The stale air stirred, and the mental waves of the thousands of treeants coalesced into the hive mind of Roth’s pet colony. In the short time that Roth hadn’t engaged with his pet’s hive mind, his speech had become more articulate and fluent, and his voice had become deeper. He wondered whether this was a sign that the ant colony was past adolescence and had reached adulthood. “Benefactor, welcome. Welcome to the land you have given us.”
“It's good to be here,” Roth replied.
The Leafies appreciate your visit.
+1 affection with the Leafies.
“Benefactor, you feel so much more relatable. Your mind feels clearer.”
“I guess we're on the same wavelength,” Roth joked.
“Have you come to inquire about the purpose?”
“Yes. And check on how you're doing. That too.”
“You honor us with your visit, benefactor. You brought us to this land. It’s only proper that you see what we’ve made of it. Please wait.”
Roth didn't know why the Lord of the Oak had asked him to wait, but the message's mental undertones were apologetic and promised a short wait. Roth used the time to check the Leafies’ character sheet.
Leafies (Pet)
Pet rating: A+
Lvl. 39
Queen: Lea
Soldiers: 4312
Workers: 54124
Affection: 88/100
Weight Lifting: 96 kg
Dexterity: 139
Intelligence: 170
Strength: 165
Subterfuge: 76
Skills: [Ant Constructs III], [Bioenergy Power Grid II], [Bite], [Fire Ant Swarm], [Forage], [Hunt], [Poisonous Bite], [Scavenge], [Tiny House], [Tree Pulse], [Tribute]
Professions: [Aphid Husbandry ], [Bioengineering II], [Chitinsmithing III], [Fungi Farming], [Leaf Weaving]
Even though the colony’s progress at first was painstakingly slow, once it had been planted here for long enough, it had exploded. The overall population was almost at the 60,000 mark!
Despite being able to read through each of his pet’s skill descriptions, there was much he didn’t know, especially regarding the Leafies’ professions. He was looking forward to finding out more, particularly about bioengineering.
Ten soldiers marched out of the golden acorn leading into the Lindstors’ greenhouse. Their mandibles were equipped with pieces of carapaces from other insects. Some were bluish-black, others green, brown, and even some, strangely enough, red with black polka dots. Mandiblades weren’t the only piece of equipment worn by the guard. Their bodies were also covered in leaves. Even though the equipment was rudimentary compared to what he’d seen in Antioch, it was a sign of the colony’s development.
The soldiers surrounded him. For a moment, Roth wondered whether the Leafies distrusted him and thought he had to be kept under guard, but the Lord soon dispelled Roth’s worries. “I’m sorry, benefactor. There are dangers in these lands. We don’t eradicate all enemies because that’s detrimental to our growth. Some might attack. Please forgive us for assigning you an escort.”
Roth smiled. They weren’t worried about him; they were worried for him. “Thank you for your concern.”
The Lord began the tour. “You stand in front of the gate leading into the core of our empire, the Oak Holdings. To your left, you can find the gate that leads into the Dune Holdings, and to the right, the one that leads to the Flowerbed Holdings.”
Flashes of sandy soil, paddocks enclosing scorpions, exotic cacti, and other rare plants flashed in his mind, followed by the fragrance of flowers, flying petals, and ladybugs herded by fully equipped treeant soldiers.
“You’ve already taken hold of two other greenhouses?”
“Yes, although the Flowerbed Holdings did put up an incredible fight. The others will be fairly easy to occupy. They’re much smaller.”
A series of flashes of warring ants fighting ladybugs and casualties on both sides passed through their mental link, and Roth felt the urge to gag: so much strife, so much death. Were his pets really this ruthless? Even though the thought sickened him, the truth was that Roth could do nothing about it. He forced himself to focus on something else. “Why did you install golden acorns into each gate?”
“Those are central points in the grid. Golden castles allow for finer control and better energy transfer.”
“So they work like power stations. Nice. What about humans? Are they onto you yet?”
“They know something is wrong. They keep introducing more prey into our holdings but haven't seen us yet.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Roth smiled. “By the time they find you, it will be too late. I want to see how the work is progressing. Lead the way.”
The soldiers marched ahead of him and into the golden acorn. Roth had to crawl to get into the gate. As a safety precaution, there wasn’t a straight path cut from one side of the acorn to the other. Instead, one had to go through a series of winding corridors to get to the other side. Workers carried grain, pieces of insect meat, trash, litter, or whatever else needed transport.
The path soon slanted downward, and the material that made up the ramp shifted from a golden wooden consistency to rock. They were underground. Roth followed after the soldiers until they came to an intersection.
One path led upward, and the other downward, deeper into the tunnels. The soldiers marched upward, where a crew of workers operated a biomechanism ahead of them. A bundle of roots gleamed blue and untangled, letting in a thin light beam.
The entrance was further covered with dead leaves. The soldiers held up one of the leaves so that Roth could take a look. Roth peeked through the hole and saw what the Lord called the Oak Holdings.
A vast plain with fallen acorns stretched as far as his eyes could see. A large, ancient oak tree stood close to the rocky wall where Roth had dug a tunnel. Even though the tree in the palatial clearing had been much bigger, the oak tree, with its green foliage and thick, rugged bark, was still an impressive sight.
Roth had seen this landscape in his standard size through the greenhouse's glass. However, seeing it from this covert perspective and knowing that his ants controlled all of this was still pretty cool.
“This vantage point grants you a view of where you first planted our castle: the Field of Fallen Fortresses. We’ll show you the center of our empire next. It’s safer to travel through the underground complex. Please, follow the guards into the tunnels.”
