Empire building was mostly about logistics. Atlas learned this quickly.
It had been 24 hours since the conquest of the Lower Island. The rope elevator—constructed from Cavedweller's hemp supply—creaked as it hauled a basket up the 200-meter drop. Atlas stood at the edge, watching the basket arrive. It thumped onto the mud.
Inside were ten bars of rough, smelted copper. They weren't pretty—slag was still clinging to the edges—but they were metal. Real, conductive metal.
A note was pinned to the copper. "Quota met. Please don't send the spiders. - Cavedweller."
Atlas smirked. "Good employee."
He picked up a copper bar. It was warm. "System. Scan material." [Item: Low-Grade Copper Ingot.][Conductivity: 75%. Impurities: High.]
"Passable," Atlas decided. "It won't run a supercomputer, but it will run a calculator."
He looked at his island. It was a mess. There were Bio-Batteries humming with torture-energy. There were C4-Dolls shuffling aimlessly, bumping into rocks because Atlas wasn't mentally driving them. That was the bottleneck. Micromanagement.
Every time a Doll moved, Atlas had to will it to move. The "Redstone Logic" he used on the Spiders was basic: If Touch, Then Boom. But he needed something more complex. He needed: If Enemy is Flying, Then Aim Up. If Enemy is Ground, Then Aim Down.
He needed Conditional Logic. He needed a CPU.
"I can't make microchips," Atlas muttered, kicking a pile of sand. "I don't have a clean room. I don't have silicon wafers. But..." He looked at the sand. Sand is Silica. Silica makes Glass. "Before we had chips, we had Vacuum Tubes."
He sat on his throne and engaged the Talent. "System. Access Memory: [Dr. Stone]. Project: [Vacuum Tube Logic Gate]."
[Analyzing Concept...][Theory:]A vacuum tube acts as a switch. It controls the flow of electrons in a vacuum. By combining thousands of them, one can create a processing unit (like the ENIAC).[Materials Required:]
Glass: (Sand + Heat).
Filament: (Copper/Carbon).
Phosphorus: (Derived from crushed bones or urine).
Vacuum Pump: (Mechanical). [Cost: 150 Origin Points.]
"Expensive," Atlas grimaced. He had earned 200 points from the 'War' with Cavedweller (mostly from killing the Kobolds). This would drain him. "But if I don't automate, I'll die from exhaustion."
"Authorize."
Atlas stood up. He didn't have a glass-blowing workshop. But he had a vassal who was a Miner/Smelter. He grabbed the primitive radio he had confiscated from Cavedweller's inventory (a 'Whisper Stone').
"Cavedweller. New order." The stone crackled. "Y-Yes, Lord Atlas? I'm smelting the next batch..." "Stop smelting copper. I need you to smelt Sand. I need glass. Clear, thin glass bulbs. About the size of a thumb." "Glass? But... I don't have a mold..." "Figure it out. Or I send a Spider to help you brainstorm." "...I'll make the glass."
Three Hours Later.
The first batch of glass bulbs arrived. They were uneven, cloudy, and fragile, but they were airtight. Atlas sat in the mud, working with the precision of a watchmaker—aided by the System's guidance.
He took the copper wire. He stripped it until it was hair-thin. He inserted two filaments into the glass bulb: the Cathode and the Anode. He needed a grid to control the flow. He used a mesh of even finer copper.
Now, the hard part. The Vacuum. He didn't have an electric pump. "System. Realize Concept: [Syringe Pump]." He used a modified Clay Doll, reshaping its arm into a piston. He connected it to the glass bulb. The Doll pulled its arm back, sucking the air out. Hiss. Atlas quickly sealed the glass with molten copper.
He held it up. A primitive, ugly, soot-stained Vacuum Tube. He connected it to the Bio-Battery. The copper filament glowed a dull orange.
"Test 1," Atlas whispered. He sent a small pulse of mana (Origin Energy) into the Grid. The flow of electricity from the Cathode to the Anode stopped. He cut the mana. The flow started.
[System Alert: Blueprint Success.][Item Created: Primitive Vacuum Tube (Switch).][Logic Function: 0 / 1.]
Atlas laughed. It was a dry, rasping laugh. "One bit. I have one bit of memory." He looked at the pile of glass bulbs. "I need about fifty of these to make a Targeting System."
