Shrine Evolving

There were only around twenty nosy bodies in the entrances of the other two tunnels when my probe preceded my exploration team. I was not overly interested in them as long as they did not come out, but it seem the two species had proven dominant over individual tunnels. This was good to know for future reference.

The insect tunnel was the most likely to lead me back to the big boss.

For now, though, I simply killed and cleaned everything to 'minimize the spread of information' and lead the way back up to the surface. It was already late at night when we returned to the surface and most of the serpents were asleep or basking around Sili's shining pool. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the basilisk had already grown by less than a food and had a healthy holy glow of its own.

This gave me confidence that their awakening would take place around the time of the anointment. Especially since the 'hallowed ground' had expanded so much. I ate a light meal of magic herbs and roasted rat after feeding the serpents everything that we had gathered today. After that, I went straight to sleep while the three light golems illuminated the entire length of the river from above.

Their light was only a dull glow on the ground but it covered hundreds of yards into the cavern. The wisps I left awake and patrolling did not even need the light, but I somehow slept better with these lights on. Especially after the numbers I had witnessed today.

Almost a hundred overall bodies just at the end of that one tunnel.

The next morning, I decided to start preparing some new equipment. By gathering up one hundred pounds of 'fire agate' on the bridge around the altar, I set about blessing the stones by drinking two vials of different mana potions and radiating higher concentrations of holy and light elements than usual. While softly chanting various prayers I divided half of my attention to converting the natural mana in the agates to variations of holy and light fire elements.

I stopped to check my progress after purifying all of the fire agate and found that all of bore the same vague holy radiance as the early altar. Now I moved on to breaking down the agate into crystalline powder and reconstructing it into a large block of holy fire agate that weighed over eight hundred pounds. This was all suspended in a high density void when bagged as loose chunks- for my sake.

This block was then divided over the course of an hour into two-pound blocks which were then even more meticulously shaped into large segmented throwing knives.

The segments were all loosely connected with intentionally shallow welds of different crystallized agate that acted like magical circuits between pieces. Whenever they struck something, and they would certainly strike far and hard with my Strength, they would break apart and the energies of the different segments would blow each other up from the discharge of broken conduits.

This single stockpile of fire agate became four hundred holy fire grenades that could reshape the cave systems as kinetic explosives. Thermal energy in general was safer to use on granite if the intent was preservation. Slagged granite would become blotches of marble under the intense pressure of these segments chained together.

These would be thrown in generous amounts at the big boss whenever the time was finally right. However, because I was mostly unaware of tunnel lengths and cavern sizes for the time being I could only make lesser versions of these knives. What I made instead was citrine one hundred citrine bolts from as many pounds.

The presence of iron in these stones allowed for a likewise lesser version of the holy fire enchantment. These bolts were simply hollow needles filled to the point of bursting with mana after an evening spent in prayer. Once the bolts were completed, I stored them in a voided wooden case and retired my 'exploration kit' cases to a voided purse containing a random assortment of 'trash'.

This trash of surplus crap could be any man's treasure if they ever got their hands on it, but for me it was basically a stash of emergency rations.

Whatever knives and bolts I did not use would be included in this mess eventually.

The original intention of this particular bag was to always have spare equipment on hand but it had grown into an armory capable of supplying a private army of at least a thousand just in armor pieces alone. I had made a lot of temporary or experimental equipment over the past few years.

For now I could only drink a vial of herb cocktail enchanted to speed up and maintain regeneration by several times the normal rate with mana. This was actually a common cocktail but the enchantment made it more than the usual double the natural speed with corrective effects. This was just to keep me awake during the night while I meditated and prayed to recover my energy

In the morning, my prayers were finally answered in the form of a pristine golden light that finally shone out from the altar's idol and illuminated the mountainside with a dim nut noticeable light. As well, Sili was showing signs of undergoing changes by the fact that she was still asleep curled up in a ball and the skin of her limbs and tail where starting to stick to their body.

As an amphibian undergoing a magic evolution or mutation, it would probably revert into a slimy wad like a tadpole egg and grow out into an enlarged and refined version of its current body.

Would Sili become some draconic being capable of fighting a slimy electric insect queen? Probably not. Could the evolved amphibian serpent mow down large numbers of lesser enemies with a potential ancestral awakening under my prepared protection?

Certainly.

If I could eliminate the insects and their boss while allowing the rodents to proliferate off of the remaining bats, Sili could grow into a large tank after this experience. Depending on this evolution, a second evolution from a prolonged healthy diet could turn this changing basilisk into something rival the local dragons. Rats would inevitably sustain that diet after the insects were dealt with.

The breeding stock I had prepared from the insects was currently kept in a bag filled with 'energy' related herbs to promote mating.

If the land around Templeton could prove effective, these insects could be housed and raised as familiars to produce exotic and powerful familiars for lesser mages. Should they ever undergo evolution it would most likely be an adaptation related to daylight.

With Sili out of commission, I could only make sure the serpents were happily fed on rat meat before increasing my team of sediment golems by a dozen. Under Grimm's leadership, I sent the team of golems down to the second floor to become barricades of rock at the wall of the shortened cavern. If the barricade ever met resistance Grimm would immediately return to base at top speed.

Having an alarm system in place to buy time after stirring up the pot the other day helped me eventually sleep better after going out to gather conductive wooden materials for blessing and processing.

Sili's entire body had begun become one large sac of skin and produced more copious amounts of slime in the pool that already contained almost a week's worth of excretion. I could only hope her body remained a suitable size and proportion to function within the caves and tunnels. If Sili became too big, she would be useless in this environment to proliferate the human pacified cave terrors.

Once the rats eventually reached endangered levels, these cave terrors would eventually have to move on from the tunnels the same as the insects would. Under the guidance of a potentially sentient Sili a few months down the road, they would come down the mountain to be distributed among imperial and Guild breeding programs outside of Templeton.

For Templeton, I was already going to pick out the healthiest and strongest rock and water terror youths to send home through my parents at the bridge village.

Which would also help to alert the village to the inevitable migration.

Once these cave systems were mostly emptied out, Templeton and the local Guild chapters would deploy guards and explorers to map out and farm the available caves. There was still a large wealth of stones and materials in that dead-end cavern and tunnel. The growth of Templeton for the next decade or two could be covered by this and even cause the bridge village to expand.

I hoped to only spend another few days here processing materials and roasting rat jerky.

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