[D'sP] No Reversing That - Chapter 392

Doyle, ‘Now, before we get too lost in the design, maybe I should summon a kobold elder? We know what their stats are like, but not the kobolds as a living creature. A normal goat with a thousand Wisdom isn’t going to be a sage among men. It is still a goat, after all.’

Ally nods, ‘Yes, let’s see what we’re working with. To be honest, I don’t even know exactly what to expect. My origins mean that the kobolds I have the most experience with are the fae variants.’

Doyle picked a place near the water and spun up a kobold elder for the two to examine. And uh, it didn’t look anything like what he expected. The regular kobolds are thin and agile. On top of that, the elders got a significant boost to their base Agility.

So when the elder finished being summoned, it was quite a surprise to see a chubby kobold. The head was rounded and soft, though the eyes were sharp. There was a pronounced belly, which on the slight frame of a kobold looked quite odd. And the limbs all had a meaty quality. About the only thing that hadn’t changed, was the hands.

Ally clicks her tongue, ‘Well, good thing we decided to check. Give the kobolds Agility stat a quick look, will you? I think I know what’s up, but we need to confirm it.’

Doyle nods his core and takes a moment to delve into the stat specialization. On the surface, everything looks the same as a kobold. In fact, until about a third of the way down the active area, it could have been any of his other kobolds.

At that point, there is a massive shift. The wide road that represents the kobolds being agile monsters, bottlenecks. Shrunk down and focused, the Agility stat now revolves around hand dexterity and something to do with the brain.

Not the mind, mind you. Rather, the physical aspects that handle sensory input. Which did have some overlap? It was just out of reach while checking this stat. Doyle could only sigh to himself and back out.

Doyle tilts back, ‘It looks like all of their agility after what I assume is level nine, kind of hard to tell the specifics, is focused on their hands and being able to perceive details.’

Ally nods, ‘Okay, not completely what I was expecting. I figured there would be some going to the feet. Anyway, I’m guessing the elder kobolds, oh, heh. You could have elder kobold elders.

‘Though I’m guessing they’d just drop one of them, likely the marker for being an elder in the community. After all, while not 100% a restriction, normal kobolds would only become an elder kobold when they are of an age to be a kobold elder.

‘Anyway, they’re crafters. While any kobold, even without a skill for it, will likely be a deft hand at setting traps. These elders would be amazing at making traps. Give them a hallway and when they’re done, it will look the same. Courtesy of that agility going to perception. Yet at the same time being chocked full of traps.’

Doyle, ‘So why chubby?’

Ally shrugs, ‘We won’t know until the next age category shows up, but I’m guessing in preparation for that. Full dragons grow bigger with age and under a system, they tend to get growth spirits with each age category. Kobolds can inherit some of that, though tend to not grow as tall as an average human.’

Doyle, ‘Random question, how big can dragons grow?’

Ally shrugs again, ‘Eh, depends slightly on type. However, in theory, there is no actual limit. The practical limit instead being food and how often they go into a deep sleep. Also, under any number of mechanisms like the various systems and such, their growth in mass tends to get limited.

‘Though the final limiter for dragons that aren’t True Immortals, is time and space. Now, technically, not all dragons are immortal, but they do have some of the easiest time becoming such. No, the time I’m referring to is how much time the universe they’re in has left. And space being how big the universe they’re in is.’

Doyle, ‘Well, that’s certainly big. I’m guessing there is no limit on how big a True Immortal dragon can be?’

Ally, ‘Size and mass isn’t the best thing to judge True Immortals by. In the void, any sense of physical size is non-existent. Out there, as described by various True Immortals, how “big” you are is a function of your soul and power. And once inside of a universe, they’re whatever size they want to be.’

Doyle, ‘Couldn’t they just kill everything by coming in so big they pop the universe?’

Ally raises an eyebrow, ‘The only thing stopping a True Immortal from destroying any random universe is other True Immortals. They wouldn’t even need to enter. If another True Immortal hasn’t entered a universe, time is putty in their hands.’

Doyle, ‘So why didn’t the True Immortal that found our universe not just reverse to the point before they entered and introduced magic?’

Ally, ‘I didn’t say they had perfect control. While they can destroy a universe or mess with time, some things can’t be undone. The addition of supernatural energies affected the universe itself and the “timeline” takes place inside of said universe.

‘It’s like that saying about closing the stable doors after the horses have already escaped. All reversing the time would do is introduce magic at that new previous time. In fact, you’re lucky the True Immortal who stopped by was one of the non-interference types that was willing to clean up their own messes.’

Doyle, ‘Non-interference? Introducing magic seems to have interfered something fierce!’

