“Progeny is cumbersome.”

“They are a pain to deal with.”

“It's hard to control them, yet no control is very bad for them.”

“It's hard to keep them controlled because of their seemingly endless energy to explore and understand.”

“They will get into all kinds of trouble. They will get themselves stuck in seemingly weird situations.”

“Depending on the Race and Species, most won't survive till adulthood. And if they don't, then all that Time and Effort invested into their protection and education gets wasted.”

“Therefore, care for them, for Progeny is the Future while you are the Past.”

“But most of all, do not ever give them an easy childhood, for they will not learn or understand the harshness of Reality.”

“For a harsh Reality sculpted you, and so IT will do unto them.”

#Quote 20 - Book of Races and Species.

*

Dream Realm - Ho’Ney

In front of me levitated a great sphere of two meters in diameter.

Its whole body was made out of obsidian gold glass, just like all the buildings I made in the Dream Realm.

In honesty, all I was doing was following a theme that Goldy started.

Still, I liked it, as I was able to make very decent architecture out of them.

The best part was that I did not need to worry about all the material factors and forces a building had to be exposed to.

I could have gone bonkers and made everything spindly, curvy or squishy, etc, etc.

Ultimately, I stuck with the basics all of Humanity had to deal with, a stacking stone architecture-building style.

Only made out of obsidian gold glass instead of real stone.

To enforce the majesty, I took some inspiration from the age-old structures that Ancient Humanity had to offer. The greatest inspiration came from Ancient Greece and Roman architecture with the big columns and so on.

Still, I doubted what I had built so far would pass the quality requirements of architects, but they were not here to nag at me, and neither were they needed.

Anyway

The Central Intelligence of the Reward System is done, for the most part.

At least, the main part here in the Dream Realm. I still had to design the receiving ends every Honey Badger would receive at birth, probably.

The idea was to create a small attachment to every Honey Badger’s Consciousness. The extension would substitute the first Dream layer of the Onion-styled Consciousness design.

With it, Cirsy would then be able to scan a Honey Badger for precise measurements of their advancements in every possible metric I could think of, or will think of.

That way, a generalized spectrum analysis of statistics would be available. And with every Honey Badger added, that statistic would grow. So when needed, it would be possible to compare every Individual’s achievements to every other Honey Badger, even the Honey Badgers who existed in the past.

But like everything in Life, a wrench had to be thrown into your plans. So, Reality tossed a dozen on mine.

Before actually enabling such a proposition, I first had to understand at what point I should facilitate said system for the Individual.

In truth, I would love for my Honey Badgers to have it from the start.

However, the biggest wrench is my lacking understanding of the Third Stage of Ascension, where simple but bigger creatures achieve the humanoid stage.

Too many variables get introduced with it. And if that was not enough, I had to deal with the foreign metaphysical object given to the Ascended individuals in question.

The Soul was an interesting little thing I learned from the Original Mir.

Straying away from detailed discussions. Basically, when boiled down, a Soul is an interdimensional metaphysical identification tag.

Being what it was, you're not born with one but assigned one.

At what stage of life depended on the local Rules and Laws. Those same Rules and Laws determine the functions of a Soul.

The Soul itself could have a lot of functions. However, one fundamental part is inherent to the Soul.

The Soul acts as the go-between Reality and the Individual.

Therefore, the Individual has access to Reality and thus, its acting agent, Mana.

Sigh. Even if I include the Golden Flame from the Special Ability, it's no wonder those Golden FireBalls continued such Power.

With Reality enforcing the behavior of the Fire Ball, it is a wonder my White Flame Construct held at all against the Old Diviner.

Shaking away the image of the Old…Lion, I returned to my current line of thought.

Those aside, I actually regret not taking a closer glimpse at the Souls of the two humanoid Lions I helped.

It was what it was.

There also laid the crux of the big ass wrench blocking my way forward.

Do I create my own version of the Soul for the Honey Badgers? Or do I wait for them to gain one?

