Gi left the tavern's private room a hundred gold richer. Swearing allegiance felt wrong, but functionally, it didn't change anything for him. If he grew to a point where the Demon Empire started to chafe, he'd just betray them... Or is it called rebelling at that scale?

When he returned to the main room of the tavern, Samba started to rise from the table he sat at with Doyle, but Gi waved him down, stepping over to explain. "Our circumstances have changed and I have a few tasks I need to prep for our excursion. You stay here with Doyle."

Gi gave him a look that he hoped said, "and get him to sign up." Samba nodded slowly so he might have got it, but if not, Gi could talk to his teacher again. He wanted to spar with him anyways.

Doyle, apparently, hadn't been slow with his cider and even his mental voice was slurring. Monsters move so fast when they're young. Always pushing for the next stage... Never slowing down and they just leave the old ones behind...

Doyle's dialogue had moved from mournful to depressing, but one of his few remaining friends had died so it was to be expected.

With another significant look at Samba, Gi left. As he walked down the Bazaar towards Rocky's shop, he considered the items on his list.

He needed to let Tiria know that her budget had grown for getting the clan settled, he needed to try and convince Poe about his special project, and he needed to visit Rocky. At some point, he needed to discuss his conversation plans with Krayli and the twins but for now, that could wait.

Walking through the Bazaar, he was constantly surrounded by monsters. Shopkeepers hawked their wares and others viewed them or moved through. His reputation as a Ground Clan may have spread as many monsters moved out of his way, but it didn't stop all of them.

A werewolf and two goblins made a wall in front of him. All three of them looked about as standard as the defaults he'd seen when choosing his own race. He was sure they had a unique trait of some kind, having survived the Infant Stage and Child Stage, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was that they were in his way.

"Give-" The werewolf started, but he never got a chance to finish. Six all white otters appeared behind them and a [Divine Bolt] to each of the goblins killed them instantly. A spark of inspiration had two of his summons grab the werewolf.

Fear had replaced any sort of aggression by the jobbie at this point and Gi remembered when his own baby teeth had fallen out. Fighting and killing without the First One's instincts or a Unique Heart was difficult.

"Tell me the rank of your Strength and Vitality and I may let you live."

"E-E+ and E, sir"

"Which is the E+?"

"Strength..."

"Thank you."

Gi grabbed the werewolf by the scruff on his chest and tossed him over the side of the Bazaar and he fell hurtling towards the Commons and its thousands of hivelike homes.

With a crunch that Gi couldn't quite hear over the general noise of the Bazaar, the werewolf landed awkwardly on its legs, collapsing against the ground. If his legs weren't broken, it was close.

"Science," Gi muttered to himself then pulled out his notebook to write down his findings as he continued towards Rocky. None of the other monsters paid him any mind other than perhaps staying out of his way.

Rocky's shop was one of the few made of brick in the Bazaar level. Gi assumed the wood and brick were from some older age, maybe even before Siht had conquered Igna. Stepping inside, he saw that Rocky had a few goblin patrons, potentially buying for themselves or more likely for some master of theirs.

Goblins were some of the first to get "enlisted" by different clans or powerful monsters.

Gi caught Rocky's eye and then headed to his back room where he'd healed up after his fight with Ferra. The golem wouldn't be able to leave his shop unattended while there were monsters inside so Gi took this moment to check the Stage's tasks.

He'd already checked them as part of his planning, but he wanted to confirm that the influx of gold didn't change his approach with any of them.

Rule of Law - Establish a governing set of laws for your clan with an appropriate reward system

Expanded Territory I - Conquer an additional Encampment

Expanded Territory II - Conquer an additional Encampment

Expanded Foundation - Gain 30 levels

Expanded Strength - Empower a Squad three times

Expanded Self - Realize an aspect of your fate

Power - Complete a Dungeon Run

Like every stage before, the number of tasks has grown. Unlike previous tasks, however, these seemed split between himself and his clan.

Thankfully, all of the tasks seemed straight forward even if he didn't have all the information currently. The only odd one out was the "Expanded Self." He had no idea what an aspect of his fate was. The Dungeon task had been different both times as well, but-

Rocky stepped into the back room. Gi wasn't sure if that was his real name or if Poe had simply given him a nickname, but the monster was a Deft Golem. He looked like he was made from dark ash that had been compressed into the shape of a troll with fully articulated fingers.

