Adam led the group further up the mountain as they raced away from the troll cave. He stopped to catch his breath as the adrenaline that had fueled the crazed fight against the trolls ran out. They all collapsed in the middle of the path with the only noise other than their breathing an occasional mew from one of the pups. Adam could make out the snout of one of the trolls in the light of a torch. A small band roved out into the clearing and sniffed around before disappearing back into the cave. Even at this distance he could see them squinting into the darkness beyond their torch-light making Adam confident they could not see well in the dark and that he would be safe with the vermite as long as he did not stray too close.

He dismissed the notifications listing the level four and five trolls that they had killed in their escape only taking a moment to wince at how small an amount of experience he had gained. At level seven a level four troll gave him ten exp rather than forty and in a party of three he only got a third of this. They had taken down a level four wolf, eight level four and three level five trolls. For a grand total of fifty-seven exp. Ti and Cae had both earned slightly more at 100 exp each, earning Adam another forty through their exploits. It made Adam even more sure that the only real way for him to grow stronger without leaving the area was through the vermite.

Now that his brain had time to process the events Adam put together the familiar beady eyes he had sensed watching him with the knowledge that vermite were living in the mountains too. He looked back over his logs as he remembered that he had never switched Discern from the vermite in camp until he saw the trolls. As anticipated it confirmed that it had been a vermite that was watching him earlier, detected just at the edge of the range of his skill. That meant if they carried on up the mountain they would encounter the vermite and hopefully be able to find the pack the pups belonged to. He relayed the plan to Ti and Cae who nodded in agreement and started back up the path higher into the mountain.

The pups fell in to a sleep as Ti made a sling out of her pack to place them both in. This meant that they continued their climb in silence walking with Ti at the front, followed by Cae and then Adam at the rear. The path levelled off and carried on for a short distance before forming another plateau. Adam took one dizzying glance over the edge to confirm that they now stood at the top of the cliff he had been looking up at before. The fall was only about twenty metres but easily enough to kill him if he lost his balance. A scan of the area showed signs that the trolls had also visited the plateau. A large group of footprints led from the path directly to a group of caves set into the bottom of the cliff face marking the rear of the area.

Here there were stains of blood and remnants of the hair and grease still giving off the pungent odour that could only belong to the trolls. Adam could see how they had used their strength to pull the boulders blocking the entrance to one cave aside and then the greased trolls must have been able to slip inside to continue the fighting against the vermite. Not wanting to be mistaken for another foe Adam switched Discern and activated his skill to see what would be waiting for them inside. He detected four vermite in the cave with a fifth hiding nearby on the slope leading further up the mountain. Now he knew there were eyes already watching him Adam could sense the vermite outside the cave better and turned to face them with his arms out in a peaceful gesture. He focused now he had switched Discern back to the vermite. Vermite - level 5. So they were higher level in this area than those in the Orchard had been.

The vermite looked on warily. It neither moving further away or venturing out from the dark spot it was watching from. Cae planted his staff in the ground next to Adam and instead of spreading his arms out wide brought them in close and hunched down to make his outline smaller. He spoke quietly as he approached the vermite in this non-threatening way. Adam could only pick out the odd word like 'friend' from the exchange which ended in the vermite darting past them into the caves. It took a minute or so before it reappeared with another vermite who cowered back as they saw Adam stood in the clearing nearby. A moment of chittering followed and then Ti moved forward with the pups. As they pulled her into the darkness of the cave Adam took a step in their direction too.

"No. Wait." Said Cae. "Safe." He added, trying to allay Adam's concern.

"Ok Cae, I'll wait." Adam sat down in the clearing and pulled two apples from his bag, eating one and passing the other to Cae who came and joined him.

The minutes slowly ticked by and Adam checked his watch to ensure he would not have to rush off suddenly. He browsed his map and quest information realising they had only explored just over half of the area so far. Not likely he would finish the task tonight then. He used Discern to watch the vermite talking for a bit. Then, finding this boring, tried to talk to Cae. As it hit eleven Ti reappeared from the cave with no sign of the pups or the other vermite.

"Come. Need Ma." She said without stopping as she walked straight past where Adam and Cae were sat chatting.

"Wait up Ti." Adam called after her as he jumped to his feet. "What do we need Ma for?" He asked.

"They want to speak to boss. I said that is you. They said no, vermite boss." Ti huffed looking impatient at the hold up.

"Ok, but why the rush?" Adam questioned her further, giving in far enough to start walking down the path as they spoke.

"Night comes and dead vermite return. Day comes and trolls attack." Ti explained. "Their boss knows trolls angry. Angry trolls might cause more problem than normal. I say come with us, safe in camp. He say only boss can let them stay. I say you boss, he say need vermite boss. Now we go get Ma."

Adam's brain whirred to keep up, Ti had been trying to recruit this vermite pack to come to the camp. Conversation died down as they neared the troll cave. All seemed quiet but they didn't want to take a risk and instead continued in silence until they were half way back down to the first plateau.

"So they will join us?" Asked Adam finally feeling it was safe to talk again.

"Half yes, half no. Ma will make them come." Ti said with pride.

