simulacrums all converged together for one massive meeting out of the blue. A meeting where they cheated and decided to go with Penelope as their spokeswoman, as if I would want to argue in front of her.

  While I am wondering why my Simulacrums are going for my kryptonite right from the start, Raygunnr chooses that exact moment to join the conversation.

  “A Sim-tervention?” Raygunnr asked, echoing her statement.

  “Yes, a Simulacrum intervention, we are here to help you finally map out all of your pending Class perks,” Penelope stated.

  Here it was the ultimate of setups and worse, I could squarely blame myself for why it was now unfolding like this, as I was the root cause. Which meant that not only was I desperately looking for way to fix this lingering problem easily, but a way that meant I didn’t have to mentally wrestle and strain against the system so much to get the Class perks that will ultimately benefit me the most going forward. The problem is that I don’t have as much time as I need during this crucial stretch. Time to figure out how and where I will want to grow towards the future. Also, I need time to figure out what Perks or bonuses would be the best.

  A quick glance showed that Penelope and my Simulacrums were not wrong, as these were the choices that I still needed to make.

  Just seeing that I still have six powerful choices left to make is enough to cause me to get anxious. Especially when it comes to the Simulacrum Class related Perk, Trait, or bonus, as that is the only bonus that will help improve all eight of my Simulacrums, as they are still unable to be affected by the bonuses chosen for my Divinely Akashic Qi Master class, or my Quintessential Ethereal Healer Classes. Which means that bonus has to be perfect, as the other five will only help me.

  Realizing that I have been stressing over this for a while now, otherwise I would have chosen my responses and have been done with these class choices a while ago, I pause and then I ask the ultimate question. A question that I know will come back to haunt me, yet I really want to know where my Simulacrums are coming from and why Penelope would seemingly agree with them.

  “Okay, how exactly would you help me map out my pending class perks?” I finally ask. At my question Penelope looks momentarily shocked, as apparently I was supposed to argue more to get to this point. But seeing as I didn’t argue, and instead went with at least hearing them all out, Penelope paused and looked towards Heal-Ulacrum, my oldest Simulacrum and quite possibly the mother figure of my Sims? This was good, I was getting a better understanding of the overall dynamic hierarchy of my Simulacrums by this interaction.

  Heal-Ulacrum seeing that all eyes were now on her, paused for a moment and then proceeded to nod towards Penelope sharing information in a completely nonverbal way, then seemed to focus.

  “Okay, so she is going to present the choice to you for your Quintessential Ethereal Simulacrums Master Class,” Penelope explained. Raygunnr who had been a captive witness to this whole ordeal so far as we were still waiting the queue for our next match decided to interject his thoughts.

  “Wow, that is a mouthful, bet you can’t say that ten times fast.” Raygunnr spoke, though I could tell part of why he spoke now was at a want to ease the tension that was now filling the air.

  I was about to respond myself, when suddenly I was hit with a system prompt.

  Seeing that prompt, my mind goes wild with the possibilities. I open my mouth to argue or protest, but I stop as I realize my arguments would just be a way for me to gain more time to think. So rather than talking, I instead close my mouth and decide to try to think about this a little more. Yet, my micro expression of discontent must have been too prominent as Penelope chose that moment to interject.

  “You have questions?” Penelope asks, a note of concern on her face. I shake my head, as the more I think about it, the more I realize that this is quite possibly the perfect class Perk. One that I would have thought of eventually myself, had I not been excessively busy with all the war and battle preparations that were going on. Shaking my head, I reply.

  “They always say, it is okay to argue with yourself, but—” I begin, but am cut off by a random person on Pirate and Ship-Ulacrum’s side.

  “But when you argue with yourself and lose, that’s when you know you’ve truly lost it,” the man Trober, I think his name is speaks to me. Though how I remember his name among all the hundreds of people that Pirate and Ship have met is a bit beyond me at this point. Maybe a shared dream of their climb? I do remember the moment they saved him and began taking him with them. But I don’t know what he does, other than cleans the ship. A ship that can be cleaned in an instant with magic, but the two Sims seem to have a soft spot for the explorer.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “I’m sorry, but have we met before?” I ask, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu with this person.

  “Oh, I don’t believe so. I would have remembered meeting someone as pretty as yourself,” he replied in a charming way. A way that was both complimentary without going over the line. For a moment I wondered if he was flirting with me, but that look in his eyes showed that he had given up on love a long time ago. As if he somehow knew the one he was looking for had gone away some time ago. It was almost haunting to see. Perhaps that is why Ship and Pirate took him in, he looked lost. Like he was scaling the Arcanarus Tower as a way to die, rather than to truly live. Seeing him, I’d take him with me as well, as I’d want to help him find peace and happiness as well.

  “So, what do you say?” Penelope interjects, bringing me back on point and back to my decision that needs to be made. Really the answer is a no brainer at this point as I can’t think of anything better, and it seems that my Simulacrums have already done the hard part of arguing with the system for me. Meaning all I need to do is relax and accept their clearly unanimous decision. Still, I do have one more question.

  “With this, you all will be able to propose the other Class perks as well?” I ask.

  There is a momentary pause, as Heal turns from me and seems to glance at all of the other Simulacrums who are a part of this magical teleconference call. They all share a look, then seem to all nod as one. Turning back to Penelope, Heal locks gazes with her, before Penelope also nods in understanding.

  “Yes, they can and are willing to help you choose the other five remaining Class Perks, once you accept this one,” Penelope declares. Just hearing that I have five more choices to make sends a pang of doubt down my spine.

  “Okay,” I state, and with that, I feel the class perk option that had been presented to me get accepted.

