Talent Names began to slide in place, representing the full breadth and diversity of the human genome. Everybody tended to be naturally good at something, even if it was incredibly trivial. Once you started catering to that Talent, well, working a job you were naturally good at could bring incredible benefits. If your Talents dovetailed, you could be a paragon. If they were diverse, you could be broadly skilled.

[Oh, and by the way. Eight is also the level where you get to choose to get The Bust.] Heads snapped around on me. [Standard succubi-nymph curves. Permanent. Useless for their primary biological purpose, generally speaking, but they’ll be there. And I have no doubt whatsoever that a considerable number of you with Charisma-based Talents are going to be going right there...] Natural Diplomat, Born Actress, Natural Singer, The Voice, Peacemaker, and Sex Symbol came to my attention at a glance. [As for the rest of you], I smiled slyly, [Mother doesn’t care. Real or fake, have fun either way.]

“Woo-hoo!” they called out in reply. I was pretty sure the vast majority would take the option, especially since it was the same Level they’d be able to look into their last incarnation. They’d be picking up the dreams of the girls and wanting to do stuff, enjoying being super-people. They were already moving their Brands to less emphatic areas than their faces... which actually wouldn’t raise any attention, since the Golden Hag’s Tats had spawned a craze of imitators, and every Ghost Knight showed something similar as a mark of honor.

I sat back and watched as the jobs and duties got divvied up very quickly. Some were trades, some were professions, some were departments, some were companies. Some had to go to school and get connections.

There were those who could proceed immediately, as it wouldn’t interfere with their Leveling, and others they could only push off until they made Eight. After all, it might be a bit awkward getting famous before getting The Bust...

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The Seven of me all headed off to start making Marks. I had a huge backlog of applicants who’d been vetted sufficiently, and even with two hundred and fifty more people doing this, I would literally never run out of them if I didn’t want to.

There were kids to Awaken and Open, others to Open, everyone to Mark... there was just a whole lot to do.

I had extra Talents on my extra Selves, too.

It was a little odd thinking with my extra selves, since they thought a lot slower and less forceful than any of my own thoughtstreams. I could sort of close the link and pretend they were different, distant parts of me, but it was still an odd sensation, like flowing slower than the river around you, and not getting carried away by it.

However, I didn’t need to go Deep on them. We were all drawing off the same Skill pool, but mental, physical, and spiritual improvements needed Karma. Literally all I needed to do was Level up to improve their Null Caster and Psion Levels, get their Prime Melee Level to Ten, and Rantha Level to Ten, and they were set.

However, they were lower Level than I was, and that meant they Leveled more efficiently in new Classes than I did.

Azure was Born to Fly, so there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever I was going to be learning ALL the flying stuff on her. It clashed with Natural Swordswoman, but them’s the breaks. She’d be a pilot who could kick your ass, too.

Aura was a Peacemaker, which meant really good at positive diplomatic skills and understanding others, as well as having a trustworthy aura. Back it up with the skills to dicker and to intimidate very effectively, and she would be the only diplomatic envoy you’d want. I was going to have to send her into the diplomatic corps... or use her as my marketing manager to spin deals. Sending her out would also increase my view of the System or Sector, if nothing else...

Heck, if I was really good, I could become a planetary governor...

Emma was a Green Thumb, which meant her understanding of and ability to grow plants was at the peak of human potential. Guess who was taking over all my horticultural operations when she could...

Fyr was a Wheelman, meaning she was born to drive. She was heading into some of the condemned zones to start taking over motorized gangs and build a legend and influence there.

Vivi was a Bookworm, which meant awesome at data management, finding out secrets, lore checks, and the like. I promptly put her in charge of the Goldilocks and building up our database of stuff, running the system, and maintaining it.

Inigo was Sneaky, which meant born to be a Scout or Assassin. Without the slightest compunction, I sent her into the underworld to start offing my competition, and start building up connections there.

These Talents were much stronger than just having the Stats or a cyber or psi bonus which did the same thing. Not mentioning that they could stack, but it was rapidly evident that I enjoyed doing those kinds of things when I was catering to their Talents. As Aura, I actually enjoyed socializing and figuring out things to make matters move forwards, in contrast to my normal self, where that stuff was just a chore. Even my Charisma Stream was just good at it, she didn’t find pleasure in doing it.

Fyr was basically an adrenaline junkie with a need for speed and loud noises. I found it hard to keep Azure on the ground, I always wanted to be in the air with her. Vivi didn’t want to do anything but read all day and share what she learned with others, always voracious for more stuff... and perfectly willing to go digging for it to put it to good work. Emma was acutely aware when there were no plants around, and made me uncomfortable when that was so.

Inigo just wanted to think of wickedly clever ways of doing things, and I was off and running with the whole breaking and entering thing with her without looking back.

