There were many creatures that interested me in the terrariums that were not even prohibitively expensive, just slightly out of my budget. Nothing that was something massively special but they were just what I needed to get started. I mean I was not sure if I intended to make another swarm general or feed it to Medea when I was done yet. But having different creatures in my swarm was vital for what I had in mind. Something that would let me get seriously started on a few projects at once.
So many projects that all took root when I was reading the Polycerebral serpent book last night.
I knew crossbreeds were rare in the wild, for Amphisbaena and for every other species, even with magical super fertility. Behavioral differences including in mating rituals and diverging mating seasons. But that was simply not an issue for me, I could simply take over insects and command them to mate. Of course that still left the issue of actually creating a successful offspring but baby —larva— steps. Mosquitos, the bane of my existence, in this world and the last, had egg to egg cycles that could be completed in a week if the temperature was right. And Fauna Archive
For my first serious attempt, I had to pick something that had easily available normal variants and relatively quick reproduction cycles but also had something exotic in the Emporium so that I could actually test the offsprings and see what was passed down if anything. Or maybe I was thinking too small, no need to only stick with the Emporium.
I popped back over at Devan’s shop to buy another two bottles and thank him for guiding me to the Emporium.
“Don't mention it, kid. Now, what do you want?” Crap, was I really that obvious?
“So I was wondering if you knew any place to buy insects, like exotic ones?”
“Nope.” My face fell. “If you want birds, I know a place but the Emporium’s your best bet for bu…” He trailed off when he heard the sound of the store's door opening.
“DEV? YOU STILL ALIVE IN THERE?” A woman's voice rang out in the store room.
“YEAH. JUST GIVE ME A MOMENT. I HAVE A CUSTOMER.” He called out before turning to me. “Alright, that's enough. You should go now, this is something I have to attend to.” He hurried me out of the store. It came to me later that I never actually managed to see the woman despite there being only one exit.
Now back in my dingy apartment, I finally had clear short terms. First, I would keep saving so that I could enter this elusive archive that Rev had spoken about. It sounded just like a regular library to me but what did I know? Once in the supposed library, I had a list of topics in no particular order or priority that I was going to read up on.
- Magical beast taming and breeding
- Magical beast creation
- Biomancy
- Blood magic
- Healing magic
- Insect or just arthropod related classes
- Pet classes
- Powerful magical insects
- Monster evolution
- Powerful monsters in general that were not too difficult to find or subdue for Medea to eat
- Same but for venomous and/or poisonous monsters
- Same but for heavily armored ones because Medea was a close range combatant and judging from its performance so far, it really needed better defenses. Especially since Hasten Swarm
- The gods, more specifically Quiraion and the Unaugured God
I could have instead decided to buy some insects for my burgeoning breeding program but frankly I had no actual idea what was a good baseline creature to start off with. I didn't want to waste weeks or months only to discover that I had created nothing useful. I lacked the knowledge for what I was trying to do and I needed that first and foremost. Unless of course, I was intending to trial and error for a long, long time. I wasn't that patient even if that might be useful for unlocking some class or the other.
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The other option was buying the most venomous creatures I could afford and letting Medea eat them and that was a genuine toss-up but ultimately information was my greatest tool. I was not really suited for overwhelming things with power right now and I had to think long term. An extra week or two until my income seriously increased again was not a huge setback even if the Archives didn't point me towards something good, and I doubted that would happen.
Two weeks, that was what it would take at most to finally be allowed into the archives’s second floor. Not two weeks at Medea's current one bottle a day rate; but at double that, and I had a different plan for that. For once, money was not the most limiting factor. It was time.
First I needed more bottles to collect the venom in. Five worked for me. At any given day, I could leave two at the Emporium to be sold and have two for filling with me and one for backup in case one broke. And then a box, a simple cardboard box. That was surprisingly hard to find in New Delport, if not actually impossible. But eventually I found something close enough, a large crate that still fit in my apartment. But only barely so.
I had Medea prepare some very specific eggs that were still growing within it by the time I arrived home. Quiraion bless Parthenogenesis. For this and for the future. Parthenogenesis was a process of asexual reproduction in which an offspring is born without the mother needing to mate.
The child born is genetically identical to the mother. That was how it worked normally. But for spider scorpions, the genetic variation was introduced by what they ate. Still, there was no point in assimilating them as they only have what the parent copied over to them. But that was a start. It was not much but it was something I could work with.
Medea's Birth Drones
And that, that was the crux of everything.
The eggs that Medea was preparing to lay all contained offspring with the strongest venom production capabilities Medea could pass on at the cost of everything else. Armor? Soft and skinny. Physical power? Speed? They would waddle. Skills? None other than venom. Lifespan? Less than a week.
I did not need them to survive for long. Medea’s venom was always getting more potent and it could not pass that on to children that were already born. I would have to get Medea's spawn to live short lives, produce as much venom as possible, and then die. Hell, I was even going to make Medea kill them if any proves particularly resilient and I found myself without the space.
They would hatch and be ready by the time I returned from the guild tomorrow. My own venom farm.
I had taken over Medea to see exactly how its Birth DronesPlanning Phase
But when it was all said and done, what I had was a crate with massive eggs in it and just enough space to not cause the drones to kill each other once they hatched.
On the second day, I beheld the drones at last. Fleshy pinkish cuticles and oversized stingers and waddling legs. I killed a rat and threw it in the crate for the hungry creatures to tear apart. The sounds of ripping and tearing flesh filled my apartment.
23 credits. Medea's own venom’s value had jumped up a bit on its own, but I couldn't always count on that happening. Still, I welcomed it. It was still almost five entire crystals worth of extra money, on top of what I was already making. Not much for one day, but it would build up.
It remained the exact same on day 3. And on the fourth.
Day five: I decided to take another break from slime culling. [LESSER HEMOTHEURGIST]
At some point, a house centipede had wandered in and I had tried to take over it, just to see if I could but I couldn't. I hadn't expected to. Fauna Archive Hivemother's Crippled Dominion
Maybe it was because I was treating it as a lazy afternoon’s project and taking my time just observing how mana worked, but my pocket started burning. The gem from the forensics department! I could only hope that it wasn't just moving records like last time. No wait, what was I even thinking? The other option was that someone important died. Most likely murdered.
Grumbling to myself, I left the eggs alone for now and made my way over to the HQ. Once again I was greeted by Agitjin first, but this time his face was grim and he just wordlessly gestured to me to follow him inside. Tiamim was already there, but not Novas, which was off considering that for all I knew, he lived down here. I thought the only reasons I could be called here was because of an important death or for menial chores. I was wrong. I was very wrong.
There was a third option.
It could be because the red powder that had been confiscated and handed over to the council was stolen. The place it was kept in was now the site of a total massacre.