Augmented Aspects: Chapter 212 Finding Myself, and Other Simulacrum Initiated Problems (Patreon)

Chapter 212

Finding Myself, And Other Simulacrum Initiated Problems

Apparently having more than one copy of myself seems like it would be a complete blessing. And honestly having more of me around to do the various things that I need to do is a blessing, mostly.

That said, there are the times when I can safely say I know exactly what Mallory goes through when trying to deal with me.

Okay, wait, I can’t really say that. Mallory is a saint, if I am anything like my Simulacrums. Of course, I know that I am at least ten times less annoying than my Simulacrums, at least when it comes to possibly annoying myself. Okay, maybe only seven times, but that is quite a lot, mathematically speaking.

That said, I have almost lost all hope for myself. At least when it comes to my Simulacrums going above and beyond when it comes to innovation and other creative measures. Mainly, they are mostly automatable task masters that will take my currently established process and continue replicating it until I return. No adjustments for environmental factors, no changing on the fly to meet individual needs, no real grace to the movements of casting. Just sheer rote copying.

I try not to be judgmental, I really really try. That said, I almost feel like my Simulacrums are going to give me a bad name.

That or as more than Gwen and her heightened Angel’s Sight, are able to notice that there are discrepancies between myself and my Simulacrums. Meaning, their ability to hide my operations and presences are not as streamlined as I hoped.

Basically, if the higher ups could start to differentiate the real me from my Simulacrums, then moving around and pretending to be one while doing questionable actions will be tougher to get away with.

Not that these are in any way deal breakers, just that these are the factors that I must constantly be aware of, while trying to operate within the confines of my new role as the Doctor of the Midnight Hunters, a completely made up position that everyone seems to have gravitated towards freely.

Why am I thinking about ways to hide my actions when I clearly have made it to the pinnacle of importance without being placed in charge of anything.

Well, anything that I didn’t want to be in charge of?

I guess I am in charge of the school for aspiring magicians and cultivators, but really that is more of me wanting to be able to steal any skills I find interesting and covet them as my own, even if they are generally only seen as independent skills related to unique classes.

This goes to the ultimate question would I steal for a skill?

Depends, do I already have the skill in question? If so, then more than likely no, that is unless it seemed like it would be a fun heist. If it isn’t a skill that I already have, then can I somehow find a way to steal for it within three minutes? If the answer is still no, then give me time to come up with a three-minute solution to the plan and I might get back to you. Depending on whether the skill is what is being stolen, or if it is a final reward for providing said stolen item.

Why am I suddenly feeling the urge to go out and once again test my expertise as a master level thief? Why is there suddenly a burning inside me to steal? Well steal more than the odd assortment of rare books that I have been hording in my own secret elven library that has been lost to time?

Well the answer is simple, as apparently one of my Simulacrums was approached with a new career path.

While simultaneously, Mallory was approached with a similar but more reputable career path.

“Emergency meeting. I repeat this is an Emergency Meeting. Anyone who is a higher ranking member of the Guild must attend the Grand Assembly area. For those of you who might not be aware, that is the new stadium complex that is being built adjacently to the SVC Campus.” The speaker over the P.A. system states.

Hearing the words spoken so crisply and clearly I feel both proud and annoyed by the sound.

Proud of the fact that it was my own runic alterations that went into crafting the multi-function prongs that stick up everywhere. What originally began as just a relay system for mages to cast Cleansing Rain more easily, which both rids the land of the Blight, while simultaneously making the lands fertile and ready for harvesting. I then realized that we could make the prongs that stick up periodically throughout the various fields as also communications devices, along with other functions.

I mentally noted that they could also be used to look for individual people to find out where they were, but then realized that was really close to a big brother always watching you motif. Then I also realized that the number one person who would likely be searched for using that additional functionality would be me. As such I decided to keep that additional functionality to myself.

That said, the broadcast speakers are a nice touch.

At least, I thought they were, until the P.A. announcer continued.

“So far we have everyone in attendance, but the one person we need. If you are that senior member of leadership, please come to participate in this historical event.” The P.A. announcer said.

Apparently, they were missing just one board member. I would hate to be that person being called out like that, especially if they were making the bosses all wait.

As for me, I had my own problems as I was searching for my Simulacrum. For a moment I thought they went to the Deolar spirit realm entrance, but a quick popping in of my head showed that nope, I was not there.

I was beginning to start trying to search to see what the deal with this new quest that I and I alone had gotten was and meant, and try to get any additional information about it, when that same P.A. announcer came back on with an even more angered tone.

“Dr. Spiritlight, repeat, Dr. Spiritlight. If you can hear this, then please proceed to the Stadium Complex that is outside of your typical teaching area. The area where you are currently supposed to be.”

And like that, I realized my mistake.