Unlike the other girls, the six of them could power up their Marks to full, and enjoy Markspace. However, the girls could also attune the Marks to themselves, building up their own unique Markspaces... which I was more than happy to do. These ‘private’ Markspaces could form their own little cliques of similar souls over time, and the synergies that might be harvested from them could be impressive.

------

The Ranthas filed out of the space in the Spire, chatting with one another, and needless to say, so many high-g nymphals of the same age turned a lot of heads. Everyone headed to Habberblok, where they also were a minor hit, especially among those G&G who were told they were coming.

Up the stairs to 159, the vivic braziers were out, and they got their Ghost Knight quests straight off.

The G&G were wondering why they weren’t Marked... and even more curious when they started drawing the Marks, and others had to link in the new people. I explained there was some telepathic things that had to be worked out and mental resistance to everything that couldn’t be passed until they were Eights, which got an enormous amount of sympathy from the G&G, because it was obvious they were all Nulls.

The Goldilocks were very happy to fix everyone up with chatrooms through their Bands as alternate means of communication, and given their looks and gold mindclaws, there was no problem socializing. But the G&G used the Marktell a lot for communication, and so naturally there was a barrier there that meant they couldn’t participate as effectively in teamwork exercises.

However, the girls naturally excelled in solo stuff, were tough as nails, and naturally eager to work. Teaming one of my girls up with a G&G guy for making Marks was definitely not something the guys minded at all, especially if their Talents were compatible, synergistic, or complementary. Plans were made about where to go, things to do, and naturally they started to gather people around them...

----------

“Elders,” I said coolly to the gathered undead, after the last of my girls had headed down to start working on the backlog of Marked. Two hundred and fifty people every three minutes meant my operations were about to expand enormously...

I could feel the interest of the undead at this parade of nymphals coming through, and despite themselves, there’d been no lack of volunteers, male or female, to give them quests. From the murmurs I heard, figuring out worthy quests was now one of the big pastimes of the spirits here.

“Just so all of you know, every single one of those girls was a daughter of mine.”

I definitely had their interest now. Naturally they could tell the difference between vat-born and human, and they could tell all of those young women were Nulls and exceedingly gifted... and dangerous. The spirits who got to propose quests to them looked about as happy as restless spirits with a mad on for the living could be.

“All of them are souls that were slain by the Warp and were reborn as my daughters.”

Very suddenly I had ALL their attention. It didn’t bother me, as my base Charisma now was 50, before any Class modifiers. The mightiest of them was nothing to me in force of personality, which was basically all they had left. While I didn’t blaze in the Marktell without reason, and in truth I deliberately was so subtle that most people never felt me there, when they stared at me beyond their Door, most of them could only gape as they saw me more and more clearly.

I was aware of the impression, and unsurprised by it. The subconscious worship it would entail would redirect their Faith power from the Emperor to me, if they worshipped him at all, but all that would do is suppress knowledge of me even more, as the cumulative Null of my presence grew wider and wider.

“I can offer a new life to you now.” Oh, did I have them now. “Unfortunately, you will not be reborn, you will be reincarnated. What you are... will be gone.” I looked around at Habberblok, the scars that wouldn’t go away, the weight on Reality of the psychic trauma and powers unleashed by the Warp here. “But you will be out of here. This endless existence will be gone, and you can finally die...” And I lowered my voice, but it carried just as far.

“But you will be reborn as one of my daughters, and I can tell you right now, fucking the Warp over as hard as we can is what we are here for. If you want revenge, you’re going to get it.”

I looked over the great masses of them, swelling in the ether around this place, ephemeral, barely able to see Reality, smoke and void and mist all around, and a gnawing hunger and replayed hate from their deaths, relived over and over again...

But they could see me absolutely, they could hear me, and they could understand me!

I flicked up my soulclaws, humming with vivic fire and ghost touch. “I can only take two hundred and fifty-six of you at a time.” I put my fingers together, and drove the edges into my ovaries. Fast Healing meant I had all those waiting eggs back within literally minutes after I’d removed them.

I could do this literally every day, bound only by the number of Vats I had available.

“First come, first serve,” I stated calmly, and there was a rush and a flow of vivus as spirits streamed in, shrieking for release and revenge and rebirth, all at once, and if the vivic surge that close to my uterus was something of a rush, I just swallowed it down as some very angry spirits died and became sparks of new life as they did, willingly embracing a death that was new life as they shouted out their names, and I remembered them...

Oh, yes, there were going to be a lot of Ranthas in this town in no time... and they were going to keep coming.

Mwa hahaha! My little girls were going to change the world!

Which meant Mom couldn’t sit still. I still had so much damn stuff I had to do!

I headed back to the vat room to get the new generation on its way, while my other six selves worked silently on Marks, Opening, and Awakening. Next stop after that... I think it was time to go visit the Beacon...

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Ed. Note: Soon after I finished this chapter, a certain someone on Discord said that Sama should put together a mercenary unit called Rantha’s Hags. I told him to remember he said that...