211 Technological Experimentation (1/2)
The speck of darkness was alive. I sensed its lifeforce and even if I wasn't the demon's creator I would have been able to detect the creature and determine that it was alive thanks to my sensory powers. I had successfully if a bit anticlimactically created a demon!
The praereptor was currently in a state similar to unconsciousness. It was technically conscious, but was unresponsive and when I attempted to read its mind in the still annoyingly shallow, at least compared to how I read mortal minds, way I could I saw that it was being taught extremely basic information about the universe by its own iteration of the system. I could tell that this might take a while. Fortunately for me that gave me a natural opportunity to begin to learn new things and experiment with my newfound powers.
I closed my eyes and turned my mind inward. In doing so I effortlessly ”reached” the mental location ”within” myself where the domains resided. Within me the domains and subdomains idly chatted amongst themselves, many of them excited by my decision to defeat and overthrow Agustino.
I was mentally quiet for a moment, before I began to ”speak” or rather transmit my thoughts, to the domains and subdomains gathered within me. I was ”speaking” to a single specific subdomain. In an admittedly unusual move I was immediately reaching out to a newly acquired subdomain and being proactive in my interactions with it. I was reaching out to the technology subdomain.
”Hello, technology subdomain.” I began, and I allowed my mental voice to be heard by all of the subdomains. The idle background noise produced by the subdomains conversing with each other came to an abrupt end. That said, a split second later the subdomain replied to me.
”Greetings lord-god. It is kind of you to 'stop by' as it were and initiate a conversation of your own accord.” The subdomain told me, greeting me with sincerity and respect. If I could nod, in my own head, I would have. That said I approximated the motion with my mental energy and then continued to speak internally.
”It is admittedly not my style but I am interested in becoming a more fitting god of knowledge. And given the tools I have just acquired in the form of the powers you've given me, I suppose the best way to begin to do that is to converse with you.” I told the subdomain, seeking to learn from it.
”Anyways, allow me to begin to expand your knowledge about my powers. I can sense an interest in you in my abilities, and I am not surprised. Many subdomains don't offer the immediate boost in power that I offer. After all, prior to acquiring my powers creating robots and androids would have been beyond your reach, but now you are the god of such technology.” The subdomain said, just before it began to chuckle.
”Oh believe me, I noticed. The power that seeped into my soul in the wake of acquiring the first tier of influence over you... It didn't feel like I was acquiring power over a new subdomain, it was more like acquiring power over a new domain. And the customizability of this subdomain too... It's quite impressive.” I exclaimed, even as I began to move again. I opened my eyes and began to experiment with the newly acquired abilities.
I stayed still as I began to visualize robots. To date I had never had an up-close encounter with a robot, but I had seen them before. I had actually seen robots more than once.
The closest encounter I had had with a robot was when I visited the island colony of the Mi-Gos. They had had a robot experimenting with magic and I was able to observe its efforts from a safe distance. I had also seen robots in Infernius, and a significant part of my excitement related to the technology subdomain came from that simple fact.
The first area someone reached when they physically traveled to Infernius, the homeworld and dimension of devil-kind, was an abandoned wasteland inhabited by devil-like robots and both simple and complex machines. I had seen it myself. For the first time in my life I possessed the perfect ability to secure control over that portion of the tyrannical dimension.
The part of me that was focused and thought about being an emperor constantly, though admittedly a quite small portion of myself but one that was growing, relished the idea of going into Infernius and colonizing it while also gaining access to its undoubtedly plentiful lawful-evil resources.
”Robots and androids are truly fantastic servants. They can be made far more sapient by giving them souls, any kind would do, and they retain their loyalty, to you at least, no matter what. Both robots and androids are also incredibly diverse. A god who is as... well-traveled as you are, can bestow countless abilities on your robots and androids through the 'Customization' ability.” The subdomain told me, teasing me with the possibility of creating incredibly versatile technology that served me and aided my minions.
As the thing spoke, using the knowledge I had of robots that I had actually seen with my own eyes, or was quickly becoming aware of thanks to domain-sense, I began to picture all sorts of technology.
”One of the key perks of robots and androids, a staple technology for any technologically advanced empire, is that they don't need sleep and are perpetually loyal to you. They are like undead in that regard, but without the hatred for life that undead possess.” The technology subdomain bragged, speaking of androids and robots like a proud parent might speak of their children.
That said, it was impressive. Androids and robots, especially ones I created, could become the new default for my troopers. That meant that if I wanted I could keep my organic and even my undead followers safe and out of the fray. I wasn't sure if robotic minions would make for adaptive front-liners as my understanding of robots was that they were known for being inflexible, which was something I'd need to test someday to see if there was any truth to that line of thinking. But even then I already knew that androids didn't suffer from that problem.
The source of my knowledge in reference to technology was unusual. The mixing of the knowledge domain and the technology subdomain proved to be quite informative. The two of them mixing in my mind filled my head with opinions, impressions, and even random bits of trivia concerning all sorts of technology. Among these bits of trivia were the ”facts” that robots tended towards inflexibility in their thinking and their execution of their directives, meanwhile, androids were apparently quite responsive, mentally, and possessed growth-oriented minds.
Without focusing on which robot I created, I rose my hand and created my first robot. The very first robot to appear in front of me was a bit of a surprise, even to me. On the ground ahead of me a large, perhaps meter tall and few meters wide, drone popped into existence. The thing popped into being fully formed and even painted a nice purple color.
The drone, much larger than the small ones I had ”seen” through sensory powers in the solar system of my birth or even throughout Htrea, was a combat type drone. Upon studying it for a moment I realized it was a type of flying combat vehicle meant to respond to ground incursions from range: a gunship. It was also fully autonomous, though I knew that if I wanted too I could change that at will. That said its ”mind”, as far as the vehicle even possessed, was unexceptional.