Since my little traps didn’t cost too much mana. I used some to add more space to my main room and to further grow the war room. However, the majority of it went to a secondary room underground. Rats are more than enough for excavation, but I need hard stone walls for my basement. Those are the majority of the cost. Growing them will take a while, but I don’t need it for my next encounter or the encounter after that.

While I am making this wall, I decide to do some smaller side projects. I am more than large enough to support more strawberry bushes. I elongated my planter and grew 5 more bushes.

No luck with locating a nest, but my moths spotted a half-eaten deer that the rats were quick to pick clean.

Then something pulled my attention. All the expeditions I was doing ended up with quite the build up of pulp on the spawner. They were growing the nest!? Looks like it requires my attention. I focus on it and see, or more accurately feel that, It’s large enough to spawn specialised moths and need me to choose how they are specialised. As my attention wonders of what I could do, one path immediately presents itself. warrior moths. Larger specimens well suited to direct combat. This could be good. Could help with birds and spiders, maybe even bats if I get enough of them. Will they help me against the girl? A bit, but not a lot. They would be roughly equivalent to a rat in pure power. Flight opens a new angle of attack, but it won’t be effective a second time.

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Let’s see what else is there. I focus my attention of options further away. Requiring more mana and information I glean on it is less accurate. As it was far away. Shimmer moths: A stealthy variety, even more than those buggers already are. In fact, it seems their invisibility might be magical in nature. Interesting. This would mean sending them out will be a lot safer, and I do see an interesting future with invisibility. Not hitting any harder, and with her static field, this won’t be too useful against the girl.

Let’s reach a little further. Acid moths: No significant size increase, but a mouth full of acid is bound to make for a much more powerful bite. It would also open a lot more new food sources. There is more… but it is hard to see.

And I can see something more… this one is really far. I can glean it is something to do with dreams. It sounds like something I would want, but maybe not now. With how little I see, this could be too much of a gamble.

Alright… all these options sound pretty good. All will bring something to expeditions. I think warriors are the weakest option. Sure, they can deal with those pesky birds, but their larger size will put them in a few crosshairs as well.

Shimmer will decrease losses, allowing for even larger excursions. Acid will open up new food sources, and quite possibly something more. Dream moths are a shot in the dark.

Alright, shimmer versus acid. Shimmer is cheaper and does sound cool. Acid, on the other hand, is a bit more …disturbing to think about. Worse than ants and their venom, imagine getting chemical burns from moths… hold on a second. If they are strong enough, they might be able to deal with a larger target. I suppose I can put brakes on the basement if that means taking control of the skies.