"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOO!!"
The same old Napoleon. The same reliable devastation to my eardrums every single morning.
I sat up from my bed, rubbing my eyes.
Another day has started..
The routine of everyday had settled into something almost comfortable by now.
Breakfast. Sprite's meal delivered to the cave entrance, the interesting part was that, this time she was already sitting closer to the entrance of the cave than usual, which I noted and said nothing about. A brief moment of sitting beside her while she ate, fingers through her green hair, the quiet domesticity of it feeling more natural each time.
After a little relaxation came the swamp.
Day two of clearing progressed exactly like the first.
I pushed. Timber channeled. Kaira cleared. Aldric watched the perimeter.
By midday another third had drained, the dark gleaming soil spreading further across the northeastern quadrant. Timber moved through the exposed sections with quiet reverence each time, pressing his palms flat against the earth, reading it the way he always did.
By evening, two thirds of the swamp was cleared.
While working on the swamp we noticed unnatural movements through the swamp.
At first we were vigilant and cautious while clearing.However, with time The unnatural movements through the deeper undrained section had become a recurring detail.
We avoided it collectively and without discussion.
An unspoken agreement between all of us.
Day three.
The final third of the swamp was today's target.
As such we progressed...
By midmorning the last of the swamp water had been channeled out of the territory entirely, guided through Timber's root network into the deeper forest beyond the boundary.
The northeastern quadrant was unrecognizable.
Where dark water and tangled roots had sat for what must have been centuries, there was now exposed farmland — rich, dark, gleaming with potential, stretching further than the original fifty-meter territory had contained in its entirety.
We stood at its edge in the morning light.
Nobody said anything for a moment.
Then Kaira said "Hm." Which from her was the equivalent of a standing ovation.
Timber said nothing at all. He just walked out onto the exposed soil and stood there with his root-feet pressed into it and his eyes closed, feeling it through every fiber of what he was.
After the swamp, we turned to the caves.
The first cave,the one I had used for my breakthrough...was cleared of debris and damp, its east-facing entrance widened slightly with Timber's help to allow easier movement.
I found Pride near the Chief's House entrance in the afternoon, that molten gold gaze tracking me as I approached.
"The cave is yours," I assigned him to the cave. "It's definitely Better than the doorstep."
He looked at me.
Then at the cave.
Then back at me with the expression of something that was considering whether to be offended by the suggestion or be practical about it.
Practicality won. He moved in by evening without acknowledging that he had made a decision.
[Loyalty: 77% -> 83%]
I offered Timber the same cave as well,told him to live in harmony with Pride.
He considered it seriously then shook his large head.
"Timber stays outside. Near well and water." He gestured toward the well with one vine. "Water helps Timber maintain energy. Cave is... too inside."
A Forest Troll who preferred open air and water access over shelter.
Of course he did.
"Fair enough." I couldn't help but mutter.
Between the swamp clearing days the system had been busy.
Wave after wave of Initiate-rank monsters had emerged at irregular intervals — the kind of manufactured difficulty the system seemed to enjoy deploying whenever things settled into productive rhythm.
Territorial Boars. A pack of Spine Wolves. Something with too many legs that I chose not to examine closely after Kaira dealt with it in approximately four seconds.
Each wave added EXP.
Each wave confirmed what I had already begun to suspect — that the Adept rank accumulated differently from Initiate. No clean star jumps after a single fight. The growth was slower, deeper, requiring more before it gave anything back.
Adept Rank seemed different from the initiatie rank. I have been getting lower exp for monster kills.
I guess the system measures effort and difficulty more than the Quantity of enemies.
When I was in Initiate every monster I encountered were stars above me..but I still defeated them, so the exp was greater.
But now, when I defeat the same star enemies in quantity I get low exps..
Because of that,the Initiate rank had been a sprint for me while the Adept felt more like a foundation being laid.
Then, one day, came the Juveniles.
They were Three of them in quantity.Juvenile Scaled Boars, squat and armored, each carrying the particular aggression of something that had never been challenged before and was deeply offended by the concept.
[Juvenile Scaled Boar ★★★- x3]
Strong enough to be interesting. Not strong enough to be genuinely dangerous to the current team.
The first one charged and Napoleon did his usual thing.
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOO!!
[Napoleon has used Rallying Cry!]
[All physical stats temporarily increased by 25%]
[Fear resistance +50%]
The Boar hit Napoleon's Rallying Cry frequency at close range and stumbled from the sheer physical force of the sound at point-blank distance. Its charge lost momentum and Timber's vines found its legs before it could recover.
I compressed gravity in my right fist.
100 lbs.
The second Boar was already mid-charge when I released it — not at the creature itself but at the ground directly in front of it. The impact created a shockwave that knocked it sideways into the third.
Two down temporarily. Timber had the first strangled.
Aldric moved through the gap with Piercing Gale — one clean strike finding the scale joint at the second Boar's shoulder, the runic blade's glow flaring briefly as Iron Severance followed and finished it off.
Kaira grabbed the third by the rear leg as it scrambled upright and swung it in a short, decisive arc.
The impact was so obviously destructive that the Boar couldn't wake up again.
[3x Juvenile Scaled Boar defeated]
[+21 EXP]
[+90 SP]
Then, the new notifications followed in a sequence.
[Congratulations! Napoleon has ascended, Initiate ★★★★ -> Initiate ★★★★★]
[Congratulations! Timber has ascended, Initiate ★★★★★ -> Initiate ★★★★★★]
I stared at both notifications for a long moment.
It seems nor Pride or I had ascended a single star.
'oh, How I miss those beautiful days where just a single slash on a monster ascended me by a star'
I shook my head with an exhale and looked at Nepoleon.
[Loyalty: 95% -> 99%]
One percent from maximum.
I can't wait to see the result of this Loyalty farming!
Timber looked at his own hands ..the bark skin, the vine-threaded fingers and then at me with those hollow green glowing eyes carrying something I could only describe as quiet wonder.
"Timber... is stronger now?"
"Yup! Timber feels stronger now," I confirmed.
[Loyalty: 92% -> 97%]
I looked at the two of them.
My rooster and my Forest Troll, standing in the middle of a cleared swamp field on the edge of a territory that hadn't existed three weeks ago — and felt the particular warmth of someone watching things they had invested in become more than they were.
"Good work," I praised. "Both of you."
Napoleon crowed once.
Timber straightened with rooted, quiet pride.
Behind us, from the direction of the cave, Pride's shadow fell across the clearing as he circled once overhead before returning to his new dwelling.
[Loyalty: 83%]