"I can hear you," I said, speaking through the Presence to the Plains Keeper. "I will be-"

I got a ping from the System for a new message from a follower.

Message from follower: Piphipi

Note: Messages are highly moderated so as to not affect the simulation. Maybe you should bring a (Forest/Mountain/Both) Keeper with you to the Plains. Show them you are trustworthy rather than make you prove yourself. Or just to see how they react. Just an idea.

My record for initial impressions with species was a bit hit or miss, I'll admit. The Mountain Keepers liked me, though. And the druids, but that was more likely down to Mal'Thorn's influence. And I needed to start getting into the habit of asking my people for help, doing everything by myself was pulling me in too many directions at once.

"Mal'Thorn," I said, connecting through our digital sides with a low priority chat request that he could put off if he was in the middle of something. "I'm meeting with the leader of the Plains Keepers to warn them of the coming army and to recruit a portion of them to the fortress. If you are free I would appreciate your assistance."

I had dropped my perception of time so that I could react to the System ping in the middle of my sentence, but I was wondering whether I should go back up to normal speed and finish the sentence or wait for Mal'Thorn.

"Certainly, my lord," Mal'Thorn said. "I will be right there. What is the best way to get to you?"

I created a quest for him to help me now that he had accepted with a Fortress Coin as a reward. That would give him directions to me with a quest overlay. I also moved the Pocket Dimension side of the portal that was against the fence around the Heart of the Forest tree so that it was close to me, to give him the easiest path.

"On my way," Mal'Thorn said.

"You replied quickly," I said. "I was expecting you to take a few seconds?"

"I was in the common simulation at maximum speed," Mal'Thorn said. "I'm trying to integrate my Forest sense into the simulation."

"That sounds interesting, how is it going?" I asked.

"I'm making progress, my lord," Mal'Thorn said. "I could use a break though, I've been at it for a few days."

Days. I'd only spoken to him a few minutes ago from my perspective. I sped back up to normal speed and continued my sentence to the Plains Keeper without a hitch.

"- a few minutes," I said. "I have a proper diplomat joining me, who happens to be the current leader of the Forest Keepers and one of my vassals."

"I thought you said you would return when we had arrived," the Plains Keeper said. "We are about to be announced. And I am talking to a pendant." He sighed. "I will say that you will arrive shortly."

With a few minutes to spare I went to look at the storage areas for the bags of holding, moving the two portals to follow me. There were forty one small storage areas so far, and no medium or large ones yet. There wasn't yet any sensors making sure nothing left the storage areas into the rest of my Pocket Dimension so I spent some time designing a security system for the area. Heat, vision, and vibration sensors is what I ended up with and I put it on the list of things to do in the background.

It wasn't a very high priority as the storage areas were made of my reinforced stone, which was very resilient. Heat wouldn't do much to it, it would take someone dumping something like strong acid into a storage area. And because the Bags of Holding looked like bags it shouldn't occur to anyone to do it. But it made me feel better to have it covered, even if it never came up.

"We're just sending voice now?" Chantelle asked. "I guess the message is held in memory until you open it, so it isn't going to interrupt anything. I liked getting together and talking face to face, though."

"There is no reason we can't still do that too," I said, joining her in our shared simulation.

"I guess," Chantelle said, giving me a hug. "Anyway, the anti-god wards are up in all three locations in the fortress."

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I felt a tension I hadn't even known I was feeling relax.

"Three locations?" I asked.

"The ward room for the upper fortress, the Forest Keeper floor, and a new one for the Mountain Keeper floor," Chantelle said. "I shifted the recharge ward that was pointing down into the earth below the Mountain Keeper floor as well. And gave them a relay crystal. The Mountain Keepers use a lot of mana."

"Creating their ore seeds and mountain seed, I guess," I said. "Though they seem to use magic to carve into stone as well."

I spent some more time with Chantelle at pretty close to normal speed, waiting for Mal'Thorn to arrive. Two minutes later in normal time Mal'Thorn stepped through the portal at his fence.

