Appropriate Priorities

Chp 110

I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I went to visit the hounds. I thought something along the lines of grumpy pups and possibly having to bribe them with treats. I was not expecting to find Stalin pacing anxiously in front of the den.

Stalin growled at my approach, then seemed to realize who exactly he was growling at. He whimpered a little, hanging his head. I was down on his level to pet him immediately, worried.

“Hey buddy, what's up?” I asked. Stalin had grown to be more affectionate over time, but now he was cuddling into me like he was scared of something.

“She’s acting strangely,” Stalin said, looking toward the den.

“I’ll check on her, okay?” I asked. Stalin didn’t reply, but I approached the den anyway and he remained behind me. Another rather remarkably bad sign. I checked Blackmore’s monster listing just to be sure, but I wasn’t seeing any status ailments or anything else. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not as I crouched by the entrance.

I heard a soft whining issuing from inside the den, but didn’t see Blackmore’s glow. Originally it had started with a single chamber, but at her request I’d added the second whelping one.

“Blackmore, it's 42, can I come in?” I asked. I didn’t receive a reply and the whining intensified a little. Worried, I slithered inside, my bizarrely elastic anatomy working in my favor. Blackmore was in the second chamber and she didn’t look well. Her normal lava-like internal light was dimmer than I’d ever seen it before. It was only a soft glow where it showed through the cracks in her stone-like surface, rather than its normal healthy hellish light.

“Hey, what's wrong?” I asked, at a loss.

“I feel cold… and hungry,” Blackmore replied softly. I was taken aback by the second part. Elementals didn’t actually eat per se. They lived off mana, even though they might have things they liked to chew on. If she was feeling hungry, then something had to be wrong with the amount of mana she was getting.

“Oh shit, hey, its going to be okay,” I said softly, petting her gently to soothe her. Blackmore looked up and shifted a little to press into the hand petting her. I started digging furiously through my interface looking for an explanation, but didn’t find one.

My thoughts kept coming back to the upkeep cost. The fire mana in the area was strong enough to sustain two adults, but that was it. Even so, if there was a deficit then it should have come out of my mana supply.

I looked up elemental hounds specifically, but the text on the subject wasn’t anymore illuminating. That was when a possible problem occurred to me. The text only gave facts about naturally occurring hounds, not system bound ones specifically. This might be a problem related to that aspect rather than Blackmore’s biology itself.

“I’m going to try something,” I added. While I worked, I snuggled in with Blackmore to try and comfort her, since she normally loved nothing more than getting up in my personal space. It was evening and mana refresh was hours off, but I broke my own rules. I nuked every point of mana I had on lava tiles.

It didn’t seem to do much, but I hadn’t expected it to. I hadn’t really added that many tiles with my leftover mana. It also wouldn’t do anything if she were having some kind of absorption problem.

“Should I call Stalin in to snuggle with us?” I asked. Rather than wait on me to extend the invitation Blackmore barked with a little more energy, in that she seemed to have any, and he came scrambling inside immediately.

Holed up in a literal hole with the hounds, I sent out a mass text letting the skeletons know where I was but not why and that I’d only be accepting texts until further notice. I let Henry, Dawn, Aaron, and Chris know a bit more though. Aaron was a bit of a longshot but I felt like if anyone would have a shot at figuring out a magical beast malady it would be him. Chris texted me back immediately.

Mistress!!!!

R PUPS OK?

I stared at the message for a moment in confusion. Then I looked at Blackmore. Aside from the obvious issue with the intensity of her inner fire, I couldn’t really say I noticed anything different about her. Though in fairness I was also in a cuddle pile with her and Stalin rather than having her up on a show block for examination.

“Blackmore, are you pregnant?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Blackmore said after a moment of thinking. I felt the news hit me like a slap. I’d given permission for them to have puppies, but it was contingent on the fire area being big enough to support a possible litter. I’d been growing it steadily, but it was just recently large enough to support them without an extra mana cost. That still didn’t explain what I was seeing.

Or rather, it wouldn’t if the potential puppies were bound to the system. In that case they’d probably pull from my mana like their parents to supplement any deficit in the dungeon itself. If they weren’t though, it might not compensate.

“Okay,” I said in a bland but soothing tone. Or at least what I hoped was one. If I were on the right track there was a possible treatment. When refresh hit I broke every single one of my carefully designed rules and bought nothing but lava tiles, reserving nothing. My dungeon was constructed well enough that nobody would likely be able to reach my core in less than a day.

Not unless they had some fairly insane speed buffs and were high enough level to solo everything. If that were true though, I’d be fucked anyway and I wasn’t going to leave Blackmore to suffer due to my paranoia in the meantime.

