“Progress of the Community furthers the starting base of the newborn Individuals.”

“Progress of the Individual furthers the peak of the Community.”

“Only when you have both do you progress in both.”

“Otherwise, if you only have one, count your luck if you just stagnate in both.”

“However, rapid decline is the most likely scenario.”

#Quote 36 - Book of Races and Species.

*

Dream Realm - Goldy

Personal Journal of Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams - Entry #35

In today's entry, I will be recording my Master's request.

It all started after Master connected the Honey Badgers to CIRSY.

His request was for me to scour all the lands the Honey Badgers lived in and search for appropriate settlement sites.

I had a few conditions to fulfill regarding them.

The first condition was to find an accessible water source to sustain a larger population of Honey Badgers.

The second condition was to scour those locations for appropriate food sources.

It did not have to be fertile to any large degree. If there was no fertile land, enough wildlife would compensate.

The third condition was to look for the most common resources in or close to those settlements.

The first of those resources was enough Trees. The second was enough mineral deposits in the form of Iron, Copper, Bronze, Clay, and Coal.

The fourth condition was for the settlement to be far enough from anything else settling the area.

*

Personal Journal of Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams - Entry #40

While my Observational of Truth was powerful, there were still limits involved.

Therefore, it took time for me to finish this request.

For one, I could not scope too far from the Honey Badger that had provided the anchor of the scrying.

Therefore, I was always limited to Observing things in the relative vicinity of the Honey Badgers.

Only when the Master used his Power to fuel the process did the range increase. Even then, there were limits.

However, the greatest challenge came not from the range. But my inability and inexperience in scrying for material things.

Even in the hands of my previous Master, I had never been used to scrying for the things Master requested. Trees, rivers, and food requirements were easy in comparison to my inability to look for the materials Master requested.

Only after the Master personally intervened had that changed.

With his intervention, a few new methods of Observation came into existence, like Rader Penetration.

With those two, I became able to penetrate the Skin of the World and search for things living in the World's Skin. Then came the fine-tuned version of those for identifying the mineral composition of the earth and such things.

The greatest thing of all is the advancement I sense when new Methods of Observation get discovered. And I familiarized myself with them.

*

Personal Journal of Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams - Entry #36

After I presented the finding to the Master, he entered a short trance.

Whatever the information he requested had triggered, when he came out of his trance, he had an expression of wonder.

I am sure of it, as I have observed him exhibit the same expression before.

Whenever it happened, Master would either store the idea that came to him or immediately work on it.

In this case, it was the second case, as instantly, he gave me another request.

It was a simple one.

All it took to complete was enough time to pass for me to compare the results between Honey Badgers.

*

Dream Realm - Ho’Ney

To think I would be triggered by the way Goldy presented his Months long assignment was one thing I did not expect.

In truth, while it was a good idea for me personally, it would be a bad idea to implement it in Reality because the World Spirit would smack me into oblivion if I messed with it too much.

Therefore, I opted out of it, but that did not mean I could not make a one-sided representation of statistics pried away from Reality.

After having Goldy search and compare the results of individual Honey Badgers territory sizes, I came to the conclusion that one simple change should be added, if nothing else.

With that being the case, I noted down another feature to be added to my Totem.

After Goldy had acquired everything for me, we found ourselves in the Map Room of the Library.

The room itself was pretty bare at the moment. At least bare if you don't count the large circular table three meters in diameter.

“Goldy, have you been to the Map Room?” I asked him.

“Yes, Master. There was nothing significant here at that time. Aside from the initial exploration tour, I left it alone.”

“I see. Today we get to change that.” I said and tapped the large circular table.

The moment I did so, I saw and felt the top of the table turn malleable to a degree. It was not a pure fluid state like water exhibited, but more like sand, if the stickier kind.

Once it all followed my will here and there, I imbued a few instructions of mine. The instructions were unneeded, but I just had to have them included.

“Goldy, I am sure you felt what I did, but you're still wondering why I did it.” He nodded in his H. H. Badger form. “For now, ignore that. And focus on transitioning all your knowledge regarding the appearance of the World into the Map Table.”

With a nod, he touched the Map table and began sharing his understanding of this Central Continent with me.

Moments later, the sand atop the table began to shift into mountains, rivers, lakes, and… an Ocean?

Oh. Wow, that is a lot of water. It definitely surpassed the bounds of being termed a lake. More likely an Inner Sea.

Then came the forests, the savannah, the grasslands, the marshlands. Even a volcanic region appeared on the easter side of the Central Continent bordering the Ocean.

Once Goldy was done with the relative geography of the Central Continent, he began adding the Southern Isle that was close but separate from the Continent.

West remained as an Ocean, but slightly North West began another land mass. The landmass looked like a weird arch on top of the Central Continent, only separated by parts of the Western Ocean.

