When I awake it isn’t because I’ve rested my fill, but rather because my antennae are picking up something strange. Emergency pheromones from the workers!
Gah!
What is it? What’s happening!
[TINY! Come on, man! Action stations!] I blearily shout.
For once my pet ape is actually awake. When he sees me stumbling about drunkenly as I struggle to get my bearings, he reaches with a massive paw and grabs hold of me firmly before picking me up and placing me on his shoulder.
I clutch onto his fur to avoid falling flat on my face and just like that, he’s up and moving, carrying me along for the ride. With his massive arms, he takes hold of the tunnel walls before dragging his massive frame upward as if climbing on a jungle gym.
When we reach the queen’s chamber, it’s buzzing like a hive, the workers jittering this way and that, and some of them stream to the peak of the hill. The majority of them seem to want to remain and defend the queen, albeit in a highly agitated manner. Buried somewhere in that nervous mass of the workers, the queen seems content to stay still for the time being. I don’t try to talk to her since it would be difficult to get a pheromone message through what is essentially hundreds of workers screaming “Emergency!” at the top of their lungs.
Being careful not to crush the ants as he moves, Tiny continues to carry us to the surface one handhold at a time. By this stage, I’ve mostly sorted myself out. My headache hasn’t fully receded but it’s much improved. Crinis and Vibrant are relaxing on my person, as per usual, which is something of a relief. I’d rather they be where I can see them than off gallivanting somewhere when there might be a potential attack.
When Tiny makes his way out into the light at the top of the anthill, I can finally take in the situation. Hundreds of ants have already appeared in response to the threat, aggressively postured to defend the colony from all directions.
Beyond them is something I truly did not expect to see.
Several hundred dishevelled-looking humans are clustered around a number of wagons pulled by extremely poor-looking horses. At the lead is a figure I sadly recognise all too well.
The priest. His robes stained with dirt and potentially dried blood, he becomes ecstatic at the sight of me and runs forward, spooking the workers considerably. They gnash their mandibles and I reluctantly ask them to settle down as I advance to meet him.
My life might be significantly simplified by this guy vanishing but I don’t really want to kill him. Besides, judging by the look of all of these people, something rather serious has gone down. I recognise a few others in the group as members of the village that rallied around me and the queen during our short-lived cooperation. In fact, the old lady I captured, Enid, is here.
As soon as the priest reaches me, he falls to his knees and begins proclaiming in a loud voice, turning to indicate the villagers behind him should do the same.
This guy really wants to feed the dark one’s ego, doesn’t he?
I still have no idea what the heck he’s saying, so for the time being I have to leave him to his own devices. It’s a darn good thing I’ve evolved and actually have a chance to pull off the Mind Magic Transformation, otherwise I’d be forced into some kind of interpretive dance right now.
Turning my attention inwardly and ignoring the prostrating human in front of me, I summon the combined power of the brains and begin to painstakingly work on the transformation structure.
Not daring to allow myself any slips this time, I double my focus and take everything nice and slow. I manage to make it all the way to the end of the process without stuffing it up, but so careful and painstaking was I, that it takes a full ten minutes for me to finally complete it. During this time, the humans have started to grow increasingly fidgety but the priest’s capacity to extol my virtues seems to be endless.
Success. Finally complete! I admire the fiendishly complex final product in my mind. I’ve no idea why it’s so outlandishly difficult to construct, but it’s done! Now to put the darn thing to use.
Along with the knowledge of how to construct the various Mana transformers, the way to use them was also granted with the purchase of the Mana Transformation skill. The construct itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s simply the magical mixing bowl that changes regular, attribute-less Mana into the desired type.
In this instance, what I do is maintain the finished construct with one of my sub-brains and get the other to draw out raw Mana from my core, which is then fed into the shape in a specific way. As soon as the raw Mana enters, the construct leaps to life, surprising me momentarily. I didn’t know it moved!
The entire construct begins to spin and whorl, different sections moving at different speeds and in subtly different directions. The entire effect is like a beautiful dance or an engine, but infinitely more intricate.
Then finally, finally, out the other end of the construct, a thin thread of glittering golden light emerges. Mind Mana!
With my main mind, I eagerly seize this new Mana and begin to replicate the spell I’d seen Formo cast so magnificently and the human queen cast so poorly.
Mind Mana can do a heck of a lot more than this, I’m sure, but from what I’ve gathered, this spell, which effectively enables universal communication between any two organisms smart enough to think, kind of overshadows the rest of the kit.
The mind bridge.
Hesitantly at first, then with growing confidence, I reach out and connect to the best human for the job.
[Enid, what are you people doing here?]
The old lady leaps a foot in the air and drops her basket, spilling its contents and drawing the attention of the people around her.
[ME?] she squawks.
69. Rumour has it
[Yes, you,] I snap.
Enid stumbles forward until she reaches the side of the still sonorously praising one-armed priest.
I see her concentrate and then her voice appears in my mind.
[Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to communicate with this man?] She indicates the priest. [It was he who led our people to this place.]
This priest? How the heck did he find me! Does he have some sort of tracking device on me or something? More likely he was able to follow our trail… The bottom line remains, what the heck are these people here for? They certainly don’t look as though they’ve come to fight, judging by the number of women and children in the crowd. Not to mention the sheer lack of arms.
[I will speak to you since I have had dealings with you before. Make it clear to the others I am speaking to you.]
I don’t want to talk to that guy. He makes me nervous.
Enid takes a moment to gingerly touch the priest on the shoulder and indicate that I’m communicating with her using Mind Magic. Rather than disappointed, the priest’s face is overcome with enlightenment and he bows low before me, head nearly touching the ground, before he backs away to speak animatedly to the crowd. Nothing fazes this guy…
[Enid, tell me why these people have followed my family here to the wild lands.]