He spent the next six hours wiring. He plugged the tubes into a board made of dried clay. He connected them in series. AND Gates.OR Gates.NOT Gates. The resulting machine looked like a steampunk nightmare. A wall of glowing glass bulbs, buzzing wires, and clay.
He connected the output to a Sentry Gun Prototype—a hollow clay tube loaded with gunpowder and gravel. "System. Logic upload." IF [Vibration-Sensor-Left] is Active, THEN [Rotate-Motor-Left].IF [Vibration-Sensor-Center] is Active, THEN [Fire].
He picked up a rock and threw it to the left of the Sentry. Whirrrr. The clay turret jerked to the left. The glass tubes flickered as they processed the signal. Click. The firing pin struck empty air (he hadn't loaded it).
"It works," Atlas exhaled, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's slow. It's hot. But it's thinking."
Just as he was about to load the ammunition, a ping echoed in his mind. [Global Chat] was exploding again.
> User_Paladin_John: GUYS! LOOK AT THE MAP!> User_Xeno_Queen: What is that red skull icon?> User_Zhuge: It's a Dungeon. A 'Resource Rift'. The first PvE event.
Atlas opened his map. About five kilometers away—a distance that would require bridging multiple islands—a massive, swirling red portal had appeared.
[Event: The Goblin King's Treasure Trove.][Difficulty: 2-Star.][Rewards: Gold, Refined Steel, Magic Crystals, random 'Civilization Blueprint'.][Time Limit: 24 Hours.]
"A Blueprint," Atlas muttered. "That could save me hundreds of points."
His Private Message blinked. It was Zhuge.
[Zhuge]: "I know you see it. The Rift." [Atlas]: "I see it. Too far. Too risky." [Zhuge]: "Not if we pool resources. I have 'Wind Mage' units. They can create a bridge of air currents. But my units are squishy. They have low defense. I need a... tank." [Atlas]: "I don't have tanks. I have clay." [Zhuge]: "I saw your explosion, 'Scavenger'. You have explosives. I need you to breach the doors. We split the loot 50/50."
Atlas tapped the side of his throne. Zhuge was smart. He knew Atlas had high-damage output. But going to a Dungeon meant revealing his cards.
"However," Atlas mused. "If I stay here, I stagnate. I need better materials than this trash copper." He looked at his new machine. The Vacuum Tube Core. It was heavy. He couldn't move it. But he could bring the Dolls that were controlled by it? No, the signal range was limited to wired connections for now.
"I need a field unit."
[Atlas]: "I'm in. But I bring a +1." [Zhuge]: "A +1? You have a Hero unit already?" [Atlas]: "Something like that."
Atlas closed the chat and looked down at the elevator shaft. "Cavedweller!" he shouted down. "...Yes?" The voice came back faint and trembling. "Grab your pickaxe. And put on your thickest leather armor. We're going on a field trip."
Atlas needed a "Tank." He didn't have a tank. But he had a Vassal. And Vassals were expendable.
He turned to his Fiction Realization. He had 50 points left. "System. I need a weapon for myself. I can't just sit on the throne forever." He looked at the Bio-Battery. He looked at the Vacuum Tubes. Electricity + Clay.
"Memory: [A Certain Scientific Railgun]. Misaka Mikoto." [Error: Insufficient Electromagnetic Output.] "Scale it down," Atlas ordered. "I don't need a Railgun. I need a Stun Baton." "Memory: [Half-Life 2]. Weapon: [Combine Stun Stick]."
[Analyzing...][Materials: Copper Rod, Bio-Battery Charge, Insulated Handle.][Cost: 40 Origin Points.]
Atlas grabbed a leftover copper rod. The System warped it. The tip split into four prongs. A small, glowing blue capacitor formed at the base. Atlas squeezed the handle. ZZZRT. A jagged arc of blue electricity snapped between the prongs. [Item: Overcharged Riot Stick.][Damage: Low.][Effect: Paralysis / Heart Failure.]
Atlas swung the baton, leaving a trail of ozone in the air. "Civilization isn't just about building," Atlas said, his eyes reflecting the blue spark. "Sometimes, it's about crowd control."
He walked to the edge of his island, waiting for Zhuge's "Air Bridge." Below him, Cavedweller was being hauled up, looking pale and holding a rusty shield. Behind him, the Vacuum Tubes hummed in the darkness, calculating the wind speed, silently watching their creator leave.
The Wargame was about to move from "Base Building" to "Party Play." And Atlas was bringing a taser to a sword fight.