Learning more about my Dark Elf heritage was interesting, but only academically. Once I was confident that a bloodthirsty band of assassins wouldn't be attempting to track us down, I filed the information away as irrelevant. Whatever advantages I might have gained were minimal at best.

It wasn't like my Mother was a Dark Elf princess. She had come from a small House, and only misfortune and greed had seen that House fall. Now that Mother had shared her story, there was no reason not to revive her House. I was conflicted with how I should feel about Geon or Syha taking up the reigns of that fallen House and cutting out their own personal small fiefdom.

I wanted and hoped they would remain part of House Myche, but that may have just been selfish. If they could grow stronger and gain advantages by forming House Mytle, they should. I would offer whichever sibling decided to revive that fallen House a place within Clan Frost if one of them decided to resurrect a House that had been destroyed long ago.

There was no reason they couldn't be a minor House under the umbrella of House Myche. I didn't have to worry about Dark Elf assassins targeting my family, but I would keep an eye on Geon and Syha. They might get it in their heads to seek justice or vengeance.

Zui pinged me using the offshoot gestalt mind I had managed to form. The bastardized version I had come up with was serviceable, but it didn't have near the functionality of the Hindel Gestalt.

They allowed direct and comprehensive communication in their mind-space. Just as valuable was that no matter how distant or powerful an individual was, the mind-scape allowed an avatar to be formed. An avatar of mental energy that could traverse the mindscape and travel at the speed of thought to speak with anyone, anywhere, that was part of their gestalt.

My gestalt was not so advanced.

Alpha had suggested I could strengthen the connections by making a study of patterns. If I could become a pattern master, I could tweak the links between each mind into a more efficient gestalt. Once enough minds had been added, that pattern would become inviolable. And as a pattern master, I could monitor the health of the gestalt as a whole, identifying and shoring up weaknesses.

For now, it worked more like a pager system than anything else. People could ping you to gain your attention, but the comm devices were better suited for any real communication. They were simply more efficient than trying to decode a series of pings used to send Morse-code-like messages.

I didn't bother using my comm to contact Zui. I knew what she needed. I had asked her to send me a mental ping to remind me that the hunting party was ready. I had a few individuals that were House members to help clear the caves under the Clan Keep being built. I hoped to finish that quickly so I could plant the spirit seed that I had been saving for a few years now.

I left the medical facilities Na had established at the Dojo feeling a small amount of guilt and reservation. If I had known Geon and Syha would form a Spirit Root, I would not have scheduled today's hunt. But I hadn't, and I was smart enough to recognize that my feelings of guilt were misplaced.

There was nothing I could do now. Geon and Syha were Cultivators, which meant that they would share the same issues that all Cultivators labored under. Progress would be a grind as they advanced across the realms. I would help them as I could, beginning with sourcing the gems they needed to form a Crystal matrix. That was easy.

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I already had Aki sorting through the libraries of jade and quartz tokens I had gathered from within the Mystic Realm; I would have her expand her search to look for appropriate skills that would synergize well with their Spirit roots. The major holdup at this point was waiting for them to adapt so that we could test for an affinity.

That presented its own problem. Without knowing what element or elements they were aligned with, Aki could only select martial techniques and general skills that worked with most affinities.

"House Leader," Siam greeted me once I arrived at the cave system we were about to explore. Siam, Zui, Mao, and Ming had gathered to join me in this expedition, each the most powerful House Cultivator within their sphere of expertise.

Siam as a Beast Tamer. Mao was an earth affinity Cultivator. Ming was our array specialist. And Zui was a strategist. Her experience in creating order out of disorder for resources and personnel allowed her to gain insight and formulate responses and strategies as events occurred.

Zui had been the only member I had been hesitant to recruit. I thought her skill set was better suited to deal with whatever resources we plundered after the delve. Siam relieved me of that opinion by informing me that Zui was light-aligned and had learned and mastered martial techniques that allowed her to brandish light as a weapon and shield.

She was able to focus her affinity to release laser beams that seared through her targets with breathtaking efficiency. Even better, the wounds she created on what she killed were made with pinpoint accuracy, allowing more of the beast to be harvested.

"Are we ready?" I asked, sure that Zui wouldn't have pinged me if we weren't.

"Yes, House Leader," Zui said, confirming the group's readiness.

"The last time I entered the cave system, I encountered Compsognathus and Desmodus draculae. I think I managed to wipe out the Compsognathus, and without the tier four Desmodus draculae around to mind control a new herd, I think the upper passages I explored will remain relatively clear."

"They are," Siam assured me. "Lee Wu was able to stealth through the upper and middle tunnels to create a map for us. A large colony of Giant Oilbirds has claimed the upper levels.

"They are relatively harmless, living on a diet of fruit and nuts. They are nocturnal and use echolocation like bats. Lee Wu noticed that the sounds the birds make interfere with the bats' echolocation, and any animal unfortunate enough to encounter an Oilbird becomes disoriented.

"As for the rest, Giant snakes and scorpions have managed to claim sections of the upper tunnels. As he went deeper, he discovered a maze of Orb Weaver Spiders. They shouldn't present much of a problem. They are small and easily killed."

"You might consider leaving them alone if they are out of the way," Zui suggested. "If their silk can be harvested, it might have properties we can use to expand the silk and cloth industries you are subsidizing."

"He came across giant cockroaches and scarabs at the deepest level he could safely navigate. He might have been able to travel further, but there was also a species of Millipede that had a way of detecting him.

"They broadcast his location to the surroundings, and he was forced to escape using a talisman of confusion."

"Did his perception allow him to register and record the tier of everything he encountered?" I asked.

"It did," Zui replied, "most species were tier two, but the deeper he traveled, the more powerful the beasts he encountered. Those Millipedes were tier four. That is probably why they were able to ignore his stealth field."

That could be problematic. I had reached Nascent Soul Realm and should be able to deal with anything up to tier five with a group helping. Possibly a weak tier six if our affinities were natural counters. If there were beasts even more powerful beyond that, I would need to reassess and ask Clement for help or contact the Hindel to see if I could hire them.

I was pretty sure that as a [Voice], I had the authority to call upon any nearby pod, but I hadn't tested that authority yet. And I was sure there were limits involved. The Hindel would not want to be used as a means to solve all of my problems. If the deeper levels contained beasts beyond my ability to clear, I might decide if it was time to test that authority.