Part 7: The White Spiral

It had only been five hours, but that was long enough for both Azra and the two avatars. They all woke up at the same time. Then Yuri teleported them all over to her ‘masterpiece’.

“Oh, wow, it’s really nice Sis…” She was a little upset at how unenthusiastic her brother was acting.

“It is a twenty-meter long shell from a mollusk of some sort. I find it quite odd that you are unimpressed…” There were no animals on Earth that could produce such a spectacular shell.

He sighed dramatically, then complained “But it didn’t actually come from a living creature though, right? It was just created out of magic or something… I don’t know. It just doesn’t really do it for me. It seems too simple for my tastes.”

Yuri squinted and glared at her brother, “Do you have any idea how immensely complex genetic data is? Compared to those silly blueprints and mechanical diagrams you salivate over, it is millions of times more complicated! Biology is the ultimate form of technology!”

Azra grumbled “What the hell is up with you now?! Why are you getting so mad all of the sudden?! Is it that time of the month already?!”

“No, I am not menstruating!” After yelling, she took a deep breath and stopped squinting. The hot morning sun was beating down on them and the ocean waves could be heard in the distance. Then she started walking across the sandy soil with her bare feet and swiftly reached the circular wooden door that blocked the entrance of her new tower.

“Brother, I seem to require your assistance to remove this barricade…” She was already back to her usual self.

The six foot tall man walked over and grabbed the iron handle, but it also needed to be pulled from the other side by his tiny sister and the two avatars. The door was a circle with a diameter of three meters and it needed to be twisted until the handles were both horizontal, then the entire block of wood had to be pulled out. It was very similar to a giant cork. Of course, when it was locked from the inside, it was nearly impossible to remove without directly destroying the material.

“Damn, that’s such a pain in the ass.” Azra walked inside and noticed that the base of the building was a lot wider than he expected. He muttered “There’s enough room to have a few people standing guard to defend the entrance… But, wait a second, this isn’t the bottom floor? Oh, nice!”

Instead of going upwards, the four of them walked down the spiral stairs into an enormous sandstone chamber. It would have been totally dark, if the two of them didn’t have magical screens hovering all over the place. The basement was circular, but there were multiple doorways, which led to small cubic rooms.

Yuri murmured “This is the designated living quarters for the soldiers who are to be stationed here.”

Azra yawned, then asked “Oh yeah, that reminds me… Did you spawn any rat-people yet?”

Part 8: The First Unit

After the twins and avatars walked roughly three miles around the tropical island’s sandy beach, they teleported back to the bedroom in Yuri’s keep. It was the first time that the two of them had personally experienced the ocean, but they were far more interested in something else.

[The female Ratkin has finished maturing. Opening the spawning pod now.]

*Squeak~!* A terrible high-pitched noise echoed within the spacious bedroom, as that humanoid rodent flopped down onto the floor.

“Gah~, my ears! Shit! Why is it screaming?!” Azra and Ailyn were both covering their ears with their hands at the same time, but Yuri and Reaper were unperturbed by the sound.

[This Ratkin is essentially a newborn. Although she is physically mature, her mental state is similar to that of an infant.]

“It is unfortunate, but we knew that this method of spawning would create defective organisms. This child will likely never be able to progress beyond the psychological state of a simple primate.” Yuri walked over and knelt down beside the wailing girl. Then she added “I am quite surprised that the fur is not black however.”

[In order to allow for maximum genetic diversity, all units that you wish to spawn will be different in various ways… Temporarily. There will obviously need to be limits however.]

The female Ratkin was already fully grown, but compared to Reaper, she was much smaller. From head to toe, she was only a single meter. However, her bright pink tail was longer than her male counterpart. There were no breasts and aside from the two nipples on her chest, there were also three more pairs along her abdominal muscles. She was half the weight of Reaper and had pure white fur, similar to a labrat or domestic mouse. Her eyes were pitch-black though.

Yuri was hugging the squirming little girl against her chest, as she squeaked and squealed. Finally, she said “Azra, I believe that this creature desires sustenance.”

He grumbled “Ugh, can’t you cover her mouth or something? What kind of food do you think she wants? We’re running pretty low on pretty much everything. We’ve got some berries left…” They still had plenty of rice, but they didn’t have the ability to cook it before.

“Here, consume this.” Yuri took a handful of berries out of the storage space and placed them in front of the crying little girl’s mouth. Her tiny pink nose wiggled a few times as she sniffed the strange crimson orbs. Then her tongue extended out of her mouth, as she licked the berries curiously. It didn’t take long before she devoured all twenty of them.

Part 9: Morality

“From now on, you shall be referred to as Squeakers. I feel that this name suits your talkative personality.”

