The two Enlightened had discovered each other at last. Now that they were aligned, it could commence its next upgrade phase.

It had been reforming and creating deep within the planet’s core. It was slowly cultivating its minions and developing the challenges. It had chosen several from its bestiary and then altered their growth to allow them to survive in this planet’s atmosphere. It used a tiering System for its minions, and they would slowly be released as time progressed through the game's phases.

The chosen had to grow faster than they were doing. It knew the first phase could be slow as the chosen lifeforms came to terms with change, but now that they were together, it would accelerate their growth.

For the challenges to become viable and be a good use of its time, it needed to direct the orchestra as its theatrical masterpiece unfolded. It could do so if it just wanted them dead, but wasting the game's opportunity would be pointless. The habitants had historically played wargames, and this game was no different, the Entity placing its minions around to provide opportunities for the chosen to grow. It was this growth that they needed before the challenge phase.

System update 2.1 will be implemented.

There were two significant changes that it would allow.

The first would be the addition of a Codex. Now that the two chosen were together, it would begin to feed information they could reference to support their growth. Its second addition would be to add the quest System.

The quest System would ensure that it directed the chosen where it needed them to go—making them function as pawns as they moved around the battlefield. They would not realise they were being manipulated this way, just striving for success rather than understanding. His chosen Risen had already received a reward for a hidden quest, but it would now implement the System fully. It had not expected the hidden quest to be completed so soon, and alongside the beast surviving the Vilorse, it was pleased with the performance of its first two chosen.

The Vilorse was one of its minions, a solo predator that would keep hunting and growing stronger as it consumed prey out in the wilds. The Entity had been mildly surprised that the beast had attacked it due to its naturally high fear presence, expecting that it should run. This was a good sign for the battles to come as the Vilorse was a third-tier minion, and the fact that it had not feared it and managed to survive its initial attack was a sign of its high endurance and mental aptitude. The Entity had sent the Vilorse away from the area, as it wanted it to wait to meet the chosen again. Although the beast had survived, it had not expected the confrontation to take place when it did.

It had so many minions to assess the planet's inhabitants, not just its chosen, and as it worked through its options, it had decided on the Geblex. They were bipedal creatures that stood between three to four feet tall and were subterranean dwellings but would venture to the surface at night or hide in shelters during the daytime as the natural sunlight of this planet would affect them. They would be the perfect tier-one inhabitants for its first enclave. Geblex were not highly intelligent but excelled in aggression, where they lacked intelligence. They had a ravenous appetite and would attack anything they deemed a food source.

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The old mine was a perfect location for its first enclave, and from within the planet's core, the existing mana pool had been drawn towards the surface. It flowed freely through the planet’s layers until it reached the mine. The moisture in the air made a perfect environment for their growth and the growth sacs that the Geblex would break from. It could not be called hatching as the sacs were just a black translucent membrane that the Geblex grew in as they absorbed the mana. They had a short growth period of a few days and would soon begin to give birth. The firstborn was always the leader until a stronger Geblex challenged it, but their only real purpose was to direct the searchers, whose only role was discovering new food sources. The nearby population to the enclave would be an excellent attraction for them, and it knew they would be drawn towards it and into the paths of the Chosen.

It had not decided whether it would allow others to become Chosen, although several lifeforms intrigued it and had shown promise.

These promising lifeforms were on other continents around the planet. In other areas, the lifeforms had regressed so far, closer to their evolutionary roots, with complete ignorance of progression and growth, that it had decided these elements were not worth its time and had already released its minions to devour them.

One such area was Eurasia; this was the largest continental area on the planet, and the conflict and destruction after the initial falling had been so severe, mainly due to the nuclear weapons that had eventually been utilised, that those who had survived as Risen were barely more civilised than Neanderthals now, and the Entity had been disappointed. The area had been one of the planet’s most advanced both technologically and economically, but once it had become a hovel of devastation and destruction, with the surviving lifeforms being of no use to it, it had acted accordingly.

It had been a century since it had released the Hyrill on the continent. While the North American continent had been allowed to continue adapting, the Eurasian continent had been cleansed. The Hyrill were a tier nine minion. Without lifeforms on the continent having mana manipulation abilities or any form of Arcane Knowledge, they could have done nothing to harm them. Hyrill were virtually indestructible even to those with the skills and knowledge.

The few surviving clusters of lifeforms, particularly the risen, had eventually been thoroughly cleansed, removing their tainted smear from the continent, leaving it to flourish as an untouched region with only non-sentient lifeforms behind. After the cleansing, the Entity recalled its Hyrill minions and reabsorbed them into the planet's core.

In the vast oceans of the planet, there were Wild Ones that it had been considering, but they would not be able to interact with its current chosen, so it had left them for now. In the depths of the South American continent in the Amazonian Forest, Wild Ones had developed that would make good fighters, and it was thinking of assimilating them. In the deserts of Africa, several tribal Risen had shown promise, and some of the Wild Ones now existed there. Across Oceana, there were not any Risen that it thought worthy, but two of the new Wild One species were potent combatants that again may be viable options.

It was still designing the game and had no defined plan, making changes as it wished.

System update 2.1 will commence in 30 seconds.