Chapter Two-Hundred Forty-Five
I spend most of the rest of the day watching the enclaves, and let Teemo catch Rezlar up on whats going on. He doesnt really have anything new to add to the planned fight, though he does have a few questions about resources. A full on iron vein would be pretty cool, and I dont doubt itll be sustainable. Just the limestone quarry is pumping out tons of mana from how much the people want it. Making an iron vein wont exactly be cheap, but the upkeep is pretty minimal. Im confident itll be a good mana printer.
Ill be waiting until after the fight, though. Im sitting on a lot of mana, which I fully intend to let Fluffles leverage for the fight. He and Teemo have been working on something interesting, and I get the feeling its going to eat boatloads of mana to be able to actually pull off. I check for cheaper veins, and while copper and tin wouldnt be too bad, some of the more interesting minerals just flat out dont show up. Mythril and orichalcum do, but those are stupid expensive. But more normal things like sulphur or salt dont. I dunno if its because of where Im located, or if theyre just not options for veins. If theyre quarries, I dont see them yet, either.
So yeah, Ill be adding an iron vein to my to-do list, alongside expanding into the forest and making the ant enclave. But all that aside, my dwellers are doing great. The spiderkin have been working hard to make more winter wear, and so theyve been wandering around a bit more on the surface. Im always a little nervous when they leave my view, but theyre grownups, and the town is safe, so I do my best not to dwell on it.
Im also keeping an eye on where Aranya told that legend yesterday. She promised another one today, and I dont want to miss it. If I didnt know better, Id say shes deliberately taking her time preparing and doing other errands. I wouldnt put it past her to tease me like that. At least being focused on the story keeps me from obsessing over the upcoming fight.
I kinda wish she wasnt going to join the next group going that way, if only to get more legends out of her. I bet she was on her way to a historian class or something before stumbling into me. Maybe she actually was one? I think classes can change, or upgrade, or something? Nobody really talks about it much, at least not where I can hear.
My mind idly chews on the idea of classes advancing and how, before I notice Aranya making her way to the pulpit, I guess? She smiles as I settle in to listen, and the gathered ratkin and spiderkin glance around. I wonder if they can feel my attention like Aranya can. Tarl said he could sense when Im paying attention, but was that just having good perception, or is it an inspector thing?
Yes, Lord Thedeim is listening today, says Aranya to the gathered dwellers, leading to the murmuring growing a bit more excited before she continues, and they fall into a respectful quiet.
I promised the legend of how Kobolds came to be, but its really how all intelligent life came to be. Oh, people argue their own legends of course, but this is the one my people tell.
The First Sanctuary, after creating so much, was not satisfied to stop now. I can only assume spawning was different, so long ago, because I never said anything about a spawner for the elementals, did I? Sometimes they would make more of themselves, and sometimes the First Sanctuary would make them itself, but there was no spawner for them.
The First Sanctuary never imagined the need for something like that, and so merrily kept creating, and sending the creations out into the stagnant mana. Some would die, but thats simply part of life. The First Dungeon experimented with life, trying to weave all new and wonderful varieties. The fey came first.Folloow current novÊls on nov/3lb((in).(co/m)
Did you think a kobold legend would start with kobolds? she asks the crowd with a smile. Though I say the fey came first, it would be more accurate to say plants and beasts came first, but they were part of the last legend, so they dont count. Anyway, the fey. They were different than the beasts. Most of the beasts had little use for mana, at least in any complex form. They would use some, but their type of use was not far from what many today would consider to be martial uses. They would hit harder, rather than throw a fireball.
But still, where are we? Where are the kobolds? Im getting to that, she answers her own question with a smile.
The First wanted to create more, and felt it had almost run out of things to create. It searched and found no new life like with the primal spirits. It briefly wondered if the stagnant mana could be a life, but every interaction with it showed it antithetical to life. So what could it create?
Maybe it could weave life together, like with mana affinities? It sounded difficult, maybe impossible, but the First was eager for a challenge. It wanted to weave life together, but how? There is so much to life, in all its varieties. Where to even begin? Well, much like with starting with the elemental affinities, it should start with the simplest forms, the most obvious things.
Elementals, fey, beasts, spirits. The beasts are strong and incredibly varied, surely at least one of them would provide a proper base? Muscle and bone, but the First wanted more. The elementals had such trouble differentiating themselves from raw mana because they are suffused with so much of it. Can that strength be infused into a form like a beasts? The fey are great with manipulating mana, second only to the sanctuaries themselves, so if the First wants the best aspect of them, it will be that mana control.
But what of the spirits? Perhaps it doesnt need them? It tried to weave the other life and could immediately see terrible imbalance before the whole weave fell apart. It needed more, but could a primal spirit give what was needed? The First understood the spirits the least, but it had a feeling the spirits would prove a vital part of this new life.
It tried again, and this time with the ephemeral traits of the spirits in the mix. They proved to be the last ingredient, though not the most vital. All parts were imperative to the whole, each needed to strike the balance and create stability. It was difficult, so very difficult. Easily the most difficult thing the First had ever done, but it finally succeeded!
No, not the first kobold. The first dragon. A wyrm. Aranya smirks and continues. After that, the creation of my people was almost an afterthought. With a new variety of life, all the sanctuaries set about creating dragons with different affinities, and making them stronger, wiser. The First created us. Some of the other sanctuaries were not impressed with us. The intelligent form of the new life, one built from the best of all the others, and its just some short lizardkin?
She smiles fondly. But the First loved us as much as all of its creations. Thats why we kobolds call them sanctuaries, rather than dungeons. They are our home. We dont begrudge the others for moving away and moving on. Perhaps, if given time, we would have done the same. But before we could, the Great Catastrophe befell the Sanctuaries, sparked by one that even the most devout kobold would readily call a dungeon.
She stretches and looks around the gathered dwellers, and nods to herself. But that is another legend as well. Maybe Ill tell that one after I come back. I need to prepare to sojourn to the Southwood with the adventurers and Lord Thedeims denizens. Be safe and be well, all of you. She smiles as everyone stands, and makes some small talk while I digest the legend.
Theres a lot to unpack, even without how far its probably drifted from the truth over the years. I think the biggest oddity is that I dont hear anything about the system, or whatever they call it here. Were dungeons a lot more free-form, way back when? Or was the system so obvious that nobody thought to explicitly mention it? There was no mention of Voices, either, despite the dungeons communicating.
At least Ill have something to occupy myself with while Aranya and everyone travels. Maybe the system was always there, but only started imposing rules after that Great Catastrophe? Its too bad it sounds like theres no dungeons from that time left to ask.