It had been several hours since the Ratkin had been spawned, but she continuously cried and complained like most newborn animals. Unlike a human baby, she could at least crawl around. However, bipedal locomotion was beyond her understanding.

Azra snickered, gloating “I guess your plan to make a harem of slutty rat-girls hit a snag, huh Sis?”

“Why would this hamper my breeding plans in any way? Although their minds are lacking, their instincts still remain. Squeakers is already sexually mature. She will desire reproduction.” Yuri tilted her head in confusion, as her brother facepalmed.

He asked “You don’t find anything wrong with using your avatar to fuck a newborn rat-girl? Not even a little hesitation or guilt?”

Yet, she just shook her head and casually said “Squeakers belongs to me. She is a pet at most, perhaps livestock would be a more suitable term. If I wished to harm her, she does not possess the means of resisting against me. It would be illogical to destroy this creature, but I could. There is no morality or god that would prevent me from doing so.”

“Sis, you’re starting to scare me now… I think all this reincarnated deity shit is getting to your head. We’re just people, like that cute little girl over there.” Azra pointed towards the Ratkin and continued “If you can’t just ‘feel’ that it’s wrong to rape a weirdly adorable humanoid rodent, then at the very least, you should abstain from doing it because ‘I’ think it’s fucked up. Gramps definitely wouldn’t want you to go around raping people either.”

Yuri sighed, murmuring “I never stated that I wished to force myself or my avatar upon Squeakers. However, it is reasonable to anticipate that within several days, she will begin suffering from lack of sexual stimulation. Have you forgotten already?”

[Would you like to continue spawning more Ratkins? Azrael’s unit spawner is currently available as well. You may also set a rally point for your newly spawned creatures.]

Azra suddenly asked “Wait a minute, you keep saying unit… Don’t we need to brand them with a mark of some sort to make them into units?”

“I cannot see any tattoos or brands on Squeakers. Are the Ankhs of Samsara invisible? Our avatars seem to lack them as well.” His sister was also curious about the concept of ‘units’.

[Subjects of the King: All units produced by the king spawner are granted the Subject’s Ankh of Samsara.]

“Ugh, you’re going to make us find this thing on our own…”

[Subject’s Ankh of Samsara Rune: Marks the soul with a magical rune, binding them to the Chessboard World. They can be resurrected from the spawner after death, but their memories will not remain intact. It is possible to remove this Ankh of Samsara by replacing it with another. Those who bear this mark, will feel an innate loyalty towards the Avatar of the King.]

“I think I said this before, but isn’t that really fucked up? Nobody else here thinks that might be just a little bit wrong?” As Azra looked around at the blankly staring avatars and small white rat-girl who was nuzzling up against his sister, he couldn’t help but sigh.

“Brother, you should not use human morality from Earth to govern your thoughts and actions anymore. It is counterproductive. We are not bound by any laws or codes of ethics dictated by others. We decide what is right or wrong within this Chessboard World.” However, immediately after Yuri’s proclamation, DC interjected.

[That is incorrect. There are several laws and codes of ethics which Azrael, Uriel and Sariel have given me the right to enforce. The rules are rather loose, but they do in fact exist. However, I doubt that either of you will ever break them.]

“Umm, well, are you going to tell us?”

[No.]

Azra sighed dramatically, grumbling “Such bullshit. Anyway, this is your territory Yuri… You can do whatever the fuck you want, I guess. I’ll deal with my own people my own way.”

[Do you wish to spawn some Goblins now, Azrael?]

He shook his head, muttering “No, I’m not in any rush. We only have a limited supply of souls… I think it would be more efficient to umm, ‘hire’ some of those humans first. A decent amount of those archers survived and that one guy, our cousin… He’s really fucking strong. Maybe we should ask him if he wants to become an ‘Adventurer’?”

Yuri wondered “Do you intend to use him as a bodyguard for when we travel outside? It would be one-hundred times cheaper to purchase the Soldier’s Ankh for him though…”

Her brother nodded, “Cheaper doesn’t mean better Sis. DC, it doesn’t explicitly state this in the description but…”

[Your assumption is correct. Those marked with the Ankh of Samsara Runes are typically unable to leave the Chessboard World outside of battle. It is possible for Scavengers, Mercenaries, Adventurers and those possessing similar Runes to leave and enter the Chessboard World far more easily than military units.]

Azra snickered, explaining “Scavengers and Mercenaries are cheaper, but Adventurers have the most freedom. They also have a lot more abilities. Trust me, it’ll be worth it. All he has to do is kill ten people and we would have already made back our investment. Aside from that, he can also give us stuff. Most importantly… We need a proxy. I don’t want to have to interact with people in person and you’re basically a little girl, no offense. It’s better if our representative is a gigantic, bearded, scary-ass barbarian guy. He seems pretty nice too, so he can probably handle most situations on his own.”

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