Looking at the cute death bird that was snuggling up to me I could finally explore around the forest now that I had sufficient protection.
Looking around myself I took in the forest, all around me there were trees with vegetation all interspaced between. Specks of light pierced the thick canopies above me, annoyingly enough it seemed like the light was aiming straight for me as it shone in my eye, blinding me for a second. Faintly to my right I could hear water flowing downstream. The forest seems to be thriving but the buzzing of insects, the scuttle of animals, the croaks of toads, all sounds that were common to the forest were nonexistent.
I tensed, even with the forest being in a different realm there should have still been wildlife, at the very least I should be able to hear something but all the noises a forest should have were gone. Nothing could be heard no matter how I focused my ears.
Ali beside me lowered her head, teeth bared at some invisible threat, eyes darting around as she prepared for whatever threat was around us.
GAOOO
A great roar echoed throughout the forest as barreling footsteps grew closer and closer. Whatever was out there was getting closer and closer. The fear of death consumed my being as I dreaded the appearance of whatever predator approached us.
"Wa-" I was knocked out of my fear by the soft nudging of Ali, her wings covering me as she nudged me under her.
My small frame fit under her chest perfectly, however because of this I could not see anything and the fear came again.
Though it was not as omnipresent as it was before, Ali had comforted me, dissipating some of the fear that I felt. My heart pounding in my chest softened as I felt the comfort that Ali was providing me.
A flurry of movements and it was over, a flash of metal was all I could see from the exchange however I knew that the flash of metal was Ali. The giant bird must have been too powerful for whatever had attacked us to repel.
Before I could even push myself out of Ali's protection, notifications flooded my view.
[Your pet Ali has killed an aether enhanced brown bear ]
[For being the first human crown to kill an aether enhanced lifeform you have been awarded a basic summoning pool blueprint]
[Realm announcement the Crown Darwin has successfully killed the first aether enhanced lifeform FAME +1]
[Announcement the realm rankings have been unlocked]
{Current rankings}
1. Darwin (FAME 1)
2. N/A
3 N/A
4. N/A
5. N/A
…
I pushed my way out of Ali's chest trying to get a look at whatever had tried to kill me.
The resistance that I expected to find from Ali was nowhere to be seen as I was able to get out of her chest with no effort at all.
Light blinded my eyes for a second as the darkness that had consumed my vision while I was under Ali disappeared replaced with the rays of the sun.
When my vision finally cleared up I could see a bloody corpse. The creature that had tried to attack us lay dead, its eyes still open in surprise.
The creature that attacked us was surprisingly a bear, a massive one but a bear nonetheless. The only thing that was different from the bears of earth was the glowing core that appeared in its chest.
Although it had died from a cut to its neck I could see damage lining its stomach that opened it to reveal a bronze sphere like object that seemed to be pulsating like a heart.
It was slightly cracked from the force of Ali's attack but I could tell it was valuable.
Placing it into my pocket I look at the summoning pool blueprint.
[Basic Summoning pool]
{The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)}
"An aether core?" I wondered out loud, feeling the sphere in my pocket, "is it?"
As if to answer me a screen popped up confirming my thoughts.
[bronze grade aether core]
{an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform}
'It seems like I was right, that core I found in the bears chest was an aether core'
However for now I couldn't do much with it, I needed to find a place to establish my territory.
Even if the place around me was beautiful it wasn't a place where I could establish my territory. There was no water and barely any space for a house, let alone a city to establish.
Turning to Ali, I jump on her back and direct her to walk in a random direction.
…
We headed East in direction, there was no particular reason for this, just a random direction.
Soon enough, after riding in Ali for a while we came across a waterfall that seemed perfect for the purposes of our territory.
The cove that the waterfall was in was even better, I instinctively knew that the land was fertile and even if it was not I would love to test my evolution on it when I could.
Even further the cove was surrounded by trees, it was only luck that we even found it.
'Perfect' I thought to myself, the waterfall would be a source of water, the land for replanting if we need it, the only thing that was missing was a source of stone to construct the basic summoning pool but that could be easily remedied by Ali digging and finding some.