At the same time, large amounts of forests began to dot the… Northern Continent? In fact, it was nothing but Forests and Mountains up there.

Shrugging all my feelings towards it away, I tapped the Map table, and in the next moment, I felt Goldy react to it as his Observations began to interface with the measurements I made for the Map.

Seeing and feeling it, The Map changed as hexagons began manifesting all over the map.

Hexagon after hexagon appeared. Every single one connected to six other neighboring ones.

It was fascinating and amusing seeing the map sliced into tiny pieces. Still, there was a value here, except for making it more game-like in its presentation.

Every single side of one hexagon roughly represented one kilometer, and the best part was that it was not me that determined the size of that one size.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

All I did was show Goldy a metric system, but how much a kilometer actually was, was not in that information package.

After all, the beauty of the metric system was that it had no need to be the same everywhere. As long as it was uniform in its measure, that was what counted. Even if Goldy’s perception determined that his kilometer was less than what the standard was back on Earth, it was not a problem at all.

All it meant was that Goldy’s standard would become the standard in this world.

When the entire map got covered in Hexagons, I tapped the Map table again.

More changes began to appear as six hexagons grouped themselves into one larger hexagon.

Once more, the entire map changed, yet that was not the end. After these hexagons appeared, I tapped on the Map table for the last time.

Again, these six middle-sized hexagons grouped and became one large hexagon, and with that, I created the Continental, the Regional, and the Local Geographic Domains.

Waiting for a few moments, Goldy returned from the trance he exhibited.

“What do you think?” I asked him but did not actually give him time to reply. “It's wonderful, isn't it? But we are not done yet. Well… I am. You are not. This part will take longer, so take your time while doing it. As for what to do, it's simple. I want you to organize all your observations regarding the resources of the Central Continent you have gathered so far and display them here like this.”

Immediately, I began showcasing the example of a proper resource description. At the same time, I added a population counter, resource expenditure counter, etc, etc.

In truth, most of the things I wanted him to display were either unavailable for now or were to be added in the future. Nonetheless, the most important thing was that I succeeded in adding myself an RPG Map Representation for the Honey Badgers Species Progression.

Goodness.

Do I love being who I am right now?

.

.

.

Actually… now that I am looking closely. Hmm, 1, 2, 3, 4…

Damn, I hope I am wrong, but if I am not, this Central Continent is fucking Enormous.

So much land for the Honey Badgers to explore. And so many adventures to entertain me with.

*

Central Continent - Wild Zone - Ho’Ney

Once more, the Shining Rays of the Sun graced me with their warmth.

Although, they felt a bit different from my memories as a human.

Even if it was short, fur changed the fact of how I felt when the Sun's Rays hit my furry skin instead of directly on my skin.

Either way, I was back in Reality.

Specifically. Back in the savannah where Magi and Maximus lived.

To not bother them instantly, the Dream Gate, as I've begun calling it, opened not too far from them, so I made my way to them.

Within moments they were under my Sphere of Perception that had increased in size after I gained a humanoid body.

Now it was a sixty-meter radius around me.

However, the weirdest thing is how it did not burden my mind. Even if it was in its current basic state of only telling me the shape of things, if a typical human received the amount of information I did, a mild headache would be the least of their concerns.

Anyway, the moment my Sphere of Perception got noticed, they turned away from their supposed hunt and raced to my side.

Once we established our bonding with hugs, I stayed with them for a while.

After all, it had been some time since we met.

Not sure how much exactly. Lately, I've been losing track of time more and more.

That aside, maybe it was me wanting to show off or something like that, but when I realized that the prey they wanted was a Gazelle, I opted to help them out a bit.

To be honest, it wasn't even that hard for me. All I had to do was create a Spear Construct out of Auril. Imbue it with Clarity of Intent, and I have become very good at that recently and take a proper Spear throwing stance.

It didn't have to be a proper stance, but it helped me visualize things as I transferred every shred of Kinetic Force my body produced with the Spear throwing motion into the Auril Spear Construct, and off the Spear went.

Life Essence and Auril were invisible to typical physical visual sensory perception, so the Gazelle was unprepared for that large arrow to the heart.

I loooovvvvveeee Cheating.

Moments later, the two Honey Badgers began gorging themselves on the meat.

I waited for them to finish their five-star meal, as Gazelles were pretty damn fast, and I doubted they would have succeeded in their hunting endeavor.

With bellies full, a lot of meat and bones got left behind. To address that conundrum the carcass was lit on fire, and what followed was an enjoyable White Flame desert cuisine.

Not long after, barely any ashes were left behind as we made our way to their Den.

There was no hurry, as Magi would soon give birth again. The curious thing, though, is that I did not need to interfere with this cub. It had grown into the proper size equilibrium with the mother on its own.

Once we were by the Den, it was time for me to reveal the real reason for my visit.

The exact position wasn't truly needed, but there was no fault in considering that fact.

