Chapter 1450 – The Old Way

The Eldest is sleeping now, which is only right. They will wake eventually, of course they will, but hopefully, by that time, we will not need them to achieve the work.

If all goes well, we will complete our objective without having to disturb the Eldest at all. My only regret is that I will not get the chance to share the triumph of my greatest campaign.

– From the personal notes of Solant

“We’ve got weird monsters popping up in the tunnels!” I roar as I burst into the command post.

“I know,” Solant says, unperturbed by the sudden outburst. “You were not the first to find them, though you were close.”

“How long ago did you find out?”

And who could have possibly been faster than me? I tracked them down using tiny eddies of gravity, for goodness sake!

“One minute,” Solant replies.

A minute.

“Vibrant was the first to arrive with the news.”

“Vibrant?!”

“Hi-hi!”

I turn to see the tier seven speed-soldier hopping on the spot excitedly from one leg to another. I’m still a little surprised to see that she isn’t larger than I am, but holy moly is she looking sleek. This is an ant designed for a single purpose: to go fast.

“How are you, Vibrant?”

“I’m great, Senior! Things are going well above, so I thought it was about time I came down here to help out! It’s been going well so far-far! It’s a shame I’m not allowed to run through the yucky stuff, but there’s enough blue for me to run in now, so that’s ok!”

It’s kind of fascinating to see the physical modifications she’s gone through in order to facilitate her need to go faster. I can tell that she’s a lot lighter than I would expect. I think she reforged her carapace into a tough but lightweight substance in her last evolution. Her legs are the other area that’s undergone massive change. Her legs are much thicker than mine even, and in particular, the joints where they connect to her body are enormously bulky. Not just to run fast, I surmise. To turn and manoeuvre at that speed, she needs to be able to absorb absolutely ridiculous amounts of force.

“Make sure you’re careful,” I sigh, resigned to her hijinks at this point. “It’s extremely dangerous down here, and you can run into trouble very, very fast.”

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“I know that, Senior!” she pipes. “That’s why I keep making it so I can think faster. It takes a lot of energy, but the micro-naps really help!”

I forgot that she sleeps between words in order to facilitate something approaching normal speech. Not wanting to get distracted, I turn back to Solant, intent on getting answers.

It doesn’t bother Vibrant at all. Seconds later, I hear an excited ‘Crin-Crin!’ as some tentacles start appearing from the shadows, sending Vibrant to hopping again. I’m sure they’ll have a good chat.

“Did you know that monsters would spawn in the cleansed tunnels?” I demand.

“You thought they wouldn’t?” Solant asks, calm as ever.

I want to thwack her for answering a question with a question, but deep down, I kind of did think they wouldn’t spawn. Or… if they did, then they’d be toxic monsters who would be instantly melted by the clean mana. Does it count as monsters spawning if they evaporate a second later?