Rocky was one of the six clans that currently paid him protection money and the only one that Gi interacted with on a regular basis. Rocky's stones started grinding together in a way that meant he was about to start speaking.

"Congratulations on your advancement. Glad to see my hunch on you paid off."

"Thanks," Gi said with a wry smile. "Murdering your boss left an impression, eh?"

"It did and you paid quite the cost for it."

Elizabeth took one of his Elite's slots, hindering his clan's growth for the moment. She'd even created more of her own race somehow which could only make her more powerful. He hoped that didn't come back to bite him.

"So I did. I just had a question for today," Gi said and he pulled out one of the Iron Bars of Defense that Tiria had forced him to take prior to the Dungeon. They'd gotten these after killing the Iron Ferret Classers as well as a handful in Ferra's own office. "What can you tell me about catalysts?"

Rocky looked the iron bar over in his hand, a grating sound echoing from his body. "There are two types of items not including mundane items. Innate and Enchanted. Enchanted items come from a monster or other entity with a crafting skill. Innate items get their power by absorbing ambient or personal Aether."

"And what does that tell me?"

"Catalysts are always Innate items. Do you know what The Knot is?"

Thinking this might be a longer conversation than he thought, Gi sat down on the bed. "I do. It's how you get an upgraded Body, Heart, and Soul."

Rocky nodded. "That's true, but it goes further than that. The reason The Knot isn't represented on your Status is because it's a human method of advancement. Instead of gaining levels and traits as we do, they will meditate in an area that has ambient Aether in an aspect they want to cultivate. Over time, this will upgrade their Soul. Once upgraded, they can then upgrade their Heart and Body."

Gi hadn't realized that. Is that what was meant by the Divine Reflection? Or was that something else? "But the adventurers use skills and gain levels like we do, don't they?"

"Just as we steal their advancement, they steal ours. That's why adventurers go into the Dungeon at all - to pass its levels and reach the next ranks."

That... made sense. Gi hadn't really considered why the adventurers might risk their lives in the Dungeon. If he'd known about their advancement method before now, he might have had a lot more questions. "So... catalysts then?"

"Yes. These catalysts are Innate items meaning that they have absorbed a certain amount of ambient Aether. Monstes absorb these through their Body and if they live, they will get a Unique Constitution. If they already have one, then a Heart or Soul would be next. It's the opposite of humans as they gain through their Soul first."

Gi took the iron bar back, looking it over. "If I wade through the history lesson, all my Elites need to do is absorb this and they'll get a Unique Constitution."

"If they live,' Rocky grumbled. "Unstable Catalysts will get absorbed automatically if someone has an unaspected Knot. Stable Catalysts just need to have the monster's Aether pushed through it to make it unstable enough for them to absorb."

"Seems simple enough." Gi placed the Iron Bar of Defense back into his [Expanded Pocket]. "Anything else I should know?"

"If you plan this for your Elites, yes. A Progenitor is completely unaspected so absorbing a catalyst will give them a pure aspect to their Knot. Other members of your clan will be different. Their Knot will already be primed to take on the same aspect of their Progenitor."

"So that's why Tiria also got a Quicksilver Body?"

"Exactly. However, did you notice something different about her Unique Constitution compared to yours?"

Gi thought about it. She'd absorbed that marble containing a hurricane in the middle of the fight with Ferra. Afterwards, she'd been the same as him in all respects except... "She was lighter?"

Rocky's rumbling started before Gi had even finished answering. "Yes, that's because she used a Catalyst that was a different aspect than her 'primed' Body. It corrupted it with Air, making it simultaneously weaker and less vulnerable. Her mass was simply a byproduct of that."

Gi returned the Iron Bar of Defense to his hand. "And what would this do then?"

"Iron is a type of Earth Aether. There's no difference between the types as they only really change the manifestation of the Aether. Same with Elizabeth's Ice Aether. That's simply a type of Water Aether. To my knowledge at least, I won't claim to be a scholar."

Realizing he didn't answer the question, Rocky added, "It will make them slightly stronger against Air Aether and slightly weaker against Water Aether. They will probably get some minor effect that is similar to Tiria's altered mass."

"To sum up, I can give these Iron Bars to my Elites and they will be less vulnerable but slightly less effective as a pure aspected Body?"

"You got it." Rocky gave him a smile. Gi felt like he'd gotten what he'd came for so he hopped up, clapped the golem on the shoulder with a simple "thanks" and then headed back towards the Underbridge. With any luck, Kumo would have some information for him.

