"I'm coming. I left some stuff behind when we made our quick getaway last time, mostly shit I thought I'd never need again, but now I want it," Mel said the moment he heard the question I had asked about who wanted to join us on a trip to the archives.

"I want to come. I know I'm pregnant, but this place doesn't sound all that dangerous, and I really wanna see more of this wider universe we're in now," Alex said. It was a multiverse, but I wasn't about to correct her.

"I wouldn't say it isn't entirely without danger. The independent control of the archives was lost. Our saving grace is in how recent that actually happened. It should be safe for Alex, though. Worst comes to worst, she can stay behind in Smithtown," Elody replied. That was something that had been bothering me, too. What had changed since the Triox had gained control of the world?

"What happens when the Triox take control of a world?" I asked, looking to Elody then Connie for possible answers. I assumed, at the very least, our access to some of the better books would be cut off.

"Depends a lot on why they wanted it in the first place. The Archives of Gortrin, though? That one is a bit obvious. They want whatever knowledge mana orbs have managed to form, and to raid the books for whatever they think is useful. They probably also plan to cull anything they want out of the general public's hands." The voice belonged to neither of my expected people. Instead, Timon had answered with his usual joking tone.

"Timon is right. In fact if we should consider pillaging the depths of the archives for any potential natural mana orbs. I'd rather get as much out of the hands of the Triox as possible," Elody replied.

"Should we go book raiding then too?" I asked, hoping to add a few volumes to the homestead.

"Yes, that's a good idea. It may not be as profitable as we'd like anymore, but I doubt they know as much as I do about what exactly is contained there yet. Which means we've now turned this into far more of a heist than a simple mission to find Quarilyn. You know I've never been part of a heist before, it sounds fun," Elody said, with a large smile crossing her lips.

"'Bout time we did something fun around here. Here I thought this would be a boring off-world trip. Pryte, ya onboard for this?" Mel said, his color shifting to a dark, forest green.

"Yes, the Triox aren't overly liked in most factions, so as long as we aren't caught in the act, this should be pretty beneficial to us long-term. Elody, do you have a list of the most valuable books we should be hunting for?" Pryte asked as another giant smile appeared on his face, mirroring Elody's.

"Are we going to stir any trouble up if it gets out that we are collecting our own knowledge base?" I asked, worried about adding to our enemy list. Things had finally calmed down, and I'd prefer not to start another war just yet.

"Nothing new, as long as we don't start advertising our library yet. The Triox already don't like us," Pryte answered before Elody cut in.

"I think we need to make an effort not to touch Karlinovo's works. For one thing, we don't need them. For another, I'd rather they think them mostly ineffective. I'm sure the news of what Dave did in our last match has gone far and wide by now, and it's in our best interest to leave people grasping at straws for how he did it," Elody said.

"I think I'm going to go too, but I might disappear if I spot Reggie. I don't want him to know what I'm up to yet," Connie added, suddenly speaking up from one of the chairs near the wall. She had been so unusually quiet, I had almost forgotten she was here since she hadn't answered initially.

"Good, with where this is heading, you and Timon both seem incredibly useful here," I replied. Connie didn't smile, or even look up at me, she was still focused on her own world. Something was bothering her. I'd need to talk to her about that later. Was her cousin going to be a problem?

"I'm staying here. Someone needs to keep track of our new friend. On top of that, I don't want to deal with the ramifications of my potential freedom yet, and I don't want you to either," Rabyn added.

"Since I know Maud is going, figure I might as well have fun here too," John said, following up on his master's words. I was glad he was coming along. If I ignored all the potential dangers we'd be in, this could almost be a fun family trip.

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"I'll come if you want me to, but I'd really like to stay and work on the new buildings with Trolke. I've been learning a ton, and we've almost got the rooms all set up for my brother and sisters," Glorp said, speaking up from the end of the table, nervously. I knew that tone. He was afraid of disappointing me. Had I become a father figure to him, too?