This time there was a visible effect. Blackmore literally brightened a bit, though she was still lethargic.

“That a little better?” I asked. The lick to my face from Blackmore was the most reassuring thing that could have happened, as it involved her sitting up a little to reach.

“Thank you mistress!” Stalin enthused, thanking me almost ferociously in Blackmore’s place.

“I’m happy it worked… I can't do more for the rest of today, but I’ll keep this up until she’s okay,” I said after a moment of consideration. I had things to do, but none of them required my physical presence. At least not for the moment.

Though I hadn’t had anything worthwhile to add to my earlier messages Chris kept sending me question marks every couple hours. It was actually kind of touching that he was so worried. I was glad I finally had something to tell him.

Chris,

Not sure, but hopefully. I think I know what's wrong but it will take a few days to sort out. I’ll stay with Blackmore in the meantime,

-42

I felt lighter after sending the text. Even if I was wrong about the reason I’d clearly bought some time to figure the matter out more thoroughly. Aaron wasn’t exactly happy about being drafted as a magical veterinarian, but he showed up after some considerable preparation time. I’d told him what I suspected but he’d gotten together, and in several cases made, magic tools to do a more in depth diagnostic.

Blackmore and Stalin weren’t happy with the idea of the skeleton being in their den, even to help, but they allowed it. Blackmore felt a little better, but she wasn’t up to moving and didn’t want me to take her out of the den with my teleportation ability. Stalin stepped out and Aaron crawled in to do the check up.

It turned out Blackmore was in the very early stage of what would be considered an elemental hound pregnancy.

“So that's weakening her?” I asked.

“No, or rather it shouldn’t… Mistress, does it say anything about hounds being born with cores in your library?” Aaron asked. I shook my head, I’d reread the limited information several times already. To prove it, I had the encyclopedia entry turn into a book briefly so Aaron could look it over. He tended to like that better than dealing with interface windows.

“I won’t claim to be an expert, but minor elementals normally aren't this stable. They don’t start with cores, but gain them by killing others of their kind or living in mana rich areas,” Aaron began.

“The pups, as you call them, should be born without them, bursting from her like flames and then either growing or perishing eventually,” he continued.

“But that's not what's happening?” I asked.

“No, she’s condensing mana into cores. It's what weakened her so… if they are born like this they’ll be unusually strong,” Aaron explained. He lapsed into silence while staring thoughtfully at Blackmore.

“Is that problematic for her health or something?” I asked.

“Not if you supplement the mana supply quickly enough, though I have no idea how long you’ll have. It's just that such strong elementals will likely be difficult to control if they’re born free,” Aaron explained.

“Mistress?” Blackmore asked, sounding confused.

“It's alright, you're just gonna be a busy mom,” I said gently. I stroked her head and she settled back down, content to take me at my word.

“How many is she likely to have?” I asked Aaron. I’d already made up my mind this would be happening. All that remained was to try and brace for the new arrivals. That meant making sure they’d have enough mana and space to roam around in.

“Three, it seems at least. I can't predict how many will stay stable or if only ones with cores will be born,” Aaron said after a few moments to think. Three sounded manageable, so I hoped that was the number.

“Oi! Keep it you mutt, my business is with the lady!” someone shouted. A moment later, a very singed skeletal Chris was crawling his way into the den, sans most of a leg.

“Ello’ mumma dog, how are we feeling?” Chris asked cheerfully.

“Tasty Chris!” Blackmore said, tail wagging a bit though she didn’t get up. I thought Chris was reaching over to pet her with his off hand right up until Blacmore took it in her mouth and tried to tug it free. Chris, seeing she was weak, obligingly popped it off at the elbow then started petting her with his other hand.

Blackmore gnawed softly on Chris's arm and some of his more random respawns suddenly made sense. I felt like I should probably say something about what was clearly a fairly fucked up thing to do, but couldn’t find it in me. It was also precious and I decided to split the difference and file it under fucking adorable. I was numb to worrying about what that said about me as a person.

Aaron, who wasn’t far off from respawning himself after prolonged exposure even to Blackmore’s currently cooler temperatures, excused himself. I teleported him back to his lab so he wouldn’t have to pass through the lava area and end up respawning. Chris, for his part, hung around until he literally couldn’t anymore, which was about five minutes after Stalin muscled his way back into the den.

Curled up with the hounds I went about my other work. We’d need to talk about why they didn’t come to me when Blackmore started feeling unwell eventually. For the moment it wasn’t worth fussing about. That was a discussion for when she was well again, which I was determined would happen, come hell or highwater.