Once I had it, I had Magi and Maximus stay back a bit, as this would be the first time, ever, I attempted something like this.

“Phuu” With one deep breath, I pulled on my Dream Realm in general.

Once that showed no problem, I pulled on the Nebulous Clouds, and with clear Intent, on my designated spot, I changed Reality.

At first, it was small. Then it began to grow sideways. It grew until a disk of about one meter in a radius appeared.

A disk made of black-gold obsidian glass.

Then the disk began to grow again, but this time it grew vertically.

Slowly one side bore down into the earth while one grew for the sky.

In truth, my mind designated it as grown because none of the earthly materials actually got pushed aside. Instead, they became the physical material for the transformation of earth into the black-gold obsidian glass.

Even the air, although the primary conversion material came from the ground.

The process was a bit strange, to be honest. It was different from how it felt in the Dream Realm.

Maybe it was me actually transforming matter instead of manifesting it?

Still, strange feelings aside, without a doubt building a monument out here, in Reality, cost me at least double when compared to my Dream Realm.

Which only made sense. Yet, that fact I predicted as my supplies were ever dwindling.

If my calculations were correct, and they should be, with this Totem made, I would be down to 26% from when I woke up. And if my calculations were right, I had barely enough for three more monuments like this one.

Yet, the strangest thing was how everything fit into my plans.

Shrugging away my paranoid mind, I continued my endeavors on building a big Totem [with most being underground for a reason].

A Totem would become the center of any settlements built by the Honey Badgers, in theory, and with my genius, a few extra features get to be inducted.

For now, only I had access to those extra features.

These extra features will help the Honey Badgers in their Societal, Technological, and Spiritual Ascension.

Moments passed as the Totem slowly grew to one meter above the ground.

There it stopped growing above the earth. However, inside the ground, it continued and would continue until it reached at least ten meters in length.

Before the bottom finished, I began shaping the top into a typical Honey Badger sitting upon a stone platform while its eyes gazed into the sky.

All in all, it was pretty humble. At least, in my opinion, if one considered all the possible shapes my mind could conjure.

Done with the small statue at the top, all that was left was the bottom, but that took time.

Time I spent with Magi and Maximus. By now, I had spoken most of the English words at least once in their presence.

How much they learned, I had no idea.

Even if it were very little, the Totem would help in the long run.

Moments passed when the bottom finished its transformation. Still, that was not the end, as another modification began occurring.

Right at the bottom, a bulge began to expand like a balloon, potato, or any other vegetable growing in the ground.

Only this one was uniform, and once it reached a two-meter radius, it stopped. With that done, I had my awareness enter my Realm and focus on the White Flame at the bottom.

However, I did not want the White Flame but that one bubble that popped out of it.

With care, I held it with my awareness, and with Clarity of Intent, I had it transfer into that bulge at the bottom of the Totem.

Done with that, I began the finishing touches. Meaning? Carving the instructions into the Totem.

This part was my favorite. It was almost like programming, only much more straightforward. I carved golden lines and shapes beginning at the bubble at the bottom of the Totem and made my way upwards.

By the time I reached the Honey Badger at the top, it was done, but not before carving two faces on the front and back of the totem.

One was Magi, and the other was Maximus.

With this, they get to be enshrined, forever, as the first Honey Badgers that established a Family in this world.

That done, I turned towards the two Honey Badgers.

In the beginning, they were extremely curious about the black thing, but by now, they were pretty bored.

“Magi, Maximus, come here.” I shouted at them.

Their attention instantly shifted to me. With grunts and a few sluggish steps, they reached my side.

“This Totem of the Honey Badger will be the Center of your Domain.” I said to them while placing my hands on their heads.

With Intent, I made them aware of The Totem’s presence on a deeper level than anything they had felt before, beside me, of course. At the same time, a sense should have been born inside them that made them aware of the Domain that became theirs.

Seeing and feeling them in their trance state, I left them like that and returned to the Dream Realm.

There was little for them to gain right this instant, but with time, that should change.

*

The moment Mir vanished back into his Realm and his Sphere of Perception stopped interfering with The World Spirit’s perception, IT felt something.

Something that had not been there moments ago. Yet now, it shined its presence and called for IT’s attention.

The World Spirit focused as much as it could, but this time no protocols were giving it the ability to narrow down its perception.

Still, it did as much as it could.

Vague notions of territory and a few other things reached it, but most of all, this shining something carried a familiar touch.

A touch it had felt but moments ago.

That being the case, it accepted the shining something.

Instantly, a tiny part of itself split and entered that shining something, and from that point on, The World Spirit recognized something new got to be born.

Part of IT and yet separate.

With the birth of this new thing, the World Spirit retrieved its awareness. Yet, unlike before. This time there was a tiny feeling of something attached to itself.

Something tiny and fragile. Nevertheless, it was there, and with time it would grow.

The World Spirit was sure of that.