  There was a pause as I half expected something far grander and more powerful, but really all that happened was the tethers that bound parts of my soul to my different Simulacrums just strengthened and seemed like more power could be shared between the two of us. For while it did impact my connection to each individual Simulacrum, the connection was bi-directional and not shared from Simulacrum to Simulacrum.

  Within seconds I felt immensely stronger as the conduit between me and all of my Simulacrums began to be used greedily. As Dragon-Ulacrum began using some of my inherent Qi Master powers, Heal tried using some of my Healer class related Perks and Traits. The energy would go out from me, but then come right back to me when they were done using the power. It was odd, and what one could expect from giving a horde of cats a box full of laser pointers that they could go wild with.

  "Look, my Class Perks and Traits, they are like boomerangs," I declare. Happy to watch as my Simulacrums start taking my Class specific Traits, Perks, and Bonuses for my other classes and start using them by themselves. Simultaneously, I feel their personalized bonuses coming back to me. I feel Ship’s increased proficiency in piloting, Heal’s increased proficiency in healing, and Rune’s increased proficiency in Rune working all come to me in a way that makes me feel like I am finally able to contribute on par with my Simulacrums again. I am so relieved by the idea that I can finally be considered adequate when compared to my specialized Simulacrum that I am completely oblivious to Raygunnr’s smirk or his lingering comments.

  "Know what else is a boomerang?” Raygunnr asks. I pause, trying to think what else could come back around. Judging by these, it seems that my Simulacrums’ abilities can only go to me, just as my Class bonuses can go directly to them. So there is no sharing or merging of multiple Simulacrum bonuses to the other Simulacrums, which leaves me a bit confused as to what Raygunnr is even talking about.

  “No, what else is a boomerang?” I ask legitimately confused.

  “A person named Ang from the 1960s," Raygunnr replies his arms up in a gotcha gesture, as his aura all but screams with excitement.

  “Groan,” I actually make sure to say the word as I physically moan in pain.

  “Don’t worry, it will come back around,” Raygunnr added.

  “You have absolutely no filter,” I protest.

  “Of course I don’t, I’m the pinnacle of steampunk technology. There are no filters, no safety switches, no automatic failbacks. Just pure progress pushed to the maximum. You can leave filters and the like for those other genres, you know those sissies that want to live longer. But for us here, progress and speed are all we’ve got!” Raygunnr exclaims in what has to be one of the most impassioned speeches I’ve ever heard about how great steampunk is over those other genres. It was from the heart too, as all of Raygunnr’s mana cords were bursting and flaring with excitement. Even now he seemed to be doing the equivalent of machine deep breathing exercises to try to calm himself again.

  “Wow, that was probably the best pro-steampunk speech I have ever heard, and the sad part, there were only ten people who could have seen and understand that speech. Fortunately for you, they are all right here.” I say gesturing to the still open portal of people around that show all of my different Simulacrums all staring back and realizing that it is that passion right there, that is why I stick with Raygunnr despite all the increasingly bad jokes.

  There was a moment of silence as my Simulacrums all continued to clamor for my different Class Perks, and related bonuses. From what I observed, it seemed that this new Perk was actually better than I had expected as it almost seemed to double everything. Now rather than just Heal-Ulacrum having her healer specific bonus, there was a duplicate of it with me. Thus we both kept the bonus. Similarly, even when my Simulacrums took my Perk related to another Class, I still had an original, but the copy was effectively checked out. Meaning that while I could always use any of my perks, my Simulacrums would have to wait and share the Class Perks. Forcing my Simulacrums to wait for a perk to be returned and exchanged for a new one. The Simulacrums were going wild, the same way preschoolers would on a white board with an assortment of various colored markers that were used to make individual pictures and art.

  It was odd, but ultimately it seemed to be perfect as it also helped alleviate a growing fear that I had. A fear that I didn’t like having, a fear where my Simulacrums were all more talented than me and therefor more capable. Now, I almost wanted more Simulacrums, so I could get and share more individual bonuses with them.

  At that thought, a sudden tension began to build, as every Simulacrum who had been shifting through the various Class Perks and Traits that were now available to them, all stopped their actions at once and all glared at me. The tension was so palpable that Penelope who had been staring at me turned to look at the other Simulacrum.

  “You guys okay?” Penelope asked. There was a pause, before Penelope turned back to me in confusion, apparently checking with me to see if I knew why they had suddenly all gone tense. Only after a moment did I realize the true issue.

  “Oh, you all were afraid that I wanted more of you?” I ask. As one all seven Simulacrums nod in eerie unison. Seeing their reaction, Raygunnr spoke what I was thinking.

  “Yeah, that’s a little creepy,” Raygunnr stated.

  I nodded as well, not knowing what else to do or think that would help solve this sudden feeling of betrayal that my Simulacrums were all expressing. Almost the same way a large family would all baulk at the idea of having quadruplets or more added to the family dynamic. I opened my mouth and tried to lie, that I didn’t want more Simulacrums, if only for the bonuses. Unfortunately, I was stopped as I felt a tightening of my core as my truth telling oath activated in full force, all but squashing that idea. Which in turn only seemed to anger the Simulacrums more.

  For a moment everything looked bad, but that’s when we were saved by the mission.

  Seeing the message letting me know that my next Regional matchup was ready, I let out a sigh of relief and waved.

  “Oh, sorry but I need to go,” I replied, my words not entirely a lie as I did miss leaving Penelope behind. Though I was more than happy to leave the other violent and most likely feral Simulacrums behind, they were scarry. Not even thinking twice about staying around longer, I decided to leave with Raygunnr as quickly as possible.

  Poof.