Ally shrugs, ‘It is like that one scifi show from your planet. They say they don’t want to interfere, only to end up doing so. After all, above all other moral concerns, you don’t become a True Immortal without some kind of overarching drive.

‘And so, while they likely would have preferred to not interfere, there was something in this universe that would further them. Then, after doing so, they at least had the decency to go and place a system here.

‘There are extreme non-interference types who wouldn’t have thrown down a system, leaving this universe. Though just as equally, since their presence did introduce the supernatural, others who couldn’t be bothered with buying a system would just slap the timeline back to zero and let the universe evolve with magic from the start.’

Doyle, ‘Ah, that’s what you mean by lucky.’

Ally nods, ‘Yep, there is a good chance for you not existing. Though lucky for you, we aren’t in danger of that. There have been multiple True Immortals here as part of installing the system. No more time travel shenanigans.’

Doyle, ‘Why just me? Isn’t it lucky for you as well?’

Ally, ‘Remember, my mom came to this universe with the rest of our court. She chose this place to settle. Do you think she would have chosen a place where a True Immortal passing by can just set the universe back to before we arrived?

‘Sure, they could just as easily kill everything that exists in the universe instead, but at least we won’t be unmade by that. Besides, being able to manipulate the time in a dimension means there have been no other True Immortals in a dimension and so likely no one to be angry about you messing something up.’

Doyle, ‘There are True Immortals that mess with time in any universe they pass just to find out if someone has been there before, aren’t there?’

Ally nods, ‘Yes, but they aren’t that common. After all, a True Immortal might take things the wrong way if you temporarily lock down a dimension they’re using for something. Also, while so rare as to be non-existent, there is always the possibility that if you speed through time over and over that A True Immortal is born right on top of you.

‘Now, the research on the subject that mortals have points towards this being possible. Though just as equally, it isn’t like we have some mythology about such a thing happening. So, even if possible, it is doubtful whether it has ever happened.

‘Which is another reason that many True Immortals prefer not to play too much with a universe’s timeline. There is a group which even believes that a universe that has been temporarily manipulated past a certain point can’t birth a True Immortal. So, of course, there are also True Immortals out there who go around and attempt to force it to happen. My mother has heard of at least one group who operates in the “area”. It’s apparently a group of four. A swordsman, machine, some weird class focused being, and a beast.’

Doyle, ‘Well, as long as they’re not messing with us. Though it does bring up the question of how this affects souls? After all, souls enter and leave a dimension as people are born and die. Wouldn’t force reverses and speed ups cause a problem? Especially if you reverse to a point where someone who has died was once again alive?’

Ally, ‘As far as anyone can tell, souls are outside of time. If you reverse to when a person is once again alive, they’re alive and the soul is there having never left. Now, my personal favorite theory on this is that like True Immortals, soul cores have their own personal timeline. Except unlike a True Immortal, it doesn’t extend past the core itself. This means that while a True Immortal can mess around with a dimension’s timeline, it doesn’t actually touch the soul cores within.

‘And of course, there are some more extreme theories. The next step being that part of becoming a True Immortal is being able to extend the Soul Core’s personal timeline outside of the core. Though there are also those who believe that we’re in a section of creation for True Immortals who have for some reason gone to reincarnate. That each soul core is actually all that remains of a True Immortal, the soul core having ascended to this place, a higher plane of existence to some other place. Though that’s a bit silly in my opinion.’

Doyle, ‘If that last one was true, there should be many more True Immortals kicking about. After all, it would mean our soul cores had already achieved it once. Either that, or in other places, the beings we call True Immortals are even rarer. Except I could see so many souls out there.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Number of souls doesn’t matter. They’re outside of time and so it is possible that what you see is actually all True Immortals from all of the rest of creation all at once. Or? Maybe there are only a few souls, just at different points in time. Though there is certainly more than one soul, because at various points, True Immortals have looked into it and recorded their results.’

Doyle, ‘Huh, for some reason I didn’t get a feel of there being souls in multiple places out in the void. Though there is also the lack of actual physical distance, no matter how much I’m sure is being hidden from me. I wonder if as my soul develops I’ll see more?’

Ally shrugs, ‘Can anyone ever truly claim to see all of what something is? Even True Immortals aren’t all-powerful after all. It’s the classic question of if the blue I see is the same blue you see.’

Doyle, ‘Well, what I see is enough for now, so I can’t really complain. And what I can see is that the elder kobolds are going to be more sedentary than other kobolds. Which isn’t saying much when most of my kobolds just stand around.

‘Though I guess I do have a good few groups that wander and patrol? This floor, I guess I can have the elders in camps near the lakes and have regular kobolds going out and doing stuff? Maybe have some resource nodes that they alternate between harvesting?’

Just Do The Inverse - Chapter 391

Just Kobolds - Chapter 393