Several Years Later
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Time was a strange concept to grasp. Billions of years could pass in the blink of an eye if Aelia let it, as she had when she was young. Now, she couldn't let herself slip into the flow of time. There was too much to do, too many things scuttling along her surface.
Splitting her consciousness, Aelia focused part of it on maintaining the state of her world, keeping energy, both physical and magical, circulating and flowing as she siphoned it from the universe. Another fragment of her mind turned toward her founders, seven of whom she initially brought to her world, and the eighth a replacement after they had slain one of her founders.
Almost time.
They had all reached A5 some time ago, long in their minds, but still nothing to her.
Soon.
Three had already reached A6, the Spear, Badger, and Brilliant Feathers. Aelia wasn't surprised; they were the most combat-focused of her founders. Brilliant Feathers, in particular, had the advantage of not caring for a youngling. Unlike the others, he could reproduce readily with others of its species should they climb the ascension ladder in time.
As for the Spear, she was simply a battle maniac; ever since upgrading her hand-to-hand combat skill, she'd gone on a tear.
Meanwhile, there was Mumford' Raving Badger' Garfunk, who, while not quite as intense, was still made of much the same cloth. While he didn't quite have the same manic enthusiasm that had possessed the Spear, he was also the best fighter on the planet from a finesse point. They were exceptional, but the rest of her founders weren't far behind; they would reach A6 within a year or two.
Then it will be time.
A screen flickered into existence inches from her physical body.
Planetary Event: Bane's Birth
Requirements: All Founders A6+
Reward: Planetary Ascension tier up
Having crystallized and solidified their foundations, the time has come for the spark of chaos to be added to the dry kindle of potential once more.
A planetary event was… Not something Aelia understood. She had been offered several events once all her founders had reached A5, and Bane's Birth had been the event with the lowest requirements; the other two events required the founders to have reached A8 and A10, respectively. As for what the event entailed exactly, Aelia wasn't sure. She could feel pockets, wells of potential near each of her founders. For the Architect, it came from inside the Maw, as if something was slowly gestating and growing just beyond his ability to reach. The Spear was constantly being tailed by something in her shadow. Badger was silently being watched by something lurking just out of sight within the coasts he traversed. The First Monk was watched from the slopes above. The Primordial Rogue had placed a target on his back when he let a monster take over his old settlement. Nearly all day long, the Voice of the Precursor was silently stalked by something within the tall grass of the savannah she called home. The Vanguard was on the verge of releasing something deep within the temple she'd explored only a fraction of. Even Brilliant Feathers wasn't exempt; the rays of the stars that shone down and energized the bird were a tad darker than usual.
It bothered Aelia that she wasn't privy to what was happening, that there were things on and within her crust veiled from her sight, but where E.O.N. made moves, she could only begrudgingly follow.
All she knew was that once they'd all reached A6, the event would finally be allowed to start. The rewards were great, so she would not deny it, but there was always that hint of trepidation at surrendering control.
Her body sighed as Aelia put the thought of the future event out of her mind. Instead, she focused on watching her founders, one at a time. For several days, Aelia watched the Spear slowly tracking a monster, teaching the young one with her how to do the same. They'd climbed an impressive amount as well, having reached A4. It boded well for the future, but for now, her founders mattered far more regarding her personal growth. After a week of tracking, the Spear's young apprentice was sent to battle with the monster in question, a cross between a chicken and an oversized lizard that she had… 'borrowed' the inspiration for from the memories of one of her founders.
Why spend time devising monsters of her own when her founders were such treasure troves of ideas?
As the young apprentice engaged the cockatrice with a double-sided spear, the Spear of the Precursor watched silently. She wasn't one to step in unless necessary, and she'd let her apprentice stand near the precipice of death before she involved herself.
Luckily, it wasn't needed. Aware of the cockatrice's withering gaze, the Spear's apprentice simply avoided catching its gaze directly, preferring to keep herself at an odd angle so that the cockatrice was always forced to pivot and turn, trying to focus her with its eyes. Unable to do so, the cockatrice was a relatively simple opponent, trading physical power for the gimmick of its gaze. Within a few minutes, the battle was over as the blood-splattered apprentice raised her Spear overhead, victorious, before bellowing out her war cry.
