Valterra looked on as notifications began streaming into his consciousness from the system. Much of it was information on his Dungeon, things that had happened while he was asleep. He would return to those later when he had time as he knew from his hazy memories that much of it most likely had something to do with his creatures and their Ascensions. While he was excited to see what they were he had bigger things to worry about.
He did find the Frameworks that he had claimed while Ascending.
Interesting, he thought as he looked the two over. He had been wanting a little more variety for his fifth floor and the moles would probably fit the bill nicely. The squirrel would be useful as well but it also tickled the young core’s mind. Maybe there was something there for the future. Shaking off those thoughts Valterra turned to rest of his notifications.
As he scrolled down the list he found multiple warnings of Delvers in the immediate vicinity which would have been nice to know before they started slaughtering his creatures. He shrugged mentally, his core flickering in response. There was nothing he could do about it. After the Delvers arrived there were a couple of notifications that caught his attention.
That can’t be right. Valterra thought. I had over 250 units remaining after I created my Wyvres. He went back to his logs and found nothing, just a whole host of errors. Where did these come from? Did the High Council mess something up again?
“Now that’s just unfair,” Krat’Imos said watching through the pool. He had just arrived from guiding his priests when he heard Valterra’s comment.
“Actually, I think it is fair. We were the source of a lot of his system-related problems.” Trik’Weri offered up from where he was cleaning one of his knives.
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Valterra sighed and let it go. He had no idea where his potential had gone and there was no use wondering. He did wonder, however at the second reason given for not being able to absorb Delvers. He looked back through his logs and discovered that the error was associated with the second group of invaders. He made a mental note to check on them and was surprised when the system responded with an answering note. He smiled through his Core and thanked Krat’Imos for his genius.
As for the missing Potential, he would just have to get more from the invaders currently in his Dungeon. To that end, he turned back to his notifications and brought up his most recent ones.
Valterra hummed thoughtfully as he considered the options before him. Each of them was interesting but his eyes kept being drawn to the Fomorian Stalker. Ata’Laya was one of the High Spirits but he hadn’t really interacted with her much. The fact that the offer had the label of Divine was intriguing. Based on the description it was a creature created to support her priests, specifically her High Priests. He didn’t know if that meant that the creatures were more powerful but the fact that it was chosen to represent an aspect of a High Spirit was something he couldn’t ignore.
That didn’t mean he chose it right away. He analyzed the other options for a time but continued to come back to the Fomorian. All of the creatures would be reduced in size since they were larger than the parameters of what his title governed. With that in mind, many of them would be around 2 to 5 inches either long or high which wasn't much variation.
The mammoth would be nice because as a juvenile he knew it had the potential to grow and what glimpses he got of it revealed an already massive creature with low-hanging tusks and a long nose called a trunk. The shark was also large, being around 7 to 12 feet long. It had a face full of teeth and a body covered in muscles. However, it wouldn’t do for his Dungeon, at least not yet. His sunken basement was freshwater, not saltwater and the sharks wouldn’t do well there. He didn’t know if it was possible for him to manipulate the Framework once he had it so picking it would be a mistake.
The hawk was also intriguing but also humorous. It was a massive migratory bird that used air currents to travel long distances. While that might be useful eventually, Valterra had no use for the bird, especially once it was shrunk. It was large with around an 8-foot wingspan but that would be 4 inches wide once his title got done remaking it. While it would be hilarious to watch Delvers be struck by tiny divebombing hawks, he would have to wait for such a sight. He needed something that had a little something extra.
Valterra looked at the final line and smiled, his Core lighting up. He would summon the first one of course to get a good look at it and its abilities but having the ability to modify it was exciting. With his choice made and new creatures to experiment with, Valterra turned his gaze to his Dungeon. He had new tools now and he was eager to drive these invaders from his halls.