Roth obeyed and walked back to the intersection. Behind them, the workers replaced the dead leaves carefully and urged the roots to close, hiding the entrance. He followed the guards back to the intersection, this time veering downward.
“I’m sorry, Benefactor. I can see that you are uncomfortable. I didn’t make this tunnel thinking of visitors.”
“That’s okay.” Here, Roth wasn’t as cramped as in the acorn, and he could walk hunched instead of crawling. If he had to crawl the whole way, it would have been more challenging, and after years in prison and all the time he’d spent in Antioch, he was kind of used to this.
Everywhere he looked, workers were digging more soil, expanding the network of tunnels. Roots followed the tunnels, entwining and pulsing as bioenergy coursed through them. They reminded him simultaneously of the pipelines installed in Hillsford's sewers and the veins of a beating heart.
The soldiers reached an intersection, and the Lord explained to Roth what lay beyond. “Benefactor, down that way is the nursery and our queen. But first, we want to show you the Oak Palace.”
The tunnels began slanting upwards, and Roth felt the strain of gravity. He was led up a spiraling tower made of soil and then wood. They were inside the oak tree. “This is our center of operations, the heart of our empire,” the Lord of the Oak said proudly.
“I can see that,” Roth commented as workers dug into the tree's bark. They were doing what he’d seen so many carpenter treeants do in Antioch: carving channels for bioenergy to flow through. The bioenergy channels here were much more straightforward than in Antioch, but the energy flow seemed robust and plentiful.
A group of workers walked in the direction opposite Roth’s party, and he celebrated, seeing they were carrying white, squishy blobs. Roth rushed ahead of the group, following the direction the workers had come from, and finally found a chamber with a group working in tandem, helping larvae spin silk.
“The weaver genome,” Roth exclaimed happily. He had chosen this genome as part of the Leafies’ DNA because he loved seeing how they had their own version of tailoring. This was the first time he saw the Leafies work with silk up close. “What can you do with silk?”
“Our memories of how to weave thread are fuzzy. For now, we’re just working on spinning spools. With time and more experience, we hope to expand the number of items we can make.”
“Good! I’m happy to hear it.”
“Shall we continue the tour, benefactor?” the Lord prompted.
Roth kept inspecting the tree, escorted by the guards. He saw a previous landfill being cleaned by workers transporting the garbage down the tree and into the back tunnels Roth had dug. He found chitinsmiths sawing at what was left of scorpions, cutting and adjusting their hard shells to adjust them into weapons and armor for the soldiers.
However, what he saw the most was larders—storehouses filled with resources and food. Since he hadn’t added the honeypot treeant genome to the Leafies, the food wasn’t stored inside the bloated stomachs of ant cooks but was kept in old-fashioned pantries. Roth almost choked as he spotted a snakefruit and a couple of other stat boosters he’d eaten before thrown next to grass seeds in one of the larders. The treeants were filthy rich!
Dreaming of his pet handing him some generous tribute at the end of the tour, Roth followed the soldiers until he reached the oak tree canopy. Several workers shepherded flocks of aphids feeding on the tree sap and converting it into honeydew. He also spotted workers cutting pieces of leaves and bringing them into the trunk to use as fodder for fungi farms. Seeing how they were only taking tiny fragments from the foliage at the tree's center, Roth nodded approvingly. They were being careful not to be spotted by the gardeners.
“Behold, benefactor. Here is the land that you gave us. Here are the Oak Holdings.”
Roth followed the Lord’s mental nudge and admired the landscape. From here, Roth could see the whole garden. Giant plants, verdant bushes, colorful flowers, and juicy fruits stretched up to the greenhouse's hazy, translucent horizon. Little could the gardeners know that beneath the soil, his pets were building a massive city and reaping the riches of these plants.
“This is impressive. You’ve done excellent work.”
“Thank you, benefactor. Do you wish to see the nursery and the queen’s chambers?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“What about the Dune Holdings and the Bedflower Holdings?”
Even though Roth would have loved to take the whole tour, time was running out, and he still had to make a run to the auction house. “Maybe next time. What I would like to see is the drilling operation.”
“Very well.”
Roth followed the soldiers down the tree again, made it underground, and followed after the soldiers as they got farther and farther from the tree. The path continued downward the whole way, and the roots following the tunnel pulsed more fiercely. After a few minutes of marching, Roth found that the tunnels were getting hotter. Roth wiped his forehead and saw that he was drenched in sweat. Why was it so hot in here?
Finally, he and his escort arrived at a giant chamber. Before them was the glass wall that shielded the greenhouse from the public garden. The glass wasn’t perfectly smooth. In an indenture of the glass, a group of ants maneuvered a piece of machinery partially crafted from scorpion shells and pieces of golden acorns. Roots from multiple tunnels converged into the machine, causing the scorpion’s stinger to flash and sizzle, making the glass incandescent.
A few workers cut the hot glass using mandiblades and carried it out of the way to cool and to be transported away by a crew of porters.
“That is the stinger drill, one of our latest creations.”
“How much is there left?”
“We’re one-third of the way through. The glass is strong, benefactor.”
“Perfect timing.” Roth stared at his hands and thought back to when Griffin had helped him open the portal into the Dark Abyss. He then looked down at where he’d be crafting and thought of how he needed to start a conflict between the slaver factions. “I want to take a closer look.”
The soldiers marched ahead of Roth as he cracked his neck. It was time to accelerate his plans.