I was mostly finished talking to Mica and Geni. The next step was preparing to create an Oread.

Of course, that was a good deal more complicated than creating my other creatures so far. The Oread would be bound to a single location, a 'place of power'. That meant they needed to be in the room I planned on giving to the Fairies. Putting them in the Gate room would make the defense too desperate, since they wouldn't be able to retreat. Putting them in the Kindlesprite room might result in them going berserk because of the effects of the Clay. And most creatures seemed to dislike the idea of living in my Core room. So, the Fairy room. A room that didn't exist yet. 

Though they weren't in the room with me, I tried to give out new orders to all my creatures. The Common Rockworms, I left as they were. The Greater Rockworm, I told to combine and expand all of the side rooms I'd dug out before finding out about the Gate. The Oreworm, I instructed to expand the Kindlesprite's room. And the Elemental Rockworm was ordered to dig a new tunnel directly opposite the Gate from my Core room.

I watched the Orders appear in the Interface. Good. Then I opened the Room menu. I had one thing to check before I committed too fully to this arrangement. 

Oh. That was convenient. My understanding was that it would be one CP for every room I wanted to move. Perhaps there was a discount for moving them all at once? I accepted, which brought up a map of my dungeon. There was... One thing I didn't expect. There were several small tunnels running randomly underneath the first side room. I'd left the Common and Greater Rockworms alone for a few hours after they were first created... I could move the tunnels, but not change their layout without incurring extra costs. I'd just have to combine them into another room.

I tried to move the Gate room, but it was locked in place. Unfortunate. It would have been nice to put it in a corner and my Core in the far corner from it. Trying to move my Core failed as well since it wasn't 'New Territory'. Trying to move one of the side rooms into unexplored darkness also failed. I could only attach them to pieces of tunnel or to other rooms. Well, I figured that would happen, that's why I started digging out a new tunnel. In the meantime, I arranged things so the side rooms were all grouped up together around the tunnel to the Gate room. With that, it wouldn't take much to connect them together.

I confirmed it. There was a strong surge of magic, far more than I would have expected from one CP. Then nothing. The Map registered the changes, but there wasn't any grating or shaking or anything like I'd sort of expected. No, the flow of mana screwed up for a moment. That was the only recognizable sign that anything changed.

I wanted to see the changes for myself, but instead I moved onto why I'd really opened the menu.

Well, that was a big number. But it wasn't even two percent of what I needed to activate the 'Elegy of the Pale Moon' for a single room. I was confident in the population explosion that was on its way, but it was frustrating to see in the moment. Whatever.

The Room count was the thing I needed to focus on. I was going to try and create a building inside the Kindlesprite room. Then, if the room count went up, I would know I needed separate rooms for the Kindlesprites and Fairies. If it stayed the same, I could merge the two rooms, and separate them with enchanted walls to prevent the Clay from contaminating anything.

I told Mica and Geni about my plan. I could use Excavate, but it wouldn't make any walls any time soon. Though the powder might make a nice mortar or cement ingredient. It didn't take the two all that long to figure out how to do what I wanted.

The Earth Fairy first flattened the stone in a corner of the room, then dragged lines of Earth mana out across the floor. I was fascinated to see stone visibly grow out from the lines. It was rather similar to how the Kindlesprite regenerated. Mica then raised a frame out of the lines, creating a five meter cube. The stone slowly grew while trying to stay within the frame, its speed enhanced as the Fairy focused their attention on the stone instead of the frame.

Once the entire thing was completed, I checked the Room menu. No change. Promising. But a five meter cube was the lowest size a room could be, so the Interface may have failed to register it or something dumb like that. It was enough to move to the second test. Contrary to my previous orders, I had the Oreworm and the Greater Rockworm try to connect their territories. Meaning, the Fairy room and the Kindlesprite room would be the same room, eventually. I'd have Geni ensure there was no contamination from the Clay. In the event that something funky happened, I'd probably have to waste a lot of effort getting separate rooms to both be big enough to have the Elegy active. But I was confident that wouldn't be necessary.

Since there was still a lot of time before I earned enough CP for an Oread, I told Mica to make three more mini-rooms, one in each corner. I especially wanted one around the Clay the Kindlesprite was managing. I also had Geni enchant that room so the Clay wouldn't get out, for now. Later on, I might increase the size of the room and let it spread. I told them to assist the Rockworms in tunneling if they ran out of things to do.

I finally went over to check on the moved rooms. First I started with the place the side rooms had been before. There was a small indent in my Core room's wall where the tunnel used to be. The mana was flowing oddly, like from a leaky faucet. Probably something Mica or the Oread would be able to fix easily, later.

Moving to where the rooms were now, I noticed the same phenomena. At least, a similar one. The mana here was flowing in unusual drafts, questing through space that hadn't been open before. It was rather turbulent, sort of like a river moving into rapids. It didn't seem dangerous though. The stone itself looked welded together near the joints where the rooms met the tunnel. I was a little confused about how it had happened. I wanted to see it with my own eyes, next time...

I could have set an alarm to tell me when I had enough CP for an Oread, but it would be pointless if I didn't have a place to create it. Instead, I personally worked on opening up the rooms. My Excavate was somewhere between the Greater and the Elemental Rockworm in tunneling speed. So, I made a noticeable contribution.

Whenever I started to lose focus, I would search through the forums for a few moments, or chat with my creatures. I still wasn't sure what was up with Mica. When they didn't know I was watching, they acted fairly similarly to Geni. But when I talked with them, they instantly became more withdrawn and serious. They were like a kid seeing their Principle and wondering if they would get yelled at for having dyed hair. I'm not that scary, am I?

I did find out that the Interface had a music app. That was a serious boost to my efficiency. There was something entertaining in crushing hundreds of pounds of rock to dust while listening to the right type of music. Before I knew it, all of the extra stone between the rooms had been torn down. Aside from the artificial walls made by Mica and Geni, anyways. 

Cipiteca396

I did it again. I meant to create the Oread this chapter, but it wasn't in the cards. I really can't just have Selene sit down and do nothing for 15 hours. There's sooo much she could be doing instead.