John began to focus on using half of the energy he had accumulated in amassing his army. The First half of the afternoon was spent in popping out 10 Tanks and Siege Beast, the second half was an entire session of creating 572 Blades that looked a head shorter than the first Blade. The First Blade came back once the sun had set and darkness covered the land.
'What else do I need to produce? The blades are already my powerful close-combat units, I guess Wickermans for more ranged units.' John began making 326 Wickermans by a batch of 10. While he was making them by batch, he made the drones move to the deeper parts of the forest and cut down some trees for energy replenishment. In the meanwhile, John was also testing the limit of movement of the main pool. 'The main pool is my main body, I can only speculate that at most 12 sub pools can be made as long as I can spread my units evenly.' John finished the 5th batch and sent them up before beginning with the 6th.
John then created a tendril before condensing the end and some areas into hardened crystalised scythe. 'Maybe, I can condense the entire pool into a huge worm with these crystalized scythes as legs?' In accordance with his thought process, John removed the tendril from its hardened form before making smaller scythes for legs.
Adding a little bit of creativity in the mix, John made the tip of the tendril into a bug head with multiple razor sharp mandibles and a hardened frill like a triceratops that split up into several horns with the tips shaped like a sharp fan. John took control immediately and already noticed that the tendril did not even gain independence like his other units. Seeing it as a strange occurrence, John thought over many possibilities before he tested out the tendril. John made the worm-like tendril place its scythe-like legs on the edge of the pool before he made one of its set of legs crawl forward in a wave-like motion similar to that of a millipede. Then John made a long barbed stinger on the other end before John cut it off from the main pool. Still taking control of it, John made it move forward and noticed that it slithered like a snake instead of moving in a straight line.
And unlike his other units that freezes their consciousness when John takes control, the worm he made was completely under his control like it was physically, or consciously in this case, connected to him. 'This is strange…I only intended to create something to move the main pool,' John thought to himself while he experimented with its movement. It was quite flexible and agile in movement and adding to that of its 12 metre long body, it can easily be wrapped around an unsuspecting prey. What troubled John was its lethality so he decided that he'd use this as a template for a new improved one and use this one as his eyes in the upcoming battle.
John returned back to the semi-finished batch and began working, ignoring the random things dropped into the pool for replenishment. The area around the pool was slightly barren and to avoid losing the cover of the withered forest be it land or air, John targeted the deeper areas of his territory for resources. Other than that, John's growing number of units already grouped up further in the territory, leaving a noticeables black spot if you're watching them in the air. 'After this batch of Wickermans, I'll focus on experimenting with the idea of migrating the main body elsewhere.' John quickly finished the batch and sent them out before starting up the following batch.
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Scorran looked towards the humans that were brought by one of the Drones, she was quite curious on the reason. But when She tapped into the connection with the Great Mother, she felt a wave of hostility and aggression making her subconsciously form a translucent blade on her right arm. Snapping out of it quickly, she diminished the blade and focused on the connection.
The majority of the Mother's Children were preparing for battle while the remaining spread out to guard the two pools. Scorran at first wanted to join the preparations but Mother ordered her to take care of the little Humans and the settlement. It was the first time she felt a pressure in her chest and the feeling of wrongness radiated from her being. When the little humans were brought here, the tall young human was shouting out one of Mother's children.
Scorran thought back to the faint but powerful pulse of energy and the feeling of another connection that was slightly faint. Amalgam, the connection whispered in her mind at the time. She had believed that mother was adjusting her brother's body so it would perfectly hold their consciousness intact and not implode on itself. Although Mother had stationed her here to observe and aid the ones she saved, Scorran knew that this may be a punishment of sorts that had a hidden lesson in it. The little time that had passed and some knowledge gained from friend Merelia, She had already begun to understand certain things and cues. Although her speech is a little limited, she was improving little by little and only used the connection to communicate with her brothers and sisters.
She usually hears them whispering on what Mother was doing recently or currently, either that or they give new findings of the surroundings they had explored in the territory. Scorran wasn't born at that time, but she could always sense the hostility of her siblings when one of them report their findings in the connection about the opposing territory to Mothers. From the little glimpses of memories she had seen, she too was holding a grudge. She was cut off from her thoughts when another of her siblings came out of the rare living bushes while one of their tails was wrapped around an older human wearing all yellow clothes. Scorran was curious of the Human and promptly jumped down to the ground and walked towards them, her sibling gently placing down the human which confused her more.
