Chương 70: Influential Updates

After a quick scan through some of the functioning media outlets, Scarlet now had an idea of how the world had been doing in her absence: terrible but not yet catastrophic. She also had a better idea of how to update STARnet to make it not just relevant, but necessary in the early days of Integration. Already, copycat sites had popped up, and while slightly faster, STARnet had two key advantages. One, its security, and two, its user friendliness. Her UI was nice.

It was easy to ask questions, find information, and create and comment on posts. Of course, if she wanted to stay ahead, she had an overwhelming amount of work to do as an individual without a team. At least it would have been overwhelming, if she were still a baseline human. Good thing she wasn't. Scarlet pulled out an additional keyboard and plugged in her second desktop. It was time to test the efficiency of her Tier 1 mind.

The front page became a landing page that also invited users to download the app – the one she was simultaneously making on the second computer. This app wasn't meant to replace already established social networking systems. It was meant to offer a System-specific platform where people could group up, share information, and advertise their competencies. That meant instead of things like bio or about me, profile pages had optional spaces for things like affinities, Level, combat specialities, and more.

Scarlet checked Maus's progress, and found he'd added a pin to the Map marking a cluster of enhanced herbs. That gave her an idea of how to format one of the most important – and most requested – updates. Turning back to her work, she added the mapping feature, allowing people to put up digital waypoints, pin locations, and add markers. Now people could track routes, indicate dangerous environments and areas of interest, as well as mark natural treasures, portals, or places with significant mana density.

It was as she was doing this that she realised it was unlikely most people even knew what those were at this point. So, she added the encyclopedia function next. She customised a wiki format, then added details: Affinities and their importance, Portal Worlds and best practices before entering one, Stat allocation, Stat distribution, and specialisation, and more. Checking in on Maus she caught him by the River off to the west. He was harassing a beast that had made the terrible mistake of antagonising him.

A quick Investigate told her it was a semi-aquatic something with absurd DEX. That was probably the only impressive thing about it as the Lvl. 8 creature machine-gunned water bullets at the intruder in what it obviously considered its territory.

'What are you up to, Maus?'

'Training!' He sent back, as he wove through the barrage of lethal water attacks with precision.

'Oh? Good initiative. Want to give your training partner a species name?'

'Like a mouse? Why?'

'Names are important. Wouldn't it be good to know what to call them and creatures like them?' She asked, leaving the choice up to him.

'What is it?' he asked, then paused.

'What was it?'

'It appears to have been a sturgeon that now has several ambulatory appendages.' She sent an image with her statement.

'It's a fish with legs?'

'Crude, but accurate.'

'I'll call it Stegs!' Scarlet had no good response to that, and so turned back to filling in the STARwiki, adding the 'Stegs' to the list of 'Known-Beasts'. Earth needed to be strong. Obscuring easily obtainable information or anything that was common knowledge in the wider System Network wouldn't keep her at the top. Strength through suppression was for the weak, the insecure, or cowards. Scarlet was none of those. No, what she obscured were the more esoteric, more specific details.

She set up a system to curate and flag mentions of Factions, Nexus Worlds and overly advanced Skills or technologies, and to scrub things like psionics and spiritual energy, details about specific Skills and Titles, and other words or phrases that might indicate off-world cooperation or benefits. She wanted people strong. She didn't want people lending that strength to their potential enemies. That didn't mean restricting all Faction contact; that would just incite curiosity and caution.

Scarlet was more interested in controlling information. Besides, it wasn't like any of it wasn't readily available to someone strong or capable enough. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. It took Scarlet several hours to finish the update, and in that time her Familiar had been very industrious. Maus had covered about 25km around the property.

The Map now had markers for a lumber camp where he'd fought a couple of nasty tree-monsters, the abandoned mines Maus had described as feeling 'strange and funny', and the entire town south-east of the residence. The memories Maus shared had the town looking rather industrious, all things considered. It was obvious there had been some trouble, and that order had been recently re-established. There was even something of a soup kitchen over at Maggie's, the local diner.' Maus. Come back, buddy.'

she sent, then thought about her next steps while she waited for him. She wanted to test it for Safe-Zone potential. She also had a feeling she'd be able to look into one of the opportunities from the Umbral Spectres. Scarlet pulled a small ovoid from her Inventory. It pulsated with a blue-black shadowy haze. She could feel a faint tugging sensation towards south-east before she popped it back into her storage space.