"Should we go through, or speak through the Presence," I asked.

"Definitely go through," Mal'Thorn said. "Negotiations work better when both parties are able to see each other."

I spoke through the presence.

"Hey... Uh, guy," I said. "What is your name?"

"I am Ansar," Ansar said. "And we are in the personal meeting chamber of the leader of the Plains Keepers."

"Ansar, could you put the portal down?" I asked. "We will be coming through."

I reshaped the portal into a doorway and moved the presence out of the way so that Mal'Thorn and I could step through. I went through first and stepped into the dim light cast by a skylight in the ceiling. I was standing on a table made of dirt where Ansar had placed the portal, and the table was in the center of an earthen burrow with curved walls that had thin roots hanging down through them.

There were twenty guards armed with unsheathed daggers around the edge of the room, five meters away from the table. At the head of the table was a Plains Keeper on a raised chair, who must be the leader, and at the foot was Ansar. I stepped down off the table to stand beside him and Mal'Thorn followed to stand beside me.

Ansar spoke to his leader in their language, and Mal'Thorn spoke in the same language, which sounded similar to a bird cawing. I pinged Mal'Thorn for a primer on the language and he sent me a data packet. I spent some time studying it, then played back what had been said. Ansar had introduced us and Mal'Thorn had greeted the Plains Keeper leader, whose name was Malusa.

"This is the human that was causing such a nuisance, claimed an army was coming to destroy us, demanded an audience, and then disappeared?" Malusa asked.

"To express it in the worst light, yes," Ansar said. "But it would not be accurate to express it thusly."

Really, 'thusly'. I was almost as surprised at the word usage as at the fact that Ansar was defending me.

"He is deaf and dumb to our language, yes?" Malusa asked.

"I am not," I said. "I will admit that I might have been a nuisance in calling for the attention of a Plains Keeper while running. For that I apologise. I am a Champion, though, not a human. And I have seen and fought the army that is coming, and have spoken with the enemy Champion that commands them."

I walked down the table toward Malusa, the guards around the room shifting their grips on their daggers.

"He is coming to destroy you before I can save you," I said. "I requested to be taken to you, I did not demand an audience. And finally I had to deal with a portion of the army that made it through a hole in my defences to attack the people of my Fortress."

I stopped two meters away from Malusa, two of the guards had approached to stand at her back while I was approaching. I needed to know the Minimum Viable Population of Plains Keepers, so I sent a request for it to the System.

Error accessing undefined functionality... Error resolving...

System Evolution approved...

Implementing Identify skill...

Success: New skill available, Identify.

Skills will start poor and improve with use.

That was the first time I'd gotten a skill from the System, so long as it gave me the information I needed I didn't mind how the System justified it. I sent an identify request to the System for Plains Keepers in general.

Plains Keepers Description Plains Keepers are one of four Major Species in the world with dominion over the Plains Biome. Life span Thirty years Minimum Viable Population 200

Good enough. I got a ping from the System about Identify improving and muted the future notifications on skill progression. I could look it up later if I needed to.

"I am offering terms," I said. "A safe place to survive the end of the world for at least two hundred of your people, who will become my people, and a race change to an improved race for the leader of the group you send. In return the group will work for the benefit of all of the people in the fortress."

I looked at Malusa for ten seconds while she remained silent, then turned my back on her and walked back to stand between Ansar and Mal'Thorn. I might have gotten a bit carried away there.

"That is how you negotiate from a position of strength," Mal'Thorn said over a digital channel. "Allow me to fill in the gaps?"

I nodded and Mal'Thorn stepped forward.

"Malusa," Mal'Thorn said. "I am Mal'Thorn, leader of the Forest Keepers, and vassal to Lord C.C.. The Forest Keepers who were not under Lord C.C.'s protection, including our late Queen, were killed at the behest of the enemy Champion and the heart of our domain, the Heart of the Forest, was also killed. I urge you to accept Lord C.C.'s offer and send at least some of your people to safety to ensure the survival of the Plains Keepers if the worst happens."

"No," Malusa said.