Gi returned to Underbridge and then descended into the lake. Unfortunately, Kumo wasn't back yet, but it did give him a chance to meet up with Tiria and Poe. Once he told Tiria about the gold from Galvina, she immediately sent out two squads of otters to pick up materials.

Samba came back soon after with news that Doyle had agreed to help train them. He might need to go confirm later though since Doyle had been several ciders deep. While waiting, he told Samba about the catalysts and the otter wanted to absorb it immediately.

Before then, Gi needed to get them as close to D rank on all their stats. He hoped they at least could do at least three all the way to D. Since Samba was nearby and they already had two Body Orbs left, he gave them to the templar elite.

Samba placed his paw onto the Encampment Crystal and a few moments later he'd upgraded his Strength to D and his Agility to E+ with only a shiver each time.

"It itches a bit," Samba rumbled, "and the Agility one hurt a bit but not too bad. Let me use the Catalyst now."

"Fine," Gi said, partially because Kumo hadn't come back yet and he was still eager for progress.

Gi pulled out the Iron Bar of Defense and placed it into Samba's paw. The large otter squeezed it and Gi saw the muscles in his arm flex as he put his all in into it. The bar didn't even budge.

"Uh, boss. How do I absorb this?"

"Try to send some Aether into it."

"..."

"The internal energy you use to activate your skills."

Samba nodded, not even a little concerned about his ignorance. Concentrating, he flexed his arm again, an unnecessary gesture, but there was a flash of light and the bar crumbled into his hand. The crumbled bits of iron didn't just fall to the ground though. They clung to Samba, rolling down his arm before being absorbed beneath his fur.

When they disappeared, Samba's arm stood out stock straight and he started screaming. His entire body locked out and he fell to the ground convulsing.

Tiria ran out of the Control dome and rushed towards the Encampment Crystal with a mace and shield in hand and a Squad of otters behind her. She stopped as Samba's screams finally stopped and the otter sat up with silver streaks showing in his fur.

"Boss, you never said it would hurt..."

Tiria's eyes widened suddenly. "SAMBA, RUN INTO THE LAKE!"

"What? Wh-"

Before he could do anything else, a foul black gunk oozed out of every part of his body. Samba immediately started gagging from the smell and all the other otters ran quite far away. Tiria glared at him, but was too proper to actually condemn Gi's decision to upgrade Samba's Constitution in the middle of the camp.

"Sorry about that...," Gi said.

She sighed. "We'll need to get someone to clean it up."

The two of them watched Samba struggle to get up out of the pool of gunk and then head over to the water to wash off. As gross as it had been, Gi was pleased with the results. "We're going to need some more Body Orbs to get the Elites at the bare minimum."

"Already on it."

"What would I do without you?"

Tiria snorted and walked off with the otters who'd come with her. "Flatterer..."

As the day wore on, more of the clan came and went from the Encampment as they completed whatever tasks that Tiria had set for them. One of said groups came back with a host of supplies from maces to robes to food and, of course, Body Orbs.

It probably wiped out a good portion of the gold they'd had so he hoped that she had some means to replenish it. Knowing her, she probably did, but if not, Gi already had the plans he'd made before Galvina had given him enough for the tithe if needed.

Kumo and the twins made it back eventually as well and Gi got all of them upgraded to D in three of their stats. Pushing their fourth wasn't worth it, but he might try again once they'd risen to Classers. A good Wisdom would be useful to any Classer with their Domain.

Finally, both Kumo and the twins took a catalyst to improve their Constitution. Kumo took one of the Bars of Defense like Samba had, but the twins decided to use the Dagger of Minor Telekinesis that he'd gotten from Slice-Slice.

It was hard to tell what benefits Kumo and Samba got from their catalysts, but he assumed they were slightly more durable considering the catalyst used. The twins, however, received a very weak telekinesis power. Even with their twin skill pumping up their output while around each other, it wouldn't be usable for battle, but it was still very interesting.

Gi was a little jealous.

That night, the clan ate together for the first time, eating tons of the spicy kelp soup that Tiria taught to some of the other clan members as well as various meats that the Squads had brought back.

Gi sat by himself and simply watched his group. The few remaining Coastal Goblins had joined the clan, but they all looked very depressed still. Understandable considering their clan had been broken twice.

Some of his otters looked the same as more than half of their number had been culled in the Dungeon, but many smiled and laughed as they ate their meal.

His clan was here. It was finally happening.