First things first, I directed my new dire hare to join the construction crew. No reason to not have them working while my attention was elsewhere. Since I needed to keep my mind clear since I had such a valuable asset deep behind enemy lines.

The Enemy Core Is Present! Live and don't Die! Kill to become

It didn't help that the system kept nudging my elbow with these messages all the time. I needed to work out what I was going to do. I could end it right now. An alpha strike right to the core would do it .That diving attack it had used on the Fleshborn Behemoth should do the trick before the Priestess knew what was happening. Luciantsss here didn't appear to be a threat to me, not really. Especially now that I knew how well my monsters could work together in the Fog of War spell and the Mist Cloak spell was pretty over powered inside the dungeon. I was sure that Luciantsss had spells of their own but for whatever reason they were disinclined or unable to use them. I didn't even want to know what that sort of damage that I was seeing here would do to me. As it stood I was split on weather to 'become' or, I don't know, start the ground work for the magic dungeon model UN.

Vitapygmy began to arrive from the other side of their territory, all except the hammer wielding one, and they began preparing some sort of ceremony. The two new members were being presented with quarterstaffs then the Priestess climbed the roots of the mangrove tree to collect a small bowl of Caramelized Life Mana directly from the leaking core and preceded to anoint them with swirling patterns of the mana rich and sticky substance. They were then handed baskets and they all dispersed and began tending to and harvesting from the rest of the Garden.

They were an interesting bunch. Their skin tones seemed to be randomly selected from a standard array that was similar to human skin tones. Their enhanced healing seemed to mark their bodies leaving behind green markings even though the texture of their skin was unchanged. I noticed this because one of the female vitapygmy had a green lower leg having been a survivor from the raid and the Delver attack.

With the additional vitapygmy wandering around the room my options in regards to remaining stealthy were dwindling. I didn't see a good opportunity to try and start a dialogue right here and now but I could try and grab something on my way out. I deemed it to risky to try and grab one of the baskets so I would be limited to what the Volpertinger could carry out unassisted.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I directed my monster into the pond and knew I needed to move quickly since while under water their natural mist camo was useless and the spellwork mist was much the same. There was plenty of room between the roots as they made their way down ignoring the fish darting away in a a panic at the sudden introduction of the large terrestrial, some what avian, predator invaded their home. The bottom was covered in more grey-green moss but I wasn't sure if it was a different species or if dungeon moss could survive in a wide variety of environments. The mangrove's thickest roots seemed to be wrapped around fragments of dull green crystal, likely shards of dungeon orb. Upon grabbing a mouth full of Life Mana Pearls it was time to go.

Once we breached the surface I began to fully appreciate how limited my Domain was here compressed by the local domain into just barely beyond my Volpertingers skin as their ears and my not-ears were met with cacophonous shouting. Our little smash and grab had been noticed, probably due to any number of reasons, but none of the vitapygmy were in any position to halt my monsters escape. With a Dash we were off following the shortest path back out with no resistance beyond a single guard in our way. Who of course leapt out as we approached the intersection with a yell, its hammer already in mid swing. It had swung blind not knowing exactly where my Volpertinger actually was, whereas my monster had taken the intersection at a leap and had literal wings. Arcing through the air nearly scraping the ceiling and quickly kicking off the far wall and down the tunnel and back safely within my own territory and flanked by pair of hare. The guard and other vitapygmy did not give chase and I didn't need to call my other hare over with haste to try and hold the Altar room from being retaken. A superfluous combat log popped up indicating a victorious raid with a single line in the entry noting a missed hammer swing.

I had more interesting to deal with for now and my volpertinger quickly headed over to my Core chamber to drop of the spoils. As they opened their mouth and the pearls poured out I was pleasantly surprised. It was more then I had expected, ten Life Mana Pearls settled into my Mana Well along with a small clump of blue green algae and a pair of Lesser Vigor Crabs. One of which splayed its claws wide in a display of aggression toward my Volpertinger. That would have been intimidating if it hadn't been only slightly larger then the silver coins being generated at the back of the room. I would have ignored them if it weren't for the fact that the system started pinging me with warnings about intruders in the Core chamber. I'm going to have them fished out and deposited in the Grange's Mana Well.

With the ten life mana pearls placed safely in my Mana Well a small tendril of verdant energy arced between the waters surface and my Core. An indicator popped up in response. I was one tenth of the way to something. Of course it didn't tell me what that something was.