The Least Common Denominator

Checkpoint I

I don't know how we managed to get out of that hell hole, but I guess we somehow did.

"YYEAAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

All around me, celebrations of victory spread all across my fellow people. Denominators, both young and old, all pranced around and cheered my name under the bright blue sky.

*CRIMSON! CRIMSON! CRIMSON!*

Blinking the drowsiness off of my eyes, I found myself waking up on... a horse cart? We were moving somewhere apparently, somewhere that's assuredly as far from the enemy presence as possible...

Fuck... What happened...

"Oh, you're awake..."

Looking up towards my driver, I saw the familiar visage of Backus greeting me. He wasn't looking at me though; his attention still on the road as he drove the cart forward.

 

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• The Least Common Denominator   In the Eyes of Management I

  "What?"Deep within the confines of the Imperial Palace, in the very heart of the Empire, a middle-aged, imperial man withheld his thoughts about the reports that he had just witnessed."T-the entirety of t-the Division Furnace... has rebelled... your Majesty..."Wearing a crown passed on from generation to generation, one Charlie the First, from the House of Babbage, sat upon the Numbered Throne; his seething eyes flitting from one messenger to the next as he pondered on the highly upsetting news that had blown into the throne room."What do you mean 'a whole Furnace rebelled?"It should've been impossible for even a single Denominator, much less a whole population of a Furnace to even entertain the notion of a rebellion. Granted, the Furnace in question was the one where his mistake of a d

• The Least Common Denominator   XIV.I Dose Calculation

  Like the many times that I have said this in my mind: I have no idea what I'm doing."So, what is this 'bacteria' thingy supposed to be again?"It's been some few odd weeks since we somehow managed to get out of our specially-made hell on earth. After a few more days of travel and copious amounts of questioning on whether or not we were still in Empire territory, I finally told everyone to stop and set up shop in the middle of what looked to be nowhere, just beside the top of a steep waterfall."Bacteria are very tiny... animals, you could say, that causes infections and sickness."I paused as I saw a Den from the back of my class raised her hand, "But we can't see them?"It might not be the best location for a fledgling town to start building, but the most important part of any civilization

• The Least Common Denominator   XIV.II Dose Calculation

  "So? What're you gonna teach me?"I stared out into the distant forest below us as I heard Lace energetically bounce around behind me. It was kind of a surprise to see someone that I was pretty sure was already in her mid-twenties be this... full of energy, I guess."I don't know, you tell me."Turning back to my newly-minted disciple, I patiently waited for a reply with my hands folded in front of my chest. It was my own unspoken rule to only teach someone what they wanted to know. Don't get me wrong, I'll force someone to learn the basics whether they wanted to or not, but extra knowledge for specialization was something that I'll never want to force down someone's brain if they didn't want me to.It's a horrible experience that I won't ever wish upon anyone."Uhmm.. you said yesterday that there were other things that caused diseases other than this 'bacteria' thingy."Joy... At least it was a fairly simple, if not

• The Least Common Denominator   XIV.III Dose Calculation

  "An auto-what?""An autoclave," I said out loud as if it was the most basic appliance in the world. "It's gonna be a device that would kill anything that might cause diseases on anything. Metal, containers, glass, you name it."Staring at the design, the main factor of the whole thing was the craftsmanship of the one that would build it. Not that I'm tooting my own horn, but I think I can make an airtight seal without rubber trees through some clever Runecrafting."And I'm gonna help with it, why?""Cause I don't wanna do it by myself."Well, maybe we should actually try to find some rubber trees soon. It would give us a huge advantage in forwarding our tech more."Say that I'm going to help," Lace posited, standing up and approaching me in front of the board. "A

• The Least Common Denominator   XV.I Origin Point

  I never really questioned how or why everyone even believed me whenever I had an idea and told something to be true. Everyone took me at face value far too quickly when compared to the pop media isekai stories that would grill or laugh at someone that told them about modern skills and techniques. Maybe I was just too cynical. In a sense, I was too busy during the initial rebellion to even notice how they would all look at me with a degree of trust that I don't even think I could reciprocate. It made things far too easy to get people to rally behind me.That was until I actually had to lead based on actual leadership."Sit down!""No way! Crimson hadn't even started-""That's because you're annoying her, dumbass!"I massaged my throbbing temples as the clusterfuck in front of me continued on in full-swing. Politicking was never

• The Least Common Denominator   XV.II Origin Point

  A short series of murmurs echoed across the table as I waited patiently for the people in front of me to give me something to work with. I worked best as an all-arounder stopgap measure, improving upon work, and shoring up weaknesses that might go by the idea maker's head.What can I say, I was good at criticizing other people's work but shit with making up my own ones."We can do some farming?" Bart offered out on a half-conviction. "We just plant some of the fruits we foraged and wait it out."I nodded my head. Pretty valid, all things considered. It'll be a main proponent for self-sustainability. If we even manage to get some generic farm animals, maybe some of the wild boar and chickens out in the forest and breed them, we'd be set for the foreseeable future. Problem is..."Care to elaborate?" I gestured towards the large man. "How do we go about this?"Saying that we're gonna farm was very different from actually doing it.

• The Least Common Denominator   XV.III Origin Point

  Huh... That's gonna be interesting..."What do you disagree with, Lace?" I respectfully asked, wholly curious about whatever flaw I had in the plan."Building a wooden wall might be fast, but as Denominators, we can do better," the woman calmly explained. "We might have to start mining soon, but Runecraft will be the deciding factor for everything that we're going to be building in this town of ours."My eyes widened at the logic being displayed in front of me. Holy shit, why didn't I think of this before? "That's... quite smart, actually.""It's only common sense," Lace continued, the usual inquisitiveness and energy she displayed during our sessions strangely missing. "We have to dig deep and lay low if we're to survive whatever the Emperor throws at us."I found myself nodding along as my

• The Least Common Denominator   XVI.I Geophysics

  It's been over a day since that very productive town hall meeting had come to pass. We all had a lot of fun coming up with stuff to improve after everything had been over and done with, and even now, I could see the beginnings of the various sectors of our small town developing into their own subsections on our isolated civilization. A few wooden planks were being erected at the outskirts of the settlement, and a ways away from that, what seemed to be the start of a watchtower was also starting to take shape. It might still all be wooden, but as soon as we got the resources, it'll all be turned into the sturdier and more reliable stone in which we'd also carve in some runes to make it more impenetrable.Which was why I now found myself at the same clearing as last time, in front of my makeshift chalkboard brainstorming with Lace as to how we'd get our materials."Why me again, Leader?" the older woman asked, still skeptical as to why I chose her to help with th

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