Ozzy’s desire to return to exploring had grown the longer he spent relaxing or putzing around fixing or improving things in his haven. It had initially been a generalized desire to get up and DO something, but it had narrowed down to getting out of the haven and seeing something new. Going a bit stir crazy staying put in his haven probably had a lot to do with that being the next course of action he’d chosen. He’d also contemplated going and visiting Vonder again. While he wasn’t sure how much he would get out of it the need for human interaction was increasing by the day. Though there were so many connections he hadn’t explored yet he needed to address them before he forgot about them.
As he felt for the connections he could differentiate from the amorphous mass of unending places out there he couldn’t really tell a difference between the number he’d identified before and now. Even the way his mind interpreted the size and shape of the connections compared to previously seemed the same. It might be something that never flagged or decayed once a single touch pulls them out of the mess, but he’d rather not let them go and see. Picking two at random from Cedericks haven he sent out his spears. In one he found a rather large insect that he at first mistook for a leaf before it moved on the branch it held to. The other contained a canine of some type. After killing both and setting their newly spawned squares beside his shack he moved onto the next batch.
————————
In the end between Cederick and the boar haven’s squares he now had a section of land more than twice the size of what he had before starting. They were now sitting to the left of his shack in a line. Each and every one was only the first in its own line of havens stretching off into obscurity. He’d been face to face, or tentacle to face with a myriad of odd creatures. There were things that looked like they could have been stumbled upon in any forest, grassland, or desert back on earth. Then there were those like the imp that seemed to come out of a fairy tale or religious text. There was a land bound jellyfish, or at least that’s the way his analytical side wanted to describe it. To his gamer side it just looked like a slime. There were even two that were more of a Cronenberg monstrosity. Beyond all the weirdness he’d also found a few birds that he was going to keep an eye on. Hopefully they’d lay some eggs for him.
During the process he’d also started using his domain as well. He figured why only kill two birds with one tentacle each. When he could send out numerous pseudopods with his domain as the first haven in every line seemed to be the weakest. Even his base strength domain could handle them, why not the upgraded version. While he hadn’t always connected to the first in a haven by chance of having picked a different square, it was easy to find the right direction and eventually connect to it. He didn’t even need to look at the occupant. If a haven had two connections, other than his own, he’d connect to both and find which was weaker, then continue down that way until he found the one with only one connection. Which would be the first. There was actually one surprise fourth connection that sprouted off like the intelligent rat’s haven, however when checking the other side the haven turned out to be empty at the moment.
While there were several connections available to check from that haven, he decided to at least finish the current project before trying to find the occupant. He wasn’t familiar enough yet with the way that havens worked to confirm where it last went without checking all the connections. Though now that his initial task was completed he could do just that. As suspected the connections were all to the same line of havens he’d found the initial connection to. There were several connections past the one he’d initially connected from. Reaching through a few he eventually found a gruesome scene. There was blood and bits of viscera everywhere.
In the middle lay two forms in an almost embrace. Though there were obvious signs that wasn’t the case. Most notably most of the top half of one was missing and the other was lazily munching on what was left of it. While the residents of this line of havens were the canines that looked the most like dogs, the sight of it snacking away at the dead body really ruined the image. The fact that the lower half was wearing clothes also didn’t help. While there wasn’t a violent upwelling of emotion, there was a definite change in his demeanor. This half a person could just as easily have been how he ended up if he hadn’t found a way to not walk into every haven he wanted to visit. The growing empathy in turn drove him to despise the animal in front of him as it desecrated the corpse.
Putting down the dog-like creature wasn’t as hard as he’d thought it might be. It was after all currently munching on a clothed human, or at least humanoid. He hadn’t seen its face or skin and didn’t really have a desire to. The clothing implied intelligence and he was of the belief that any intelligent being deserved as much respect as any human. Pulling his domain back to his haven he let the corpses lie as they were. The obliteration the havens carried out would be a fitting cleanup and send off for whoever, or whatever it was. In his haven he pondered the reminder of his mortality. He’d been skimping on his promise to himself. To be growing, improving, and most importantly, learning constantly. The break was all well and good, and still consisted of mostly work, but he wasn’t growing right now and who knew what the next day, or next haven might bring.
