Chapter 5

I pressed a finger to the red circle. A few seconds later it turned green and one side of the cube lit up. “Until it is large enough to establish a direct link you need to manage your swarm on this screen.” The assembly master said pointing to the lit up side of the cube. I took a closer look at the screen.

Time: 0

Resource points: 10

Nano Cores: 1

Nano Drones: 0

Build 1 Drone for 10 RP and 1 Nano Core? Yes/No

That was a lot less data than I had been expecting. “I was expecting a lot more options. Is it normal to start with so little?” I asked the assembly master. It also looked like a fairly primitive piece of technology. The screen looked like it was from an old flip phone. I didn’t mention that part though.

“Unfortunately, yes. When a swarm unit is built it’s automatically linked with the swarm controller that created it. The only thing that can be transferred are core factories, and only before they are bonded. As you create new units hopefully you will gain access to more units and options.” The assembly master explained.

“How do I pass?” I asked.

“This test is about measuring your talent. You are already a swarm citizen. As you unlock additional swarm units your rank will increase. Unlocking the second unit will mean you are talented enough to become a swarm squire. Unlocking the third will mean you are a swarm knight. Anything past that and you will be a swarm lord.” The assembly master explained.

“Anything I should know about the units?” I asked the assembly master.

“Nano drones collect resources. Each resource point is a collection of the resources and energy required to make a swarm unit. In order to produce a higher growth unit you will need to use lower growth units. The benefit is that the higher growth unit will automatically produce lower growth units. However, the higher the growth unit the more of the prior unit will be required in order to produce them. Go ahead and buy the nano drone.” The assembly master instructed me.

I nearly groaned as I realized that this was similar to some of the idle games I had played. The more often I checked the swarm the more progress I would make. If I slept through the night I’d make only a fraction of the progress. In fact I was already falling behind since there were already three nano cores and I hadn’t purchased my first drone.

I tapped the drone line on the screen and a prompt appeared.

Build 1 Nano Drone for 10 RP and 1 Nano Core? Yes/No

Once I clicked yes a new prompt appeared.

First Nano Drone purchased. Checking if access level is sufficient to unlock the next growth unit. Nano Fabricator purchase unlocked. 100 Nano Drones required to produce 1 Nano Fabricator.

I blinked at the message. Especially the part about my access level. I had no idea how it was determined or how to check what my access level was. The fact that it was checked before unlocking the ability to create nano fabricators showed just how important it was. Apparently that is what the assembly master meant by being talented.

“Excellent. It appears that you are at least a swarm squire. Follow me and I’ll take you to your rooms.” The assembly master said once he saw the message. It didn’t look like the assembly master was going to grab the box so I picked it up. It weighed less than I had thought considering its size. Kind of like an empty soda can. Although it certainly felt solid.

We walked through a number of corridors again before arriving at a long hallway with over a dozen doors on each side. “These are the rooms for prospective swarm knights. They are currently unoccupied.”

The assembly master pushed open the first door and gestured for me to go inside. “I’ll have someone bring you dinner in an hour or so.”

The assembly master hesitated for a moment and then continued. “I’ll also have Faye join you for dinner. I’d suggest you don’t let it distract you from managing your swarm.” He said reluctantly.

After I nodded my understanding the assembly master left. Setting the core factory down I decided to explore my new surroundings first. The place was huge. If I didn’t know better I’d call it a mansion. There were at least a dozen bedrooms and half a dozen bathrooms in addition to the other typical rooms a house would have.

I spent almost fifteen minutes wandering around before I finally found the master bedroom. By itself it was larger than my apartment. In fact the attached bathroom was around the size of my apartment and the closet was nearly half the size of my entire apartment. The closet was filled with clothes of varying sizes. Which made sense if the people stocking the room didn’t know anything about the person that would be staying there.

Suddenly I remembered that I had forgotten about managing my swarm. Rushing back to the entrance I slid back the panel and groaned as I saw the numbers. It had been twenty one minutes since I last checked.

Time: 24

Resource points: 21

Nano Cores: 23

Nano Drones: 1

Nano Fabricators: 0

I quickly selected the option to purchase two more nano drones. If I had remembered to check earlier I probably would have had a couple more. I had plenty of cores but was limited by the resources I had. Doing a bit of math I realized that I could build my next drone in three minutes. Picking up the core factory I moved it into the master bedroom.

For the next half an hour I watched the screen like a hawk buying drones as soon as I could. Suddenly I stopped and stared at the screen in surprise.

Time: 57

Resource points: 52

Nano Cores: 0

Nano Drones: 57

Nano Fabricators: 0

Purchase Swarm Mental Connection (100,000,000,000 Resource Points Required)

Up until this moment the thing holding me back from building more units had been resources. But right now I had the resources to build five more drones but didn’t have any cores. Thinking about the consequences I actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Based on the message earlier I needed 100 drones to purchase my first nano fabricator. It would take me forty three minutes to get enough cores to build my hundredth drone. During that time even if I just sat there and stared at the screen it wouldn’t speed up that process. In fact the time I had wasted before had no impact on how soon I could get my first nano fabricator.

Since I had some time I decided to take a shower and finish exploring my surroundings. After taking a shower I spent an almost unreasonable amount of time in the closet. Mostly looking for clothing in my size.

I found it odd that all of the clothing looked similar to the styles found on Earth. I had been expecting that at least some of it would be unusual. Eventually I found a black button up shirt and jeans in my size. It may not have been the height of fashion but I was satisfied with it.

When I got around to looking at my swarm again I had six minutes left. I purchased thirty seven drones with the cores I had accumulated. That left me with over seventeen hundred resource points and ninety four drones.

I knew it didn’t matter but for the next six minutes I stared at the screen and purchased drones as soon as I could. I finally reached one hundred drones but couldn’t purchase the nano fabricator. In addition to the hundred drones it required another nano core. A minute later I finally got the core and joyfully bought my first nano fabricator.

First Nano Fabricator purchased. Checking if access level is sufficient to unlock the next growth unit. Nano Factory purchase unlocked. 1000 Nano Fabricators required to produce 1 Nano Factory.

Swarm Mental Connection purchase unlocked. 100,000,000,000 Resource Points required for purchase.