They arrived at the pen doors, and found the feeder. A short imp with horns that stuck up and then veered backwards at a jaunty angle that The Chieftain found pleasing to the eye. His horns were large and bulky and were built into his head. The member’s basket of food laid, dropped on the ground. Various, cooked, large cubes of meat the size of hearts were left scattered across the ground. The feeders' legs shook uncontrollably as they sat on the ground awe struck. And it didn’t take The Chief long to see why.

The mana in the air made him sick.

The air usually had thin traces floating, that was normal. Every being naturally releases mana with their breath, actions, and movements. With the springtime being the most dense season. As New life brought creatures old and new. The old being the ones returning from deep underground. Reinvigorated by the winter's dense bounty.

But this.

This stunk.

He could see the way the air around him had been tinted green. And as a wizard it was affecting him much more than his companions.

The feeder was looking up while trying its best not to piss itself. And The Chief, while covering his nose, followed his eyes.

Surprise.

The tree was humongous. And odd looking. A large green set of leaves that he’d never seen in his days. Deep brown wood that matched the dirt exterior of the dome. The top half of the dirt igloo had grown a green mossy overgrowth. The moss dripped down into large clumps of fauna that hung in front of the door.

Shoji grabbed the feeder by the scruff, and slammed the shaking man against the dome's door. “What happened here?” He asked the question accusatively. Immediately assuming the poor feeder had done or saw who did.

“I-I don’t know! There was just a bright green light from i-inside and then a tree just–,” The man’s stutter was almost as bad as The Chieftains' was when he’d seen Todo by the waterfall.

“Guys! This isn’t important,” Todo said, cutting them off, “The children,”

Shoji’s eyes immediately widened. He tossed the poor imp aside like a sack of potatoes. Moving out of the way of the door.

The chieftain immediately handed the sword to Shoji and started putting in the combination. He hit the spots he needed to, way faster than before. The ambient mana that had supercharged the dirt dome made it less than an effort.

He was surprised that the door hadn’t just flung open the minute that all of this energy was poured into it.

The door slowly lowered. Flecks of moss and dirt falling as the door sunk into the floor. Shoji stood in front of them, his sword at the ready. The chieftain’s heart beat at a feverous pace. He fully expected the worst to have happened. Anything with that much magic probably wouldn’t want anything good with a crowd of monster children.

They walked in tentatively.

Then, as an even bigger surprise.

Everything was fine.

More than fine actually.

The walls of the dome had been filled with glowing white flowers. Some hanging down from the fantastic roots that got three quarters down. Some, just laying on the now overgrown walls. He was wowed by the sheer force of magic displayed. Nothing like he’d seen before. He’d always thought of magic as shooting out a fireball, or erasing someone with your bare hands, or causing a landslide with a swish of your hand.

He’d never thought It could create like this.

“Is it a sign?” Shoji said.

“Must be…” Todo said, her voice full of wonder.

He looked up at the roots.

Hmm..

What should he do?

“To destroy them… would be considered an affront, right?” The chieftain thought aloud. Gods. If he was wrong he could endanger the lives of these children. But, if he was right… He looked over at one of the children who had cupped their hands. The mere sparks that they were making before becoming mighty balls of growth.

The mana seemed to be enhancing their growth.

“Shoji.”

“Yes sir,”

“Tell the feeders to work on constant rotation, constant mana will require a lot of food.” The chieftain said. The feeders were the only others told the combination to get inside. He didn’t like alot of people knowing how to get in the pen, but this was a rare occasion. He’d have to teach more from the production tent.

“Make sure the children are under constant watch. This tree and its mana may be good in its growth but it could be dangerous, we don’t know how or this tree’s species evolves.”

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Shoji nodded, and walked over to The Chieftains' shadow. Hopping into it with his arms crossed.

Handy.

The chieftain rubs his hands together. “I believe we came here for a purpose?”

Todo nods her head, smiling. “I’ve never done it for this many people in a long time.”

“Remember the day you evolved, the days before the invasion?”

Her face turned beat red. “The chieftain even commissioned you a big red pillow for you to sit on.” It was his turn to make her embarrassed. The entire town had come over to see her evolution. The rising intrigue of a walking myth.

A monster that could see the future.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an ability she currently had.

But,

Trying her best to ignore the comment, she breathed in and focused. Raising her arms up, and letting her sleeves drop. Ten to twenty lines along each arm revealed themselves. She raised her arms in the air and closed her eyes. Gold flakes of light hovered around her and swirled.