Momentarily dropping my search for my wayward Simulacrum, I do an about face, and begin Teleporting directly to the designated area.

I knew of the stadium complex. I was not certain why we would need to build a sports complex right next to the school. Until Mallory explained, that if we wanted to be taken seriously as a campus, part of our upgrading to a university required multiple deluxe sporting complexes in and around campus.

Apparently, applications were up so much, and the increases recorded by my Outsourcers were so prolific that Mallory was already investing in upgrading our existing campus and thereby programs that were offered to start paving the way for others to get not just their Bachelor’s degrees but also try to set about Masters programs.

That was all a Mallory thing, and as such I decided not to get too involved. Especially as I knew that the more involved I got in this building up of the school, the more I would be pulled away from other tasks and projects. Like piloting my new QiMO powered ships. Well that wasn’t entirely true, they weren’t powered by the QiMO, but the QiMO helped me determine where any irregularities were.

Poof.

I appeared right next to Mallory by my third Teleport.

There up on the stage was a man in a high ranking guild officer uniform that was about to speak into a microphone.

“Never mind, she is here.” Gwen called out and then proceeded to point towards me.

With that the speaker who looked entirely too nervous to be doing public service announcements turned to first face Gwen, then following her finger looked over towards me. As apparently everyone else in the area did as well.

Mallory for her part looked down to see me there hovering just a half a foot off the ground, but still somehow managing to be over a foot shorter than her. Stupid slow growth of a fourteen-year-old Esoteric Arcanist elf body that is further slowed down due to my tier V Qi core that further slows down my aging process by an additional fifty percent, making me the nightmare of all teenagers, apparently.

“Yes, thank you for making the journey on such a short timeframe.” The somewhat nervous speaker stated, apparently trying to be placating to me, though I don’t exactly know why.

Before I could get too lost in why the speaker was a bit flustered, and mostly chalking it up to not liking public speaking. The truth is, I don’t blame him as I personally hate public speaking, which is partly why teaching is both rewarding and exceedingly taxing. Rewarding in that I get to teach and learn from the best. Taxing in that I hate hearing my own voice after a while, even if I am speaking in other people’s voices.

“Yes, it seems that we now have all key members of the guild present and accounted for. With that, I will pass the mic off to our presenter.” The speaker began.

Then before I could react, disaster in the form of Mallory struck.

Ruffle.

Mallory for her part just placed her overly large hand on my head and patted me, like I was a puppy who finally came when called. In this case, I can’t help but feel that this description might be a little too spot on.

“Hey,” I say a bit angrily at my hair being ruffled so casually. Though I do find it funny that Mallory’s hand now glows like it was coated in a layer of stripper glitter, though the glowing particles would only show up to people with either Angel’s Sight, or using enhanced mage sights, the particles are still funny to me.

Mallory for her part is already in leadership mode as she doesn’t even register my protest, and instead just continues her pre-prepared speech.

“Yes, now that the Good Doctor is here, we can give out the good news and signs that things are about to change for the Midnight Hunters.” Mallory stated, her voice and presence so loud that her voice carried into the amplifiers and seemed to echo throughout the stadium and a slight echo showed that those same words were being sent out to those who were in the surrounding countryside as well that were otherwise unable to attend today’s meeting.

This is what it means to be a true guild leader, as these are skills that I likely could never wield. Mentally, I wonder if there are skills for this, and then quickly realize that even if there are skills for improved leadership, I realize that I will not want to get said skills. If only for the fact that I do not want to have skills that I don’t intend to increase.

I am lost in my own world, which is why I almost miss Mallory’s next words.

“As you all are no doubt aware, we had a major windfall in being able to claim over a thousand acres of land during our Guild’s Unclaimed Land Acquisition Charter Quest. A quest that we not only completed with ruthless proficiency, but has now set us up to be not only well ahead of the curve for most guilds, but has positioned us to begin the process of becoming the top guild.” Mallory stated, her voice oddly inspiring.

Cheers!

Hearing that, I just let out a long sigh of relief and realize that I am once again thankful for the fact that I only have to worry about me in my division.

Mallory counted to ten, before holding up a hand to let the audience know that she still had more to cover.

With the way that this was all going, I figured this was likely an awards ceremony. Though I thought I already went to one? Right? Or was that just a quest reward? I can’t remember. Anyways, if there is an award for me, I will thank everyone, cast a few bright spells and then Poof out of here, so I can continue on with my work.

At least that was my initial plan for the list of things I was going to do. Until of course, Mallory once again deftly made it so I would not only start paying full attention to her speech, but it also seemed to bring a few of my own notices and notifications into order.