'I'm back.' Maus Blinked into the bunker.

'Did I do good?'

"You did very well," Scarlet assured. As a reward for his excellent scouting Scarlet gave Maus one of his 'super-snacks'. Caramel corn.

"Boss! For real?" His tiny voice boomed out.

"Inside voice," she gently chided.

"And yes, but only two pieces. Understand?"

"Yes, Boss. I won't get sick, I promise!" While Scarlet didn't really think his Tier 1 body would get a tummy ache from refined sugar, it was the principle that mattered. Good work meant better rewards. When he was halfway through his second piece, Scarlet made her proposal.

'Hey buddy,' she sent.

'Would you like to become an influencer?' She explained to him the basic idea of what she had envisioned. She wanted to add a video series to the website. She wanted them to feel personal, but the subject of the videos couldn't be her. No matter how many precautions she took, she had no idea what types of future Skills the video might be up against. Who knew what could be sensed, tracked, or spread through a digital medium. There were just too many uncertainties.

Instead, she'd use shadow and illusion mana to mirror Maus's movements, she'd also have him pitch his voice lower, then modulate it further in editing.

"Okay, buddy. I'll give you a script. All you have to do is follow it. We're going to make a series of videos. We'll call them Tutorials of Trial and Error."

"So, I've only gotta say what you tell me to say?"

"That's right," she confirmed. She didn't exactly have a backdrop, so instead she set the shadow-body up on the chaise lounge, then used mana to raise a stone wall behind the chaise and manipulate light around the magic puppet. Then she took a page out of the assassin's book and created an illusion that could somewhat mimic the assassin's technique to affect the soul. Spiritual magic was less her forte than it was Maus's, but his control wasn't yet refined enough to manage on his own.

It took them a while working together to create a crude approximation of the same effect. The effort proved fruitful when Maus was offered a new Skill. [Skill Available: Impression – Tier 1] [Yes | No] Of course they took it. [Impression (T1): Active. Subtly alter the perception of the user's presence using spiritual resonance. Creates effects that appear to the senses and the soul to be 'true'. This Skill has growth potential] Still, at the end of it, they had the illusion of a person whose features were obscured by shadow. She'd put the shadow body in a knit jumper and a baseball cap she'd had to raid the main house to find, then used her telekinesis to 'fill it out'.

"Truly, smoke and mirrors," she murmured, looking at her creation from the screen of her camera.

"You ready, buddy?" Scarlet asked. Maus held the clip-on mic in both hands as he sat on her shoulder.

"Ready," he said. <-… -> Once they'd finished filming, Scarlet sent Maus back out to continue exploring while she edited the videos. She'd already cleared everything within her own range of perception, and Maus had proven the System recognised him as enough a part of her to clear the Map on her behalf. It had taken her several hours to edit the videos, and Scarlet wondered if she'd need to create her own operating systems, along with software.

The major holdup had been that her computer couldn't compete with her own processing speed. Placing the thought aside, she finished uploading the last video to the new and improved STARnet and finally pressed launch. The landing page now had a banner at the top that read: ' Download the App Here', and offered 'contribution points' to the first 100 people who downloaded it. Those points would later come into play once the Faction was established.

Below the banner was the first video and a link to a playlist where she'd posted several more on the basics. Done. Scarlet stood and stretched, more out of habit than necessity. She had the bizarre sensation of not being hungry but knowing she should eat. Thinking of food, she checked on Maus. He'd ranged a considerable distance while she worked, scouting along the river for several kilometres southwest before cutting southeast back up the highway.

Now he was zigzagging between the two, filling in the blind spots in the middle. He'd uncovered and marked several small communities and areas of interest along the way.

'Time to come back,' she sent as she made them both something to eat. Instead of the enthusiastic affirmation she expected, Maus sent her an alert.

'Boss, someone's here.' Scarlet paused and tapped into the bond they shared, borrowing his senses. Maus was already on his way back. He'd stopped in the treeline beside the main road leading towards the bunker. On the road below him was a vehicle Scarlet recognised. The people inside it, she didn't.