She had obviously tried to explain the benefits of coming to the camp and rather than being frustrated the other vermite did not simply listen to her was pleased that half had seemed to listen. Satisfied with the explanation Adam increased their speed and ran back towards camp. They sped past a vermite pushing the cart full of stone back towards camp the path becoming better worn and obvious as they reached the Southeastern gate.

Adam didn't stop to marvel at the flurry of activity that the twenty vermite left in camp were able to produce. Improvements to the gateposts and towers were evident as they were waved in through the construction. Mounds of earth had appeared next to all the major structures showing a development of Rai's defensive tunnels. Pa pointed them to the craft area to find Ma and as they entered the square of work areas they were accosted by a cacophony of noise. Lei was hammering out some metal, starting to use tools alongside his limited mana to produce the weapons that the growing community needed. Nearby Kai was also hammering, bending wood and hardened hide to form thickened areas on a new type of leather armour. Finally Fa was beating a wheel onto the axle of a new cart with Yor, Yen and Wu standing over squeaking encouragement.

Through all the noise and excitement it was difficult at first to find Ma who was leading one vermite Adam didn't know over to another small group who were gutting and cleaning some meat.

"Ma." Adam called several times, waving across the area. He finally got her attention as his shout landed between the hammering of the crafters. Everyone stopped to watch him as he walked across the area to join her. The moment's pause was suddenly replaced with Kai and Lei rushing from their projects towards Adam.

"Come. Look." They both said, almost in unison.

This caused them to stop look at each other as the two vermite turned to decide who should get his attention first. Adam took the opportunity to slip away and reach Ma. Ignoring the amusing distraction that was Kai and Lei playing what looked like a version of rock, paper, scissors to pick who got to talk to him. Hopefully he would have completed his task before they came to get him again.

Explaining the situation with the vermite and the trolls took longer than Adam would have liked. Ma patiently allowed Ti to explain what had happened in the cave with the vermite and Adam was sure most of the details were not necessary to get Ma to agree to go and talk to the vermite in the mountains. Eventually he just butted in to the conversation.

"So, Ma, can you go and talk to them?" Adam asked.

He glanced at his watch, he knew Ma couldn't travel as fast as him but had hoped he could join them at least until they were past the troll cave. Since it was nearing midnight he now knew he would not be able to join them on the trip.

"Yes. But I need to go and get Hal and Chai first." Ma replied, nodding briefly to the vermite she had been walking with before Adam interrupted them.

"Oh, yes, of course." Adam replied as he remembered that the vermite who had died in the fight would, hopefully, be respawning in the orchard. If Ma had this task to do first then there was definitely no way he could go with her to the others in the mountains.

"Then you can go and see if they will join us?" He asked, wanting to clarify.

"Yes, if that is what you wish of me." Said Ma, the odd wording throwing Adam a little.

"I do." He said, noticing a notification appear as he did so.

Would you like to create a Priest? Y/N

Yes thought Adam. Something had clicked in his conversation with Ma. A string of events that had triggered the notification. Rather than question his luck he accepted and watched as a golden light left his body and swirled around Ma creating a small whirlwind of colour as it infused and seeped into her. The light dimmed leaving a small thin trail of energy linking Adam to Ma that he could only see with his enhanced vision that picked up the mana around him. It was richer and thicker than the threads linking him to his other followers, denoting that there was something more important to his relationship with Ma. Adam checked the description that had appeared.

Profession/class Unlock Criteria Description Skills Priest Send a follower to convert another group A religious leader Conduit; Pray; Convert; Ceremony; Bless

Too excited to wait Adam checked the details of the skills. First, it seemed a Priest was neither a class or profession, something new to think about later. The unlock criteria was bizarre, but Adam wouldn't complain about that. The skills were the main thing he wanted to know about. Most were smaller versions of his own skills. Pray allowed the Priest to summon a small amount of material, similar to his Creation with a variable mana cost. Bless passed on a temporary stat increase to another follower for 1SP. Convert basically allowed Priests to use his God Power to activate Transfer, there was a chance element that meant at higher levels the skill would not cost him any God Power rather than his current cost. Conduit was interesting, it would allow Ma to act as a collecting point for exp and information about other followers. This was a passive skill, Adam just had to designate which followers Ma was in charge of. Lastly was Ceremony which gave Ma the knowledge of how to perform simple ceremonies that would increase the productivity, health and wellbeing of all those in her care.

Pray and Bless were pretty useless compared to the others. Conduit and Convert would both be useful in the future if Adam wasn't around but at the moment weren't really necessary. So that left Ceremony. Buffing his entire village at a time when he wanted them to gain more levels and exp to pass on to him seemed the right choice. Plus it benefitted everyone rather than the other skills which were more to make his life easier and delegate everything to Ma. He selected the skill.

In his excitement to check through the notifications Adam hadn't realised that Ma had assumed their conversation complete and was already walking off to start her tasks with the other vermite. He had unknowingly allowed Kai to pull him along in his distracted state and found himself standing in front of the tailor's latest armour. It seemed Kai had won the game against Lei.