Three hours later...

Okay. Either his captor had to be a master of deception, or she had drifted off into comfortable slumber and had been snoring for the better part of an hour.

His patience would be rewarded soon, he was sure of it, but that didn't mean he could get careless. He thought back to all of those lonely nights he had spent frustrated and bored in the bird’s nest, amusing himself through flashing his energy reserve symbol in the eyes of his captor whenever he thought they weren’t prepared. He had lit up the entire forest during those nights.

If I check that built-in nightlight, I am going to wake her up. So, that had left him with just a few options.

Option one involved him simply telling the glowing ring to go kick rocks, and spend his energy, however much he had gained, all at once on a single creature. He had no idea if he had been filled to his personal capacity, but it certainly felt as though he had a large amount of resources to play with.

Option two, however, would have been to spend a fraction of his reserves and make some sort of scout-like creature. If he could discover the safest route to an exit, he might have been able to use his remaining energy and safely make his escape. Which had been based on the assumption he would have had any energy left over after the first creature. Would he have enough to even make more than one living creature? Maybe?

Or he could settle for his least favorite option, sitting still like a good core.

As frustrated as he had been to realize, the old hag had been holding true to her word. He had no guarantee but now felt fairly confident she would release him as promised. After her bloodlust had been sated by his roots, anyway.

However, that plan had also involved swallowing what tiny shred of dignity he might have had remaining. So, he went over any possible scenario he could think of, all in an attempt to find a potential way to either escape or kill his captor.

What had been left to say? It was a core eat core world out there, and he had to think realistically if he was going to survive.

Of course, the best-case scenario would have been incapacitation, but he might not get the luxury of choice. Even so, the odds that he would have actually overpowered his captor with any of his creations were slim at best. He simply lacked the resources to do much of-- Dammit.

It had all clicked into place like a ton of bricks.

He flicked his focus on multiple things at once, the potted plants on the nearby shelves, the sleeping woman snoring up a storm, and the massive drop to the floor from his vantage point in the bowl.

It had been settled. If he wanted a chance to escape, he would need some serious help.

He’s still out there… He had nearly forgotten. There might have been a hundred and one different ways he could have approached the issue of escape and or murder, but none of it mattered to him anymore. He had already decided on his next course of action. Rescue mission.

Necessity required it to be option one, then. He had to create something that was simultaneously strong enough to lift his body weight, yet sufficiently agile that it could move silently. He would also have to accommodate for the awkward shape…

After he had pooled together everything he wanted his creature to be able to do, he watched in fascination as it began to take shape within his mind’s eye. He hardly even remembered that the same thing had happened in the woman’s palm. He had already decided to take his time though and would get a good look at his creature.

It had been absolutely revolting to see. No words would have ever described what he had intended to make, but it really had turned out just as terrible as he had feared it might.

He forced his mind onto something else while he tried to decide how his creature was going to accomplish what he needed it to.

It had plenty of… legs, so movement and balance wouldn’t be a problem. In the case that it would have to do some heavy lifting, it was just about all muscle, so that wouldn’t have been much of an issue either.

While he had truly appreciated the building process combining his intentions into the first draft of his creature, he might make a few changes here or there, no offense to his corely abilities.

During his editing attempts, he had also managed to learn a lot about the building process! Mostly while he had been fiddling around with his creature’s eye. Was one too many? He didn’t have any himself... but what would he do if his poor creature would be unable to see at all?

After a lot of internal back and forth, he settled on keeping the number of eyes to zero. Gotta stay true to the original after all.

During his deep-dive into the intricacies of creature building, his body had sat quietly within his bowl. A soft grey glow had been the only thing that even indicated to his captor he was still resting there. Perfect.

After he had stolen one final glance towards the snoring woman, he began adding his finishing touches on what would become his very first living creation.

There had been a few setbacks though, which had forced him to readjust his plan multiple times during the building process.

As it had turned out, he was not nearly the omnipotent rock he had been led to believe he was. The voice had hidden some pretty critical information from him… again.

He had been dismayed to discover that the available building materials to him were actually very limited. A detail that the prick in the sky had conveniently forgotten to mention.

Dirt. Stone. Crystal. Flesh. Those words had rebounded around his mind the moment he had tried coating his creature with inch-long metal spines.