Quaint.
It wasn't the most exciting event; it was a mundane hunt for a relatively harmless monster as long as you knew what to watch out for. Switching focus, Aelia instead spied -watched- a more exciting pair.
That was Badger and his young trainee, a human boy. To no one's surprise, Badger had defaulted to his old teaching methods.
Training from hell.
Fourteen years old, the boy was enduring trials that grown men struggled with. From daybreak until midday, they spent those hours undergoing physical conditioning before pivoting to sparring. It was for the best that race evolution occurred with Ascensions, as the boy's mental state would have likely been rather distressed if not for the mental strengthening one gained through those race evolutions. Instead, the boy took it in stride, grimacing and aching but persevering and growing from the harsh training. It wasn't without merit; the boy, of all the younglings that the Founders had been tasked with raising, was the closest to reaching A5. For a week, Aelia watched the two spar, amused that between them, looking at their vocations alone, you'd think the young boy was the founder and not his furry drill instructor. Unlike Badger's simple Woodsman vocation, the young boy had the vocation of Forged in Fire.
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While watching the drill instructor and his young cadet was more entertaining than watching the Spear and her apprentice hunt, it was ultimately nothing more than a mundane physical trial.
Excitement…. Well, a few are more exciting to watch on average.
The most obvious choice would be the Vanguard of a New Era, or the Vanguard for short. She was, by nature, addicted to excitement; she could always be counted on to get into something entertaining, or at the very least, she took the time to admire the world around her.
Switching to watching the adrenaline-fueled founder, Aelia once more watched for a week straight. There was a rather entertaining bit when she first pushed her young companion to take a leap of faith for the first time.
A rather literal leap, as the girl dove off the floating mountain that the Vanguard called home. There was also the little bit where the girl didn't leap of her regard, so much so that the Vanguard had grabbed the desperately flailing girl as she tried to hold firm to a tree. Unable to resist her chaperone's strength, the girl had been helpless as the Vanguard proceeded to spin the girl around, swinging her through the air by her ankles before flinging the girl off the side.
On and on, Aelia switched between watching her founders and their endeavors. Those who hadn't already reached A6 were preparing for the plunge. They'd all devised similar plans of battling a powerful foe to get them over the final hurdle.
Smart.
The stronger the foe, the greater the returns, after all.
Which finally led her to peek at the most interesting of her founders.
The Architect.
While Aelia wasn't one to have favorites, the Architect was a bit… different. Her rationale stemmed from another founder, Brilliant Feathers. After slaying one of her prior founders, the monster took on his role, replacing the dead founder, and was doing quite well in that regard. It had been the confirmation that while her founders were exceptionally useful for advancing her growth, they weren't irreplaceable. Ultimately, any monster that managed to slay a founder could gain some of their exceptional spark.
That was, except for the Architect. What made the Architect special wasn't his combat prowess or specific skillset. He was relatively poor when it came to combat. In truth, his main tactic was to fight from range without the genuine skill of a dedicated archer, taking potshots of chance. No, the Architect was unique for a different type of spark he brought -imagination- and a method of thinking that didn't align with the likes of battle brains such as Badger or The Spear.
At the very least, Aelia had expected the Voice to take on a similar role, avoiding battle given her weaker physique than a human. Instead, she'd used that as motivation, something she would prove wrong, that even with a more naturally feeble physique, she was just as capable of excelling in their new world. Aelia wasn't against such a drive, but it didn't change the fact that out of her eight founders, only one focused on a path that didn't directly involve pure combat.
Well, technically, the slain founder had an alchemist vocation. Yet, the Osferian had used it as a crutch to battle rather than pushing the creative bounds of what it could do.
Hence, I didn't mind that the Brilliant Feathers superseded him.
The Vanguard also technically had a path that wasn't directly focused on combat, an aspect of exploration that Aelia approved of. Still, it didn't build anything new, just discovered. Useful, but not unique.