By achieving Ascension on their own, I could hijack them for my own nefarious purposes. Or, maybe combine the two? Because I refuse to have my Honey Badgers start from scratch every time.

Sigh, whatever my choice, I still have time to decide.

However, minion growth still takes time. It's time to attempt fixing that wrench.

Done with my little introspection, I teleport myself to the Observation Platform beside Goldy in his Mirror form.

Instantly, Goldy’s golden-slitted iris stared at me.

It was a bit weird how his gaze could look in both directions simultaneously on the silvered mirrored surface.

To ease each other's experiences, I gave Goldy a paltry tip of mine. I had him scale down the iris facing the backside of his mirror's surface, and shift it at the top near the golden-scaled frame.

That way, whenever I appeared and interacted with him, the mirrored surface came to mirror a tablet from Earth, at least in style.

Everything else was just a tiny plus at this point.

Gazing at Goldy’s golden-slitted iris, I spoke. “Goldy. It's time we talked about your Progeny.”

“MY… Progeny?” Came the slightly flabbergasted reply.

“Did you already forget the fact? Remember, I mentioned Spirits wanting Progeny during your… Ascension?” I asked him with a slight tilt of my head.

As I asked, I stood on my rear legs. My spine pointed straight into the sky, well… My Sky.

During all this time, I experimented slightly on my biological control and the transformation I had access to thanks to Transcendence.

It was a slow-going process, as I had no template upon which to unload the process for everything to become automatic.

Luckily, I had the Blueprint the Original Mir gave me to ease the process of experimentation.

Over time, I deduced how to walk on two legs without a problem. However, as I had no additional mass to add, all I could do right now was to slightly alter my bone and muscle structure to ease everything going on.

Overall, my current look strongly resembled a certain Racoon from a specific movie in a respective franchise, only Honey Badger style.

Coming out of his tiny and short daze, I saw Goldy’s eye slightly widen at the realization that it would have children, if different from what typically existed out there in Reality.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“How… will this happen, Master? And what will my Progeny look like?” Goldy wondered as he stared at me.

“Making it happen is pretty straightforward.” I replied. “It will be similar to how your Ascension occurred. The difficult part is defining your Progeny. How will they act and progress to reach your current form? And the most difficult part will be defining how the action of procreation happens, as it needs to be streamlined for your Progeny to have access to it.”

“Let's start with the basics of agreements.” I said. “The base form of your progeny will be Obsidian Gold Honey Badger form, right?”

For an instant, I saw Goldy’s eye dilute as if its attention were cloudy. “Umm. Yes, Master. That would be the most optimum form.”

“Good.” I said. “With that being the case, my next guess will be that your progeny will start as cubs. Speaking of cubs, how are Magi’s cubs doing?”

As if knowing my thoughts, a projection appeared on Goldy’s backside.

It featured a mother and her two cubs.

“From all my current observations, they appear to be healthy, Master.” Goldy explained. “They have just opened their eyes. But since there is little to see in their Den, they haven't seen much. On the other hand, their bodily activity has caused them to become far more active as well. Only Magi’s bigger stature prevented them from slowly reaching for the light at the entrance of the Den.”

“Good, good.” I say to the Mirror with relief. “Before we make the final decisions regarding your progeny, I want you to study the behavior of these cubs and all the other Honey Badgers. I think you won't have any problems with reaching the adolescent ones out there in Reality. I want you to understand their behavior as much as possible.”

That said, my gaze left the Mirror surface and shifted to the inner walls defining the First Layer of my Dream Realm. With a tiny bit of focused Intent, my gaze penetrated the metaphysical wall representing the boundary, and I gazed at the wonders of the Dream World.

What I saw immediately would make no sense to a waking mind, at least, at first glance.

I've grown used to wonky stuff. So when I gazed at a weird landscape of formed and deformed trees, landscapes, rivers, mountains, and even the sky, it simply did not bother me.

Instead, I acted as if it was normal and simply went with the flow.