The human was quite on the cups of age, spots of white on his black dishevelled hair, clothes slightly haggard and dirt or dust clinging to it. Scorran then placed her hand to his chest and felt his heartbeat, Merelia who was watching slightly narrowed his eyes and jealousy oozed from his being. The pulse was steady albeit a little bit faster than normal caused by adrenaline, removing her hand, she also glanced at her sibling that brought him here.
'Order from Mother, Humans Important.' They said in a wispy tone, staring directly at Scorran with a look of something she could not understand. 'Why Humans Important?' Scorran questioned back, she had glanced at the little humans that came first. They grouped up together and warily watched her, the sibling that brought them here stood beside them like a guardian. They were also holding a smaller human, which babbled and squirmed from time to time. 'Little Humans take care of by Mother, slightly tall Human have Mother's Mark.' Her sibling replied, slightly turning their head towards their direction.
Looking back, Scorran wanted to ask if their sibling had heard anything about the reason why all of their siblings were preparing for combat. However, what met her was their quickly disappearing back as they rushed towards the direction of Mother's body. 'Mother's Mark…' Scorran then looked towards the human that held it before unhesitantly standing up and heading towards him. Seemingly entering a tunnel vision like state, she solely focused herself on the human with the Mark.
To her and her siblings, a stranger being acknowledged by Mother and earning her Mark was something many of them thought impossible. Yet here, standing weakly and ragged, the one who attained the Mark greatly disappointed her. Scorran saw it as a failure, but knew she had to hold her thoughts on the matter. To question Mother's actions would bring down the wrath and judgement of her siblings. Once she reached the little humans, the smaller ones hiding behind the tall one, she observed her target from head to toe like a predator sizing up their rival.
On the other hand, the teen tensed up and squared his shoulders. Scorran then looked towards the Mark on the teen's shoulder. The Mark was the same shade of black like the Pools, it had already spread from the teens shoulder to his elbow. Worm-like veins pulsating with rhythm, blotches of purple sometimes making the veins glow slightly before disappearing. "Mother's Mark…spread…" She slightly audibly muttered, the teen looking at her with wide eyes and behind her Merelia and the kids that stood beside him watched her.
The teen on the other hand, felt curiosity spread in his mind. The urge to ask about the spot on his shoulder was tempting but something else was pressing on his mind. He won't admit it to anyone and would seal it in the deepest depths of his mind, but he can't lie to himself that he cared about Amalgam's safety.
He had seen Amalgam as a caring caretaker (Father) that even for such a short time they had known one another, the feeling stayed. Amalgam was the first person to look at them with no motive but only genuine worry for them. He had never seen his younger siblings so relaxed around people they only met for a little while and already were attached. Their parents were monsters, joining a cult and constantly attacking settlements and camps, survivors being fed to the 'Benevolent' Master and in turn given 'gifts'.
Scorran sensed the teens' emotion through the tether. She was previously checking the Mark that was slowly spreading, then she noticed a change in the tether of the Bearer. "You…bear Mother's Mark…Brother…trained you?" Scorran questioned at last, her observation had left her into a single conclusion that the bearer in front of her was still new to the gift given to him. Although, she still saw him as someone unworthy of her Mother's Mark.
"W-who are you?" Ry finally asked with a hint of hesitancy in his tone. Amalgam only taught him the most basic uses of how to manipulate, feel and control the energy. He only taught Ry one combat form, which was to gather the energy into a ball, no matter the size, and shoot it to the opponent. At the time, Ry felt pity for those poor trees; he could practically feel their woes each time he used them as test dummies. So with a bit of urging by his subconscious mind, Ry secretly gathered the energy into a pin sized ball as a contingency. He didn't know that Scorran also sensed the use of energy, although miniscule and easily missed, she noticed from how close she was. Scorran narrowed her eyes before letting the energy course through her body and used it to enhance a layer of her skin.
Scorran managed to create this enhancement by looking back at the time she was injured from being ambushed and from then on, attempting to create something for protecting their body. "Scorran…The First…" Scorran glanced up and tried to look for the word that Mother said to her. Ry was watching her closely and from Scorrans incomplete introduction, was already making a few theories and speculations in his mind. 'Scorran…She feels similar to Amalgam but somehow different.' Ry's control over the small ball of energy on the tip of his finger, flicker like a flame from a candle being blown by a soft breeze. "Scorran the First…Symbriont." She finished before pulsing her energy briefly as a sign of dominance.