Nodding to myself I take out the housing token that was given to me by the system and crush it like I had the summoning token.
…
[Congratulations on establishing your territory]
{As your Territory is the lowest grade it spans half a mile in radius, you may construct buildings with either a blueprint or manually within your territory note that manually made buildings do not come with any bonuses}
In front of me the house constructed itself but soon enough I could see that it was a bit rickety. The house looked like it could be blown over by a single gust of wind. The breeze in the forest right now pushing the sides this way and that. I cringed at the thought of sleeping in that. It would have been better to sleep outside than something that would collapse on top of me. However there was a redeeming feature, the roof and undamaged wind, despite how it looked at first glance, the wood didn't seem like it would break despite how much stretching it had undergone from the breeze blowing onto it.
Opening the door to the house I look at the interior. Inside there was only a chair with a desk and a bed. The bed didn't even have a mattress nor a blanket. In fact it could barely be called a bed, it was more like a slab of wood that could be used as a bed.
While I was looking around the house a screen popped up in my vision.
[Crown's house]
[Tier: 9]
[Level: 1]
{can be upgraded(1 unit of wood, 1 unit of stone)}
"Units again? How much is a unit anyway?" I thought out loud, thinking about how the summoning pool needed units of wood and stone just like the Crown's house did.
[A unit is equal to 10 pounds of a resource.]
As if it was called, a system notification popped up in my face informing me of how much a unit was worth.
Thinking for a bit I decided to not only have Ali bring over enough resources for the upgrading of the Crown's house but also for the construction of the summoning pool.
To accomplish that I had Ali knock over one of the larger trees that sat in the vicinity of my territory and bring it to me.
I heard a loud bang and before long a huge tree trunk was brought to me. Touching it I was surprised when it turned into motes of green light.
[Your pet Ali has gathered 108 units of wood. Transferring to warehouse]
[Name: Darwin]
[Territory tier: 9]
[Territory level: 1]
[Skills: None]
[Talent: Evolution*]
[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]
[Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 1 aether core]
Looking in my pockets I checked for the aether core that I had picked up but found nothing. It seemed that without my input the aether core was put into my warehouse, wherever that was.
After confirming that my aether core was in my warehouse I walked over to Ali and pet her fur, instructing her to find a place to dig up some stone.
With a flip of her neck I was on her back and soon found myself at some sort of quarry. There was stone all around.
"Did you do this?" I asked Ali.
All I got was a chirp of confirmation as she brought me to a pile of stone.
Placing my hand onto the pile they were transferred into my warehouse.
…
Back in the territory I stood before the house and checked my status, confirming the amount of resources I had available to me.
[Name: Darwin]
[Territory tier: 9]
[Territory level: 1]
[Skills: None]
[Talent: Evolution*]
[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]
[Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 55 units of stone, 1 lowest grade aether core]
Bringing up the status of the house again I clicked on the upgrade button. Immediately after the resources were taken from my warehouse and fused into the house.
The wood looked strong enough to actually survive the night and the foundation was no longer of wood but stone.
[Territory tier: 9]
[Territory level: 2]
{can be upgraded(2 units of wood, 2 units of stone)}
After confirming that the house had been upgraded I brought up the blueprint for the summoning pool.
[Basic Summoning pool]
{The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)}
Looking at the blueprint I saw that it only called for an aether core. Taking the aether core out of my warehouse I look at it and wonder.
'What would happen if I evolved it, would the summoning pool be stronger or would it be the same'
I decided to test my theory, with a bit of focus the information screen that I had seen on many things now popped up showing me the info of the core in my hand
[bronze grade aether core]
{an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform}
[can be evolved]
Gather: the aether core has sat absorbing aether in a moderately aether rich environment. Evolves into a green bronze tier aether core]
*Note cores are divided into several tiers: bronze, green bronze, iron, black iron, silver, white silver, gold, green gold, platinum, black platinum, emerald, white emerald*