he process of giving the copy of their rebirth to Sili was embedding her intended prism into a thick armoring scale on the back of her neck near the base of her skull. The prism was actually around the same length as the scale so it was an easy addition to make.
Because of the mana of the stone, it may be employed in their next evolution when it was most likely to gain sentience or simply cast aside. When Sili finally gained coherency and awareness she would definitely notice the massive energy source bearing my signatures she left behind.
That was going to be an awkward reunion.
After the exchange, my parents did not even both looking at the stones and claimed it would be a few days before the Guild officials arrived. They had totally used scare tactics on me. Instead, the completely changed the topic to my estimates on how long the tunnels I left closed would last.
I told them, "The golems will last for a few weeks and then collapse the selected tunnels behind them. Even if the get through the first tunnels, they'll be crushed by it and then it will be at least a year before they reach the waste… gas chambers. Next year I planned to come back and check on Sili and the settlement as well as the surface shafts in a certain area. You'll know it when you see it."
"Did you plan on being alone for this?" My mother asked with thinly veiled fury in a thin-lipped smile.
"No, no, no," I deny quickly with some honestly. I had only considered it. "I planned to hire and supply Gryn's party and use this as an opportunity to raise their ranks depending on the situation. The goal would simply be to escort me to survey and then respond as needed. If the insects got out before then, Sili would be able to signal me regardless."
To my mother my father openly says, "His experience pool is more than double what it was when we saw his stats before the trip. The numbers he's giving us have got to be real. Ten thousand enemies with untold variants would be a safe bet right now. In another year or so, that could be doubled or even more,:
"Are you saying we push the Guild?" My mother asks incredulously. "That might get us out of the spotlight sooner but it could take everything out of our hands. We keep it local and controlled and quiet. If something happens in a year WE will be there to clean it up. Chuck, what was your timeline like?"
"In a year I was going to come searching for air shafts connecting to the second underground floor waste chambers," I reply simply and quickly before I start pacing in circles. "The air shafts are why they use those caverns and tunnels. Sealed up as the chambers are, I can use the air shafts to monitor the internal situation with a psionic spell. If the coast is clear, we seal the air shafts to let the tunnels fill with rotting gases.
"If Sili ever signals activity, there will certainly be bodies passing through that area and almost certainly gas to ignite and clear those tunnels," I report hurriedly, knowing my mother at least would understand my aim. "If you can shock them and then silence a link in the information network, they will cease all operations and go on the defensive. They probably won't even change positions by more than a few tunnels or caverns. They will wait for further aggression and respond accordingly as it occurs.
"This is one of the reasons why I consider them an S-plus ranked threat," I add briefly. "Their abilities are three or even two for one soldier and enough numbers to bite a chunk out of the Legion."
"So what, keep coming every year behind our backs with your brother and his team?" My mother asks dryly while holding her forehead in frustration. "Give them tools they don't understand how to use and familiars they should be terrified of? The gods only know if your sentient familiar will accept you like the wisps do, working with them to fight this 'big boss' of yours is dangerously unpredictable…."
After my mother fell quiet my father quickly picked up with, "How do you think Gryn's friends will react to whatever you yourself used? How would the Guild react? They would like them. Then they would want them. Didn't we go through this with your sword just a couple years ago?"
"A couple years before that was my second birthday," I remind him, taking advantage of a rare occasion to use my age as a defense. When silence suddenly fell, I hurried to break it and say, "I believe I have this under control and if I was pushed to I could lead a larger company on a full-scale campaign with the resources I acquired down in the d- cave systems."
This seemed to get my parents' attentions as well as inspire some apprehension, leading my father to give me an appraising look before finally coming out to the point. "How much did you get, son?"
From my various bags I produced simple samples in the form of a thousand pound obelisk of keratin as well as the whole deposit of common quarts and amethyst crystals from the caves. To top it off, I even revealed both of the silver samples I collected.
I kicked the smaller block of silver over to them and said, "You can use that for whatever you see fit, I was going to piece this big ingot out as trinkets and alloy agents for further sales to fund the reclamation of the mountain cave systems. This bag of geodes and deposits if for free funding as well while the rest of what I have in stock is intended to make weapons for the reclamation. This keratin is simply an alchemy reagent compatible with high density silver and gold or copper for armor plating and even some weaponry. It was collected from over a hundred dead insects and I have several other. If you have need of it for your own plans you can do what you like with it."
My parents did not even look at the things I displayed for them and simply gave me this dead fish sort of look. After several seconds of just meeting my constantly shifting gaze, my dad looks at my mom and asks, "Do you see how smoothly he tries to bribe us? Did you raise this kid?"
"Imagine if you had actually been the one to do it, couldn't be me," she replies in a deadpan voice while looking back at my father blankly. "What do you want to do, love?"
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, my father suddenly disappears from where he was standing and appears a split second later beside me with a hand on my shoulder. "First, we do the thing we are expected to do as parents and discipline our child. Son, show me your stats please."
This was going to suck. "Status," is all I said in response, openly summoning my stats for the world to see.
Not long after coming over to look, my mother clicks her tongue in disappointment and says, "He has more unregistered skills and his strength is over a dozen points higher than before the trip. His Endurance went up by even more. He'd been ruining his body just like I said he would."
"He can handle it, then," my father replied before carrying out a serious session of abu- discipline that was then completed by making me squat while bearing a large boulder on my back. I was thus forced to maintain posture and burden for several hours after having my rear, legs, and back beaten by a grass whip.
*