The psionic pulse disrupted the flow of energy Ry manipulated to create the pin ball. Surprised from the sudden event, he suddenly felt something powerfully sweeping his legs causing him to drop to the ground. With a pained grunt and pain from the back of his head, Ry opened his eyes and saw Scorran with her closed fist pointed at him. Subconsciously, Ry knew that she was manipulating the energy into a form he couldn't see and was pointing it directly at his face.
Scorran stared at Ry with a look of contempt and disappointment. "Human lack control…Human lack combat." Scorran said in broken English but Ry understood what she meant via his own independent thread that connected him to John and his creations. Then, Ry definitely manipulated the energy inside the Mark on his shoulder before he made a pushing motion. Scorran felt her abdomen suddenly push back before she flew off and landed a few metres away from Ry, rolling on the ground a little before completely stopping. The force was equivalent to a tanker speedily crashing onto Scorran's abdomen and pushing her away.
Ry then coughed slightly before he sat up carefully, rubbing the back of his head, eyes never leaving Scorran while she also picked herself up from the ground and looked at Ry. "I may be new to this, but don't fucking underestimate me." He then manipulated the energy into his left hand before clenching it into a fist. He followed his action by spreading his legs wide and slightly crouching his body, he placed his hands in front of him. The focused energy on his left hand created a visible aura that covered his hand to his wrist before it gave out sparks of purple electricity. Everyone who was watching all sported a surprised or astonished expression. The two young siblings' eyes practically twinkled in amazement while Merelia and the children were surprised and intrigued. Meanwhile, Professor Berk was leaning against the trunk of the tree beneath the tree house, being protected by the two Drones that blankly watched the confrontation.
Scorran raised a brow at him, secretly impressed on how far she was pushed back. She then lowered her stance and widened her arms and leg before only forming one blade on her right hand, completely parallel to Ry's hand. "Little Human is good…Shall test more." Scorran announced before she sprinted to Ry, showing no intent of harm that was quickly picked up by Merelia. Oppositely, Ry only saw the surface of Scorrans action and subsequently counter charged with his left hand slowly rising in a swing position. "RRRAAAAGGHHH!!!" Ry let out a cry, once both of them were a few centimetres of arm length range. He made the first move by swiftly swinging his fist towards Scorrans upper arm, intending to make her dodge or cancel her supposed action, Ry then felt something coming towards his lower abdomen.
He made the attempt of slightly moving to the side to evade whatever was targeting his abdomen and quickly looked down towards where he felt it, thinking that it was Scorran's leg coming in for a kick. There was nothing coming towards him, suddenly noticing something missing, Ry quickly glanced up and saw that Scorran was no longer in front of him. The hairs on his left side, that were not covered by the spreading Mark, stood up as a static feeling came from the air to his left. His eyes moved first to look and followed after was his head turning to the direction of the static he felt, there his eyes met with a fist coming flying towards him intending to his shoulder. Ry tried to speedily react and dodge or minimise the damage it would cause but the fist was faster than he could react and cleanly met Ry's upper arm.
What followed was Ry suddenly feeling his feet losing contact with the ground and a force travelling from where the fist hit to the rest of his body, the air to his right side suddenly vibrated and boomed before he was flung towards a wither tree. Body in a backwards C, the speed at which Ry was flung was fast and strong that the moment the Ry's right arm met with the tree's bark, it exploded into splinters before Ry met with the dirt causing an explosion of dirt and sparse grass and sliding to a stop leaving a trail.
Scorran was at first impressed at Ry's first idea to injure her right arm or make her change her action, but was far more disappointed when he fell for the trick she used by creating an illusion of her leg going to a kick by using her intent and fooled his senses. The opening caused by him moving slightly to minimise the damage, Scorran used to speedily move to his side and used her left hand to copy his action of covering her entire hand with energy. Although it was slightly weaker, Scorran was also surprised when her energy-covered fist made Ry fly and destroyed a tree before meeting the ground. She felt elated of the new ability they had found and was excited, not at all concerned about Ry. "Woah…" The children beside Merelia let out with star-filled eyes, while Merelia was proud and felt more infatuated with Scorran. On the other hand, Ry's younger siblings winced at the impact and let out a respective "Ouch" before the younger of the two pointed at her brother.
"Ha! Now you owe me two fruits!" She yelled out while her brother groaned in dismay, and slightly annoyed at Ry losing, before he took two fruits and placed them on her waiting hand. She smiled widely before jumping up and down while the other crossed his arms and grumbled to himself silently with "I lost two fruits to the gremlin." or "This is big brother's fault for losing."