Chapter 12: Area Survey
dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 examined the captured village. Sensor spikes dotted the area, granting him vision. The last surviving goblin added to the data as it scanned the village. The village was composed of houses made of logs with roofs of straw. Many of these in turn contained workshops filled with rudimentary tools, their uses unknown to dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0. The only familiar facility was a forge, a simple oven meant for heating metal obvious even to him. Yet it was something which he could not use. He could reprogram a molecular printer to make chemical weapons, retool an electronics production line to make more implants of his own kind, or hijack a fusion power plant, but crafting and tinkering was beyond his abilities. There was plenty of salvaged equipment, but most of it was low quality: spears, shovels, knives, wooden shields and large four-pronged spears.
Still, there were things of greater use. A few houses contained books, most notably the main building, which contained both books and a map. The scale was off and it only contained the largest scale data about the area, obviously drawn by hand, but it was information about nearby inhabited locations. The distribution of settled areas was unfamiliar to dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0. His earlier operations had either been in isolated mining outposts over major resource deposits, largely autonomous and self-contained, or large sprawling megacities which swallowed all natural terrain and replaced it with skyscrapers, roads and factories. Instead villages dotted the area along rivers and lakes, with towns placed where many rivers or roads met, and a single city to the south, bordering a larger lake which did not fit on the map. A major road led to the east.
His interrogation of the elder revealed his location as the village of Esterland. Directly to the west was an area marked as Esterland Bog, his location. To the north, along the same river as Esterland, was the village of Rosewood. The east and north-east was marked as mountainous and had several rivers leading from it, each with a couple of villages along them. The rivers combined as they continued to the south-west. A location where three became one was marked as the town of Riveg. The river continued soutwest, before heading almost straight south until it reached the city of Bronzetown and the large lake.
Two targets presented themselves to dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0. The path south, containing the town and city, promising more resources and information. And the path north, to eliminate the team of three and regain the cores. According to the map, the distance to both was much larger than the distance between his cave and Esterland. The decision was simple. The main advantage of his kind was always speed, the ability to react faster and to move from target to target without rest or hesitation. When given time, natural species would innovate, they would learn and they would develop countermeasures. Combat efficiency would fall, and result in higher losses and a slower speed of conquest. And he was alone, with no network for support, only his own mind to adapt to the strategies they would create. He would not spend time attempting to block the spread of intel and regaining lost resources, but instead head south, eliminating the capacity to act based on that intel. The lost cores were already being reproduced.
That left the books as a potential source of greater information. Many of the books were largely incomprehensible to dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0, filled with metaphors and parables for which he lacked the context, plus new words not present in his database of the language. With the rest he was unsure if they were fiction or reality. The only pieces of real confirmed information being a listing of births and deaths in the village, a book about the uses of plants and mushrooms, and a listing of gods which he almost dismissed as fiction until his processing noticed that one of them matched what he had seen.
Varav, the God of Space and Connection, was described as looking like a fracture in space, its Avatars usually moving at high speed and teleporting from place to place. dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 considered what it meant that there was a fleet of cloaked ships, apparently referred to as Avatars, patrolling the region. One of them attacked whatever tried to hack him prior, implying there was an ongoing conflict. It would be a good strategy to let them fight amongst themselves as long as possible. Also a potential source of communications equipment. He needed to gather more information about this god.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
There were six others as well.
Kynara, the God of Purification and Destruction. Its Avatars described as humanoid figures composed of bright flames and capable of generating massive explosions. It was described as the most active god, causing widespread destruction based on largely unknown criteria, with the only definitively known one being the corruption of Skills. A criteria which dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 did not understand.
Aaris, the God of Creation and Rage, who had no Avatars beyond a single humanoid of constantly changing shape and size. He was said to have been imprisoned under the mountain Vederakk, where few who enter survive, and the rest emerge driven to madness. A non-threat if he remained imprisoned.
Reohr and Ehtin, the Twin Gods of Knowledge, whose Avatars were like walking dreams, where each person sees something different. Their presence etched knowledge of their existence into the minds, skin and bones of anyone who saw them, marking them for the rest of their lives if they somehow survived. The book ordered that all children be taught of the existence of these gods as soon as they show signs of awareness, and that all must learn to write the names.
Phasus, the God of Life and Death, whose Avatar were swarms. The book did not specify what the swarms were composed of, merely that they turned deserts into fertile land and fertile lands into deserts at a whim by their presence. The inhabitants of these places were either consumed by plants, or consumed by the swarm.
And the last, Yros, the God of Lies. In the book was only its name and title, no other details.
dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 analyzed this data. There were more details in the book, but they contained too many references to events and cultural concepts which he could not parse. Assuming this data was correct, there were a lot of powerful entities on this planet which were not associated with the humans. Any of them could be on the other side of the connections which existed to control him, even if they had been subverted by his Aspect. He would have to pay attention to them.
While he was examining the books, dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 was in the process of upgrading. He had already boosted the speed of the upgrade by 500% for 1984 mana, reducing total time to 16 hours until completion. He began spreading southward, along a forest path which seemed clear enough for vehicles to pass through. There was more vegetation here than in the small forest islet in the middle of the bog, leading to higher mana gains and a higher speed of spread.
With generated excess mana he finally finished his initial experimentation of creatures. He formed a troll core from a larger knife in one of the buildings. The process much the same as with the other cores, with only the runes differing. The spawned creature was a large and gray humanoid, approximately 3.7 meters in height, but made shorter by a naturally hunched posture. It had extremely thick and craggly skin and powerful muscles, which it could use to swing a wooden club it spawned with. It was slow, but powerful, which made it weak to anything that could outrange it.
dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 tested its defenses by having two goblins grab a spear and stab it into the creature at maximum power. It pierced the skin and reached the softer internals of the creature, although not to any significant depth. He despawned it immediately and had one of the goblins grab the knife as a secondary weapon. The archer could immediately kill it with its powerful arrow shots. The only possible use for it was to grant it a ranged weapon, a bow of sufficient size and strength to make use of its strength from range without its speed being a major hindrance.
The hours passed, as dGhl-IHBy-b3Rh-Z29u-aXN0 spread towards the south, sweeping the area clean of vegetation in the process. He spawned additional goblins and fortified the area around his crystal. It had now become economical for him to attempt to improve his mana generation efficiency, and so he began to excavate and expand the cave entrance. Day turned to night and he took a snapshot of the stars. There were no anomalies this day. Night turned to day and two goblins assigned to escort the tendril south saw a traveler on the road. Someone poorly armored, but well armed and bedecked in cores.