Celestial Hymn 43 (Patreon)

A/N: a little change of pace away from the politics of the world…

Celestial Hymn

Chapter 43

-VB-

I felt the Forge reach out, and dragged down something new. It was one of the more powerful ones… but the moment I had it within my reach, I didn’t understand why it was powerful for something so simple.

Modularity, after all, was a design principle and not a special thing.

It wasn’t like it was going to retroactively change my stuff, right?

… I was going to go and check that.

-VB-

Nope, nothing got changed.

What did change, I realized, was my perspective and ability.

See, when I was looking over my under-construction spaceship, I realized very quickly that a lot of the parts that went into it… were kind of unnecessary. If I changed those out for parts that could make interchangeability work. Like a slip ring, which was a component allowing for multiple wires, pipes, and the like to go through without messing up the actual wiring because it could rotate 360 degrees without a problem. If I used a modular version of that, then I could have reduced the size of the components room underneath the bridge/cockpit by at least 10%, which meant 10% more armor, bulkhead, or whatever else that would be more beneficial to use for that 10% reduction in space afforded by modularity.

It made me look into the blueprints of the ship.

Then I looked into the equipment that I made.

Finally, I began to look into the manufacturing equipment themselves, namely the Workbench.

… The Workbench was a work of art, and I hadn’t realized how wonderful it was. It was modularity disguised as jack-of-all-trades.

By the end of my investigation, I felt like a big frog like a small well. Even the first few items that I summoned were like this, then what was the actual powerful stuff like?

I looked out my window on the second topmost floor of the Tower. I looked toward the construction site of my spaceship.

Was my spaceship enough if I ever landed in a place like Warhammer 40k?

… Of course, it wasn’t. The foundation of my ship was essentially an FTL-capable corvette from Mass Effect universe. Not only were corvettes on the weaker end simply because of their smaller size, thinner armor, and weaker shields compared to frigates, but the majority of the systems inside it that were based on more esoteric Mass Effect principles had to be replaced with inferior parts because Mass Effect tech relied on Element Zero, which I lacked.

Modularity was great not just because it let me make shit better to fit the situation but also because it changed my perspective.

I can see why it’s so big.

And why it was dangerous. Why the Forge was dangerous.

It changed my perspective. Something that took enlightenment - small or big - in most people was forced upon me, made to occur from start to finish in an instant, and didn’t take mental, spiritual, or physical trauma. This was more than just knowledge. This was a change in ego.

Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.

… So what can I do with it?

-VB-

1 week later…

I stared down at the thing that I had made. It took me a week, even with the Workbench, because it was kind of complicated.

The thing about modularity was that if I wanted to create a contained system, it got really complicated. It was one thing to make a base form and gadgets I could add to and remove modules to.

But I did it, and the entire system was a modular.

In design, it was a gun.

In function, it was anything I wanted it to be.

It had a revolver system, which cycled through the module physically. If I wanted a gun, then I would spin to and lock down on the plasma gun module. Did I need a fusion torch? I had a module for that, too. Grappling gun? Well, I better be satisfied with a hardlight version of it with only ten yard range. Each module, however, was too big for there to be more than three module in the revolver system at a time, so I created a “module backpack” that let me store the modules, recharge them, and modify them. The base form, the gun, also had modules for it as well. Additional barrel for longer length (great for plasma fire accuracy), larger batteries for longer operational time, grips, stock, forearm stabilizer, and so on.

It … was a great tool.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t make it before. I certainly could have, especially after I gained the Mass Effect R&D database. However, this was not just a capability but also a mindset. Thinking about designs specifically with modularity in mind came easily. Things that I realized would have taken me hours to work out unraveled themselves in minutes.

And, well, I enjoyed myself.

I think it’s been a long time since I just enjoyed making stuff without regard for the needs of my circumstance.