————————
Ozzy sent the latest prototype of his starfish into the first rat haven. It was a much smaller version, though that was simply due to the intended target. The real changes were in how it was designed and operated. He’d learned a lot making all the new additions to his haven. The pumps, loom, and other tools he’d made all gave him a little bit more understanding of how he could bind intent into his constructs. This latest contraption was the culmination of everything he’d learned. Including from a few iterations he’d already tested out on the rat.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As he dropped the starfish to the ground it immediately flipped into position as it detected the rat. The most important thing he’d added was a feature where the intent didn’t do anything while his will was directing any part of the construct. Trying to pull it back while it was in turn trying its hardest to clamp down on his hand after a mistake in binding his intent was a wake up call. He’d also added a much more nuanced and broad layer of intent. Much of his earlier attempts were very narrowly focused. Affecting one to three trips at a time. He had learned that he didn’t need to individually tell specific sections to move in exact ways. The process would have been mind numbingly complex and at the same time simplistic in the ways he could have it behave.
He watched in the haven as the small starfish barely the size of his palm position itself in front of the rat. Then hop onto the rodent's head and clamp down suddenly. The splash of red covering the square didn’t immediately cause Ozzy to cheer. He’d actually reached this point before, and while this was a success it wasn’t what he was testing right now. Watching with his domain he followed the construct as it made another move to the abdomen. There the tentacle that had pierced the skull now ripped open the skin and retracted with the core. The core was then pulled into the construct's mouth, for lack of a better word. Only a second or so afterward the haven pulled in a new rat, resetting the square, but leaving the starfish as it was, core and all.
Ozzy had quickly found that the haven didn’t recognize the constructs as foreign material or entities. This allowed not only for a new rat to spawn immediately, but for the starfish to make it through the obliteration of everything else in the haven. Which made a certain amount of sense as he’d been able to leave his domain, or spears in a haven and it would still reset. The only problem being getting the core out before the reset occurred. As if it wasn’t out of the haven, or inside the starfish before that the haven would absorb the core. There was one thing left. Even though a new rat had taken up occupancy the Starfish didn’t go after it right away. From an external view it appeared to be dead, unmoving on the ground where it had fallen after ingesting the core.
With his connection to the construct's very essence Ozzy could see the intent bound into it targeting the core with the purpose of dismantling it. A moment later a flood of energy suffused the construct as it succeeded. Much of it was absorbed into the trips of the construct but what wasn’t was drawn into another adjustment Ozzy had made. A ring shaped reservoir around the mouth. Only after the energy was absorbed did it show any movement. That movement being the effortless and emotionless end of the newest rat resident. The process then repeated itself, then again and again. Ozzy sat mesmerized at the accomplishment. Watching this single reservoir fill wasn’t exactly amazing, but the implication was. There were still some inefficiencies still to iron out. But, just the simple fact that this was continuous with no breaks, even while he slept made a huge difference. Once he finished doing the same with all the rats, he’d be passively gaining more energy daily than ever before.
Which of course made him realize with all the other lines he’d gained access to he’d soon be passively reeling in more in a day than he had his entire time here so far. That was getting a bit ahead though. One step at a time. For now copied the working model he had in the first rat haven. Which was so much easier than designing and altering portions of it manually. Simply surrounding the construct with his domain as a reference and applying its schematic to another section of his domain had it morphing into shape almost immediately. He did need to adjust the result a bit to fit the second rat, but it was still easier than rebuilding from scratch.
Before sending it off to the second he did the same for the third rat. When he copied and adjusted one for the fourth he was finished with any alterations he’d need. The fifth rat and beyond were all essentially the same size as the fourth. Which meant he could change his tactic. Again surrounding his prototype for the fourth with his domain he then targeted eleven more clumps of domain and initiated a copy. Watching the small army of constructs form out of the ether was another mesmerizing sight.
He hadn’t given any of them instructions beyond killing rats and absorbing their cores so they simply flopped to the ground once completed. After he threw them into their respective havens that story quickly changed. Each of them began the industrious work the first was still actively trucking through. Though even as he watched Ozzy realized he’d missed a small portion of the necessary adjustments. The reservoirs were large enough to hold something like a hundred of the cores energy, but he’d not added any instruction for them to drain. A hasty solution was needed before he could end his work for the day. While not an elegant one he did find a functional one. Connecting a tube to the edge of the domain allowed the energy to flow from the constructs then through all the other plumbing he’d already set up to his shack and the oversized storage there.
Before retiring for the night Ozzy sat watching his new machinations at work. The energy flooding into his primary reserves had increased to such a degree that he’d need to start a project soon to address it or he’d be overflowing there in a few days as well. Which was reason enough to ignore it for the night. Returning to his recliner with a fresh cup of water he got comfortable and reveled in his newfound wealth of energy. He had “first world” problems to deal with in the morning.