The light around the room seemed to darken a bit.

The chieftain wondered if the mana in the air had improved her abilities at all. Wind whipped around her and she threw one arm to the side.

Snap.

In an instant, all her eyes were glowing that nuclear green. Not just her eyes on her face.

All of them.

Along her arm all of her slits revealed to show about ten to twenty eyes along each arm. All moving asynchronously from her body. Her eyes became cloudy as words began to fall out of her mouth almost robotically.

[“Race: Dodomeki. M.

Affinities: Wind, Fire, Truth.

Blessings: Battle Man's Intuition, The Guardians Favor.”

Titles: Chief’s Guard, Martial Master. Todo Meki.”]

Her voice almost sounded like someone else was talking at the same time as her. Like someone was guiding her words. She seemed so stiff in this state, like a porcelain doll.

She could read out what everyone’s present was.

That was her ability.

Which was a powerful ability in and out of combat.

He pointed to one of the babies who had watched her in awe. And like a machine she moved without even being asked.

[“Race: Imp. C.

Affinities: Fire.

Blessings:

Titles:”]

The chieftain smiled as she moved. Rattling off the children in the center. He kept his ears open. Keeping a lookout for things like dual affinities or rare ones.

Occasionally, he heard things like, water along with fire, Or air and fire, or only air.

Almost all of the kids had some kind of affinity. Which was rare. Incredibly rare. Usually it was around half and half, but they had hit a fantastic run. He attributed all the ambient mana in the air. Shoji teleported back into the room when they were done gauging the ones in the center.

“How’s it going so far?” He asked. The chieftain lifted his hand, showing three fingers. Shoji looked disappointed. “Only three with magic, damn.” He looked upset.

But not surprised. “That amount of weak blood could be a problem,” He quickly turned around, “Let me go talk to the ta–”

“No.” The chief cut him off, breaking into a smile. “Three duds.”

“Only three!?”

The chieftain smiled wide. “And that boy, right there,” They pointed to one of the larger boys in the center. “He’s got three affinities, Shoji. Three!”

Shoji’s eyes bulged.

The boy had a pebble congealed in a glowing red mass of fire. Hovering it around itself with very low effort. “He has been touched by the Goddess of Flames, and has talent to boot.”

The bodyguard whistled, “We gotta keep training, or that kid will be leading us.”

The chieftain laughed and smiled. He was happy, he knew this group would surprise them. Todo walked over to them, eyes slowly falling. She gave him a quick cross of her arms. A demonic salute. She was clearly exhausted, her heavy sleeves causing her even more fatigue. “That’s… All of them.” She said,

“Hmm, How many did you do?”

“All fifteen.” She said,

Fifteen? He looked in the group and realized he’d only pointed to the group of fifteen babies and completely ignored the lesser imps. It seemed she hadn’t recognized the order and ignored the small bunch huddled together.

“Todo, could you please check the last five imps over there? The pink ones?” He could immediately feel her apprehension as he gave the order. But unfortunately, he saw her tattoo, which slightly climbed her neck, slightly glow. She really couldn’t refuse.

“We could do it tomorrow if you–”

“No, it’s fine.” She said, sighing. She lifted her sleeves and summoned all of her power again. All her eyes were now slightly more droopy, less alert as when they were when they had started. The two friends followed her as she stumbled toward the group of five.

The one who had the intelligence blessing layed on the ground motionless, in the deepest of sleep. One of the imps with two of the tiniest horns sat in front of his sleeping pen mate in a criss-crossed formation. The Chief found him adorable. The other three seat slightly further away from the two of them, huddled together, giving the impression of not liking their peers too much.

Hmm.

Shoji sucked his teeth as she began to read off their affinities. She started with the tiny horned one.

[“Amass Imp.

Affinities: Earth, Fire, Mana.

Blessings: Flame Goddesses kiss.

Titles: Goblins' wisdom. Navy.”]

The two demon’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads. “Titles???” Shoji was flabbergasted. And The chief wasn’t that far from that emotion either. How could a child have titles at this young of an age?

They hadn’t done anything.

The chieftain rubbed his chin. “And what under the stars is a Navy?” The little child looked up at them with a slight smile on their face. A telling understanding in its gaze.

Two knowledge blessings in one group… And they were both with the lessers. The Chieftain didn’t like the “Goblins wisdom” for obvious reasons, but if that was the reason the kid had that glint in his eye then… So be it.

Tentatively, his posse moved over to the sleeping boy behind him. Shoji was sweating as he listened to his friend list the boy's profile.