Stickin' my gaze on the weird sight, I continued my talk with Goldy. “Since your Progeny are Spirit based, they don't have to have all the characteristics of a newborn cub. In fact, we can decide to have your Progeny hatch as adolescents. And if we include some basic knowledge, their chances of reaching adulthood will increase.”

“Master. What do you mean by hatch?” Goldy asked with bafflement.

Its gaze was slightly confused when the mirror said that.

Switching my attention to it, I smiled, at least as Honey Badger could smile, and asked a simple question.

“Tell me this, Goldy. Since the last time, you took on your H.B form. Did, by any chance, your form gain the dangly bits of a man or the openings of a female?”

Silence ensued as it downed on the mirror. “No, Master.”

“There you go. Without the sexual characteristics of either gender, you, Goldy, are an IT, technically speaking.” I declared. “That is why, I always use your name when referring to you, instead of a He or She. Still, this might be a good chance to choose which one you'd like to be. Then again, your current form is not bound by the same standards as biological ones have in Reality. Maybe you could be both? However, in that case, I do wonder how it will work?”

“Anyway, your gender aside. Since you and your Progeny are technically Dream Spirits, the best possible choice is to hatch from hard-shelled eggs instead of the soft version Mammalian species use.” I reasoned for him.

“The shell should provide a good enough protection before they hatch, and since their form will be of an adolescent Honey Badger, there is no reason to, actually, keep them in my Dream Realm. We can just throw the eggs out there into the Dream World to thrive and grow up before returning here to us.”

“What do you think? Is that something that will be a problem with you?”

“I… am… unsure, Master.” Came the hesitant reply. “I am unsure if I should feel anything at all.”

With a nod, I addressed my concern. “Then think about it for a bit. It will take you some time to secure enough understanding of H.B behavior anyway. Regarding cubs and adolescent ones, I mean.”

“Still, let's assume that that will be the correct assumption. Let's define forms and functions.” I explained. “I am thinking of having the newborn… Obsidian Spirit Honey Badgers start as Nightmares. That should maximize their survival and help them progress along that line till they are ready for Ascension. When they are ready to Ascend a stage, they will return here to my Realm and attempt it. At that point, they will have the choice of accepting one out two of your characteristics.”

Stopping for a second, I let there be a pause for dramatics, just cause I can.

“Seeking and Scrying the Truth or Storing and Understanding the Truth.”

“Why not both?” A reasonable question came my way.

“Because a division of labor is what I require.” I answered. “Besides, I won't bar them the way forward. Only it has to be lineal. After they have mastered one role, they can attempt another Ascension to reach your current base form.”

“Understood.” Goldy said, but despite his voice not being generated by actual vocal cords, there was enough emotional relief for me to sense.

“Then, it's time for the last thing. The Procreation itself to be defined and its conditions.”

Feeling the eager gaze of Goldy, I laid down my latest assumption. “Since you're a Spirit, an egg will be the result. However, the condition of its creation, in your case, I think, is best tied to the understanding of Truth.”

“Master, please elaborate further.”

“As an Obsidian Spirit Honey Badger lives on, it garners Truth about itself and the Reality around it, no matter in which Reality it lives. Once it reaches its full potential, it Ascends into a Truth Seeker Honey Badger or Truth Scholar Honey Badger.”

Letting it sink into him, I once more take a moment before going on.

“Once they reach the peak of that stage, they will seek further Ascension and embrace their opposite. Only after they have mastered both do they attain the final form of a Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams. And therefore are eligible for the creation of the next generation of Obsidian Spirit Honey Badger’s.”

“What do you think of the general idea? Is that something that suits you?”

For a moment, silence ensued between us before Goldy began asking some profound questions about the details of each stage and what it all boiled down to.

However, in all honesty, it was pretty simple. I just had to lay down the ground Rules. Everything else would settle itself by having more Obsidian Spirit Honey Badgers in existence.

That and Time. Never underestimate the progress through a long enough frame of Time.

With their personal actions, all the tiny puzzle pieces would lodge themselves by themselves.