It had been a real kick to the energy ring to see just how misinformed he still happened to be about his own body. He had decided to stop caring about that specific injustice, however. It had become painfully obvious to him that he would have to learn things through trial and error, alone.

With a healthy swallow of his emotions, he focused on his more pressing concerns.

Such as, how in the name of all that was good, had he gotten himself access to flesh? That tattooed geezer’s palm? What if there had been some bits of dead people mixed into the dirt he had been given!? Gross.

He wouldn’t have ruled anything out when it came to that plant hugging maniac, but he had still been grateful all the same to have one more option available for building.

The other materials had turned out to be… not an option, at least for his needs. If he had built it out of stone or crystal, he was certain its clunky body would have given up the ruse before it had even begun. Not to mention, if anybody had suggested to him that he should build his potential savior out of basic dirt, he would have laughed at them. Which had left him with flesh. Did that mean his building process had automatically picked the best material for his needs? Interesting.

After he had gone through a few more iterations, he could see clearly the boons a body made of muscle would have for his creature. He wanted to build something that would be not only nimble but resilient as well. It might not have been as durable as stone, but it would still be able to take a fall or two without breaking. Not to mention, it would be quite strong for its size. Good.

Naturally, he had taken inspiration from the one core he had always looked up to the most. If his tendrils had gotten the job done for him, what would these new ones be able to do for his twin?

You know, actually… With what he had planned, it was likely he would have an entirely different creature by the end of the night. The one in front of him had already been sending shivers down his non-existent spine, making him wonder what it might become after he had found the time to truly build it properly. Focus.

He would deal with the troubles of his creature’s physical appearance later, he still had to muster up the courage to actually build the thing.

It had taken at least an hour of him mumbling to himself in the darkness of his captor’s home, but he had finally built something that stood a chance of getting everyone out safely.

While he knew for certain that any rational person would have run in the opposite direction upon sight of the thing, it had already begun growing on him.

The longer he had continued to stare at the thing, the less vile it started appearing to him. He would have even said it had waved at him at one point from within his mind’s eye!

Would the world treat his creature differently just because of how he had made it look? It had been made for a specific purpose, what would he do with it once that purpose had ended? Stop. He would deal with that specific issue if and when it ever presented itself.

Who cares about all that, though? Not me! He had begun to talk to his creature within his mind’s eye after it had said hello, even though he knew it couldn’t hear nor respond to him.

He had no idea what would happen when he built the little guy! His memories of building his replica in the woman’s hand had been fuzzy at best, especially when he had used up every last bit of energy during the process. Exactly like how he had planned to create the next one with everything all at once.

What if some giant light had gone off but he had been too confused to notice? He had to consider these things!

I’m not nervous. You’re nervous. His creature did not respond, although admittedly, he hadn’t given it a mouth either.

The creature he had built to save him from the evil flower witch was, essentially, a living mass of skinless appendages. Minus all of those unnecessary fingers and toes of course.

His main goal, aside from the general concept of escape, had been to build something both strong and agile. When he had initially imagined his creature, he had only considered those two factors. Because of his specific needs, while he had been building the most cost-efficient creature he could, he had had to make a few cutbacks in the name of conserving energy wherever he could. Nothing major had been removed, of course.

A lack of sight, hearing, and smell might have been jarring to most, but he still had the utmost confidence in his creature. Make me proud, little guy!

It had been a risk, to be sure, but he had had good reason to feel confident his creature could take those changes in stride.

After he had tried, numerous times during their initial meeting, to ask the prick up above what might happen if he ever built something that was incomplete. It hadn’t been something he would accept the bastard’s silence on, but getting a response had been like pulling roots. He hadn’t been able to get much, but he had still gotten an answer. They will compensate.

Which he had taken to mean that either his creatures would just have to deal with whatever he did to them, or the more preferable scenario, their bodies would adjust to what he hadn’t included and… compensate? Okay, he didn’t know for certain.

The irony that he himself would soon be thrusting a living being into a situation it hadn’t asked to be put in was not lost on him, and it might have even given him pause if he had had the luxury of time. But he needed a helping hand or ten if he wanted to live.

I want to live. When this is all over we can talk about your future, until then, thank you. After he had made sure to send his appreciation towards the creature in his mind’s eye, he completed the building process. The light-headedness returned immediately, verifying to him that he had just spent all of his energy again. Here we go.