“As you know, the process of passing the Unclaimed Land Acquisition Charter Quest, was just the first part in a process. The next logical step would be to build up our infrastructure to grow enough food and supplies to be self sufficient, well thanks to having over a thousand acres of land to harvest both plants and thanks to our minor petting zoo of delicious level one monsters to feed from, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Spiritlight and her highly trained Dire Phase wolves, we are now set for food. After that comes housing, where we have enough buildings and infrastructure for not only ourselves, but enough for a 50% increase in population. Well that is also complete, not only thanks to our highly capable builders, but also due to the excavation teams working diligently on unearthing ancient Elven structures that were long since buried to time. With that we completed the second major hurdle needed to progress for a viable city. Next came key points of attraction.”

With this Mallory paused, and I realized that yes, at this rate the spot in the desert that was little more that cursed dry and uninhabitable dirt a year ago was now beginning to change quickly into a highly visible place where people would want to go.

“The third major attraction needed to be designated as a major city is a unique attraction that only your location can provide. Well, thanks to uncovering the ancient ruins of the Tribunal underneath us, we now boast a second major attraction. The first being the only accredited Mage or Cultivator college of higher learning.”

More cheers.

With that last part Mallory just pointed towards me and let everyone go wild. With this I notice that the first speaker is one of the loudest clappers. Finally, I both remember him and understand his actions. He had been one of the mage candidates who just missed the initial cut to make it into my school. I knew I saw his mana signature from somewhere. He was close, just lacked focus, or what I would consider focus. “Too much mana and not enough focus to direct the mana you do have,” I remember the words I said while evaluating him.

Looking back, I think I might have been overly critical of him, as he clearly had shown enough improvement. As he was more than proficient enough to both power the P.A. system and able to continue running the same system even now from a few feet away, so that there was no transition from when Mallory took over.

“Maybe I was wrong.” I thought to myself, as I remember that evaluation and realize that he would most likely be one of the new students to take over as a Freshman in the incoming wave of students.

Groan.

With that, I realize that soon I will be teaching from two different proficiency levels, which of course means more work for me.

“This of course means we now only have one last major hurdle to be truly considered a city. That’s right to be considered for a city, we need to have at least two of the major guilds fully established within our city. That is, we need to have a base for the Mage’s Guild, the Apothecary Guild, the Adventurer’s Guild, or the Engineer’s Guild.” Mallory stated, and just like that I couldn’t help but feel that she had missed one of the major guilds.

Probably the most important guild, if my childhood had anything to say about it, as the fifth and final guild, the quiet guild that I suddenly felt nostalgic for is probably the guild I associate most with my childhood.

This is also the same guild that helped me come up with skills that were imperative for my very survival to this point. The guild in question of course is none other than the Thieves Guild, a guild that gave me shelter regardless of how hard life was. A place where I could go, and feel safe from judgement at all times. There was of course the fact that I needed to produce while I was there, but that was only if I took out jobs.

It also didn’t hurt my standing that I often took what others considered to be the more boring of quests. The taking of key incriminating information. The placing of warning notes in the middle of the night on a bed pillow that had been momentarily unattended. I of course would never be the person to enact said punishments on the warning notes, but rather it was just my job to place the notes.

I was also an excellent information broker, when I had time to focus that was. Which was why I was close to turning down the opportunity that my Simulacrum had apparently been presented with. An opportunity that would apparently awaken access to new skills, advantages, job classes, and most importantly more resources than I was ever able to dream of in my past.

However, before I could go down memory lane, and reminisce about the choices I took to get here. Mallory pressed forward with her prepared speech.

“Well, I have good news. The first of the four major guilds have approached us and asked if they could set up a base of operations here. After hearing about their request, and seeing that it seemed to match perfectly with our own needs to be recognized as a city, which we can then use to eventually turn into a nation, we gladly accepted. Which is why I am pleased to present to you, our representatives from the Mage’s Guild.” Mallory spoke, and as she did, she gestured to two people that looked surprisingly familiar.

Then the words that Mallory was saying hit me, and I realized I needed to cut this off quickly, as there might soon be a major conflict of interest scenario going on here that I likely won’t be able to fix, unless I get Mallory’s attention.

Telepathy.

Pulling out one of my tried and true methods, I mentally link up to Mallory and try to stop this trainwreck before it crashes violently.

“Mallory, I know what you are about to do and say, and I need to tell you that I cannot.” I mentally project my thoughts directly into Mallory’s mind.

Mallory for her part is apparently so used to me randomly casting magic on her that she doesn’t seem to miss a beat even as she mentally responds to me, while gesturing for the two Mage Guild auditors to walk forward.

“Nope, you are stuck with this task.”

“Mallory, I am serious I cannot be the Mage Guild leader.”

“Nope, nothing you can say will take away this honor from you.”

“Mallory, I can’t because I am already listed as the leader of the Thieves Guild.” I reply, as this was the major issue I had been looking for my Simulacrum to fix.

“Well crap…” was all Mallory could reply, but then her words cut off as it was already too late to stop this train from crashing violently.