Aelia sighed, finally exiting her thoughts to focus on what the Architect was up to before inwardly wincing.
Whoops.
Lost in thought, six months had passed just like that. Another founder had even reached A6 during her little lapse of attention, as the Vanguard had successfully broken through her wall.
I'll check on her later.
Turning her attention back to the Architect and making a careful point not to let her sense of time slip for even a brief instant, Aelia took stock of what the human and his assistant were up to.
What in the world?
In her brief lapse where she'd lost focus -six months- something new had appeared in his camp. Or rather, four new somethings. In each cardinal direction now stood what appeared to be four pylons, each capped off with a crystal capstone.
What are those?
Much like her annoyance with E.O.N and its ability to conduct things on her without her being the wiser, the Architect also enjoyed that annoying little privilege. Unless she was specifically eavesdropping-
Overseeing
-Aelia had no way to know what exactly his plans were. She could try to glimpse the knowledge by tapping into their innate connection, the method she'd used to accelerate her mental and emotional maturation when she'd first summoned the founders, but it wasn't without issue. The more they grew, the thinner that connection became. It wasn't as if it was ever mind reading, to begin with, more like borrowing copies of a book from a library to place within your own. Still, now, it was as if there was a limit on how many 'books' she could borrow.
That is, she was clueless about what the Architect was up to and what plan he'd devised during her six-month lapse of attention.
Sighing, Aelia pulled up her interface as a three-dimensional projection of her planet hovered. There were seven tiny marks on her eight continents—the Badger refused to create a settlement—each one a dim glow. Focusing on the brightest of the dim glows, her projection zoomed in until she looked over a nearly identical display to her spy view. The main difference was that information on her second display gave her information about the area the Architect called home.
Pneuma levels are about standard. Essence levels continue to be above average, partly due to that Essence Spire.
The Architect's Essence Spire was mildly concerning; it had ripped open an imperceptibly small rift in existence, drawing essence directly from the energy of creation. Still, it was so insignificant that it likely wouldn't begin to potentially be a problem for hundreds of thousands of years, if not more.
Continuing her inspection of the area, something else caught her attention.
Pneuma levels are about standard, but the quality and refinement are shifting slightly. What in the world did you do?
Aelia's display shifted again, viewing her world through a lens that none but a World Spirit could. Within moments, Aelia realized just what the new pylons were doing.
He's grinding the local Pneuma against itself from four directions simultaneously like four millstones perfectly placed to constantly grate the grain between them.
Except in this case, the grain being ground up was Pneuma, the pylons were the millstones, and the 'perfectly placed' was the direct center of his camp.
Why, though?
Sure, it wasn't bad. In fact, it was straight-up beneficial. If free-flowing Pneuma was worth one 'unit' of magic, then grinding it against itself this way could improve each 'unit' of Pneuma to be worth more.
But why?
The Architect rarely did projects just for the fun of it. Instead, they were often more like an exhausting list of things to do that flowed one into the other.
So why do you need higher-quality Pneuma on hand?
The easiest way to find out would be to loosen her hold on her sense of time purposely. Another six months could fly by in an instant like that, but Aelia was wary of doing so, and it was too easy to miss something important.
She could also ask, but Aelia was also against doing that. One day, she would be home to countless people and lifeforms, and she couldn't make it a habit of involving herself so directly whenever the desire hit her.
I guess I'll have to wait and see.
Another six months would likely put her to the point where the last few stragglers of her founders would be nearing A6; she doubted any of them would be more than a year from that point.
And then the Planetary Event will begin.
Uncertainty gripped her molten core, an uncertainty that reflected itself in her physical body where a heart would be in a human.
Damn E.O.N. Not telling me everything.
Of course, E.O.N was another confounding creation of the Architect, albeit one that had taken on a universe-sized life of its own.
Well, I guess I've got no other choice.
Making herself comfortable, Aelia settled in. Her split consciousness still operated the rest of the world just fine without her direct focus.
"I guess I'll just wait and see what you're up to."