Meaning that the earliest progeny will have the most freedom. At the same time, they will be the most shallow of all. While the later generations will be far more locked in their paths. However, in exchange, their powers will be far greater.

At that point, it will take true geniuses to deviate from the established paradigm of a Race and Species.

After our brief discussion on the details came the waiting.

Wait for Goldy to amass enough understanding for all this, as Goldy was the crux of the process.

Days and weeks passed in Reality.

Magi’s and Maximus’s cubs saw the first lights of the Sun’s rays reaching their beady eyes and minds.

To be honest, they were cute. So cute, in fact, that I took far more breaks from my work.

Work on a possible Soul hybrid, as condemning the future Honey Badgers on only one path was cruel.

So diversity became my ideal goal.

Anyway, the cubs in question began exploring the world outside their Den, although the play was still the best educator in their case.

Tumbling and bumbling their way into the future came the time for the little cubs to learn the pains of venomous stings and bites.

With Magi being by their side, it was easy to learn by example. Yet, it wasn't as easy as it should be. Magi was bigger than any standard Honey Badger, so dealing with small scorpions was both easy and hard.

Easy because the scorpions were tiny when compared to her. And hard because she had to be delicate to teach the cubs the proper method.

Maximus, being even bigger, was even more useless, not that he had a father figure in his life. Everything he was undergoing by staying with his mate was new for him and the Honey Badgers overall.

None had done it before him, so he had no experience to draw from. None, bar what Maximus was doing right this moment. Or what Alexander had done at the beginning so long ago and got passed down.

Watching the yeeps and the painful lessons of the new generation, I laughed and smiled from time to time.

After them, I realized that I failed to remember the last time I took a break by either just relaxing or sleeping.

Those were the first signs I detected that I might be overdoing all this planning and creating.

Yet, there was no doubt in my mind that all this was possible because I am in my own Realm. Had this been outside in Reality, I would have long since felt the limits of biology pressing down on me.

For fucks sake, I can't even remember when the last time I ate anything was.

Anyway, delegating that fact for the future, more days and weeks passed when Goldy finally addressed me over his decisions.

We went over everything a few times just to be sure. One change Goldy insisted on was to have its Progeny be able to achieve the first Ascendence without returning home. It was a safety measure Goldy desired, so I agreed to it.

After a few more minor changes here and there came the time for Goldy to have another bath in the center of the Nebulous Clouds.

As a bonus, I initiated the process with a small tale, as if reading it from a book. That gave the process enough form for interpretation without being bound to any hard limits.

Watching Goldy consume the Potential Chaos again, I was once again reminded of the dwindling supplies, but I didn't worry too much.

Another nap and that would fix itself. Although, it would not be another millennia-long sleep.

Either way, I wasn't unhappy with Goldy’s current consumption. The more he consumed, the more Dream Eggs would exist. And Goldy did not disappoint when its consumption stopped.

From its… ahem… behind, numerous eggs burst out.

But that was not the end.

Oh no, not at all.

The eggs bursting out showed no end to their momentum. It was as if their moment of glory had come.

They began to travel around my Dream Realm with speed only I or Goldy exhibit. Minus the fact that only the two of us existed currently. Alexander did not count as he was still sleeping.

Yet, still not being done, came the next surprise.

After circling my Dream Realm for a few rounds, like shooting stars. The momentum they exhibited brought them to the inner wall and boundary of the First Layer of my Dream Realm.

With no obstruction at all, they burst through.

With quickness, my awareness shifted and followed them outside.

Moments later, the Dream Eggs became Real-Dream Shooting Stars.

They passed through the formed and deformed forests, landscapes, rivers, mountains, and skies.

Their destination? Unknown to me, but I was sure of one thing.

Some would never ever return, but those that do will have, beyond a doubt, great tales to speak about.

Tales that will deserve to be written down. Tales for all future generations to learn about.

Still, Dreams inherently belong to Chaos. Maybe it won't be that bad. Right?

Then again, who am I kidding?

Golden Obsidian Dream Spirit Honey Badgers vs The Dream World?

Now that is a catchy title if you ask me.