Before moving off, Valterra spawned several more Feral Mice and a couple more Emerald Adders and Razor Constrictors. His original Emerald Adder was extremely close to evolving and would be staying closer to his core to speed up the process. Content that he had dealt with all the new evolutionary notifications, he turned his attention to the first ones he had received.
He had no idea what a Location of Power was but he was excited to find out. What kind of Schemas would he discover within their borders? What kind of challenges did they contain? He would need to send out an exploratory force of creatures in order to see what he was up against. Even though the locations were within his domain and thus his Dungeon Sight, he still wasn’t able to see what lay inside. It was hazy like a mist blurring his senses.
But who to send? His Dungeon was only now picking itself back up and he was sure his renovations didn’t help. He also had to resummon some of his creatures that had fallen in battle. He had started that process on his first three floors but now he headed deeper. He passed the Fourth Floor proud of the fact that it had done so well but semi annoyed at the ease at which the invaders had simply bypassed it. The fortress of mice on the Fifth only needed a few touch ups and had weathered the conflict well.
It was at the Sixth Floor that he stopped. His Wyvres had been decimated by the conflict and of the eleven that had been sent through only five remained alive. Out of those five, three needed extensive healing that would take some time. He quickly spawned more in the Sixth Floor in order to balance the Floor out before moving on to his next order of business. The Rats.
The Rats had all been claimed but there was a hiccup to the process. The System seemed confused by them as if it didn’t know what to call them. Ever since claiming them the System had been giving him the same message whenever he had tried to get more information on his newest servants.
Undergoing Assimilation…
Valterra didn’t know what the word “assimilation” meant. Regardless, the Core would make use of his newest servants and not only the rats. He turned his gaze to the small tribe of invaders that he had now become the divinity of. It was a strange feeling and even stranger were the hesitant requests they would make of him. Even now he could hear their murmuring voices in his mind as they reverberated around his Core.
They were mostly for simple things like food and shelter. He didn’t mind answering their requests. It was the work of a moment for him to summon up stone dens, much like he had outside. He even summoned moss with which they could pad their caves.
The ensuing ripple of joy that followed his actions astounded him. He felt their gratitude and with it came something he hadn’t expected at all. Divine Potential. He stared as his potential grew by almost fifty points and all from just answering a few requests. It seemed being a divinity had perks.
Feeling a gaze upon his mote of awareness, he turned and found the leader that had led a group of invaders into his halls. The large canine-like Sapient bowed his head low at the attention. The creature’s acknowledgement of his gaze reminded Valterra a bit of Wenigo, his newly named Mouse Captain. Deciding to test something Valterra moved his Awareness closer before speaking directly.
“Hello,” he stated simply. He watched as the creature’s eyes widened and his head bowed a little lower.
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“I greet the Master.” The creature said not lifting his gaze. As he spoke, others of his kind began to chatter excitedly, having heard his words though it didn’t seem like they had heard Valterra himself.
The Core accepted the greeting for what it was and spoke on. “We have some talking to do I think. For all intents and purposes I am your new divinity and you are no longer Fallen. This does not in any way diminish the fact that you invaded my halls and slaughtered my creatures.” Valterra pushed aside the rage that bubbled up at those words and instead focused on the creature before him.
Some of his repressed anger must have bled through because the creature flinched minutely even as it answered. “Yes this is true. At first it was simply because you would be a source of strength for my people. We were diminishing slowly, on the cusp of losing our sapience. I was desperate. Then when we entered your borders I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time.”
His gaze blazed as he spoke. “Divinity. I knew then that you might be the salvation my people had been looking for ever since we Fell. But I had to make sure and…I needed to get your attention.”
His eyes held remorse but no apology. He had done what he felt was necessary and Valterra could respect such a position. Valterra nodded to himself before addressing the creature again.
“I have a penance for you. There is a Location of Power within my realm that lies unclaimed. Claim it in my name and I will consider your transgressions forgiven.”
The creature's eyes furrowed. “A Location of Power? There was no such place nearby before we invaded.” His confusion seemed genuine and Valterra hummed to himself thoughtfully. Turning once more to his broader sight, the Core tried to focus on the Locations once more only to be met by the haziness that surrounded them.
“It is hidden from my sight despite being within my territory. A secondary mission of yours is to discover how it has been hidden. I will direct you to its location but then you are on your own.”
The creature bowed his head and nodded. “I accept this penance. Let it show that the Risen will serve faithfully. I, Geckodo, will not fail.”
Valterra nodded in satisfaction, noting the creature’s name for future conversations, before moving on to check in on the rats. Whatever was happening with them would not stop him from utilizing them. Unlike his Dungeon Creatures he figured they would be able to leave freely without worrying about a lack of Aether between his Dungeon and the Location of Power he was sending them to.
He followed their tunnel down to where it met his Fourth Floor and was amazed by the primitive society that greeted his gaze. His idea to utilize the ledges had born out fruit in the way that the strongest rats monopolized them. They were even mining for the Crystallized Aether he had scattered so long ago. For a time he just watched them go about their lives until he found the rat he was looking for.
Like Geckodo, this rat seemed to sense when Valterra was looking at him although the small rodent didn’t have the same level of awareness. As Valterra attempted to communicate he found that the sparky-eyed creature responded to feelings, intentions, and images more than direct words. Even when he did use words, the rat was able to discern the intent of his message even if he couldn’t understand the words themselves.
Focusing on all he had learned, Valterra sent images of a lush garden full of the bounties of nature. He communicated his desire to have it and his desire for the rats to claim it for him. He also communicated the fact that there would be danger everywhere once they left the confines of his main Dungeon.
The rat, if anything, perked up at the idea of doing something important for the Dungeon. For him. Valterra found the trait endearing. Perhaps these rats were just mice in larger bodies. Regardless he left the rat leader with instructions on how to stumble onto The Garden and left him to gather his troops. As a preemptive award he summoned a tiny wooden replica of something his creator had memories of.
It was a wagon and it could roll along the ground or be pulled by hand if small enough. Once he got the size right he summoned a few of them and let the rat know that they were for the expedition. The rat was ecstatic and immediately got some of the rats to begin bringing Crystallized Aether over in order to fill them. Valterra felt his Core gleam with satisfaction. He would lay claim to two places of power and soon their Schemas would be his.