"I won't lie. If we are doing a heist, I have a feeling your speed would be incredibly useful, but you're a kid, and we've put you through a ton already. Stay here and have fun with your family, you've earned it. I'm sure Rabyn can whip you up some nice meals while we are gone," I replied.

"Yes, but I'm claiming one of your siblings as an assistant. John and I could use another set of hands. We can explore who that interests the most while everyone else is gone. What I really want is to start training a pastry chef, though, " Rabyn added with a smile of his own.

"Alright, anyone else who decides they want to join, just meet me at the gate tomorrow. It's already been an overly busy day, and I want to turn in for the night. Elody if you could come up with a list of what we really want to grab, we can discuss that tomorrow on the trip there," I said, yawning loudly. The urge to sleep had been building since the meeting had started. Whatever I had done in that dungeon had taken a lot out of me, and I still needed to swap the cores around again to give Corey the dungeon control.

"Wait, did you figure out the dungeon issue?" Pryte asked as I stood up, hitting my exact point.

"Yes, Traveler and I figured out how to swap which core is socketed, that will allow me to place ownership of the dungeon temporarily with Corey, and they will stay behind with Traveler to keep the dungeon under control," I answered just as Gamma's new form popped into view.

"Hi, I am Gamma!" they said, surprisingly cheerfully.

"Aww, you're so cute, buddy!" Maud said, as I used the distraction to make my escape. I was exhausted, more than I should have been, even considering the dungeon. That likely meant the core swapping had added more fatigue to my brain. I'd need to pay attention to that in the future.

As I walked toward my room, I spotted Karlinovo sitting at a picnic table talking to one of Glorp's siblings and, oddly, the moose. They both looked enraptured by what the man was saying. He had found a whiteboard somewhere and was drawing out diagrams of what I thought were core models, but as much as part of me wanted to stop by and listen, my slow pace to the house told me just how tired I was. Sleep was calling.

The garage had been expanded in the last day since I had been in it. I had no idea when Trolke had taken the time, but one of the walls was gone and replaced with a tarped-over framework that looked like the start of a new bedroom. I'd have to make sure the plans were updated to include a bigger workspace sooner rather than later. That was likely something I could leave with Karlinovo. Hell, he probably knew better than I did just what we wanted in a full workshop.

I'd also need to plan out a vault for our library, at least initially. I still fully intended free access, but until we had more safety features, we needed to keep good logs of who came and went. I knew from firsthand experience that some books could get deadly, especially if we ended up cultivating any knowledge orbs. When would that start anyway? We had managed to somehow get one in Antarctica already, but would the mana flow here start birthing some? And what kind would we favor?

With the farming Cecile had started, I almost hoped it would go in that direction. The idea of feeding the world was massively appealing to me. If we could become a central hub in the spiral for food and knowledge, it would go a great way to keep people on our side. There was the fact that Cecile's class was a lost class, though, and I had a feeling there was a reason behind that. That was something we'd have to keep in mind as we continued to grow.

Several other ideas played through my head as the possibilities ran wild in my last minutes of full consciousness. There were so many barren planets in our Solar System and beyond. With instant travel possibilities, there was a lot of potential for terraforming, not just to bring in refugees, but for food and factories. We had nearly endless space now, and the imaginable futures in which we made good use of it were likely the best for our survival.

As my eyes closed to the picture of Martian carrots, a notification box popped into my view, but I was too exhausted to fully do anything about it as sleep took me.

Attribute Unlocked

~\Interactions\Core Influence

Primal mana beasts are such a great resource for any world to have because of how much they can increase the long-term mana growth of the world. Yes, most places sacrifice these majestic, intelligent creatures early for selfish, early breakthroughs, but what right do they even have to do that? These creatures belong to this world more than they do. If anything, they should be the ones deciding how best to integrate the worlds. Sadly, as they usually lack the sapience to do so initially, though, that will never be the case. I truly respect any faction that works their Primals into their ruling bodies, though, as it is a place of honor they deserve.

Mana Beasts, My Friends from the writings of the Nameless Druid

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