15 Sovereign Of The Swarm (2/2)

[Honestly? I don't know. I can tell you're gonna want to find out. I'd advise against that personally, but you are a dangerous mix: chaotic neutral and curious. You're gonna have some fun with this one aren't you?] The system asked, sounding like an exhausted parent.

I didn't dignify the remarks with a response. At least not right away.

I walked in silence for a few minutes, before sighing and speaking aloud once more. ”I guess I'll go ahead and find out. For the sake of answering questions. Even and especially my own questions.” I muttered as I visualized grapes.

I pictured entire vines of the things and then began to cast the spell ”Create food”, aiming for areas close to anthills throughout the forest. In seconds I had created dozens of grape-filled grapevines and placed them all close to the anthills located throughout the forest. A total of close to two dozen grapevines could now be found throughout the area.

After doing that, and noticing ants beginning to approach them via tremorsense I smiled and quickly proceeded to inch closer and closer to the caiman. It wasn't until several minutes later that my mind would be flooded with notifications.

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I was almost where the caiman was when I began to receive over one hundred notifications every two seconds. I could faintly see the lazy crocodiles' body lounging on a thin shoreline, and right as I began to examine the thing my mind's eye lit up.

[Alert: Incoming notification barrage. Cause: Ants have begun to eat your fruits. Their minds are... not well-suited to the potency of your fruits.] The system warned me.

And immediately after that, I had to hiss in annoyance as I received multiple notifications that were themselves little more than slight variations on a notification that looked almost exactly like this:

[Influence over ant: 10%]

I was able to quickly intuit something: each bite an ant took caused me to gain a new amount of influence over the thing. I intuited this because I kept noticing the numbers of ants opening themselves up to my influence was both increasing and increasing in intensity.

The numbers didn't stop at 10%. They kept going. It was in smaller and smaller bursts after the initial upswelling, and it eventually tapered off at 30% but it was still an easy way to go from 0% to 30% in a matter of moments.

”That feels... significant.” I said when the sudden burst of notifications began to slow down. I felt... odd. Stronger somehow. And also more open. I felt... a lot of things flow into me. It was easily the strangest thing I had felt since I first opened my eyes.

I felt like I wasn't alone. Like I was accompanied by perhaps a few thousand other beings, at all times. I closed my eyes to focus and try to feel like myself again, but when I did I saw a new notification.

[New title received: Sovereign of the swarm

Title explanation: Titles are the informal titles by which you as the center of a religious movement are known. Each title is unique and they generate spontaneously whenever you commit unique acts.

Titles are historically unique and so too are the powers they bring with them. In the past deities were too proud to relish the idea of being worshiped by insects, favoring the forms they found more ”beautiful”, which were those of humanoids, or rarely of dragons. Your decision to feed and experiment with insects is thus a unique act.

As for the 'Sovereign of the swarm' title itself, it is the way for the system to grudgingly recognize your willingness to be creative and to reward you for your desire to feed creatures.

Sovereign of the swarm passive powers:

Respected by ants: Ants respect you automatically. This doesn't mean they worship you, but they will serve you. Consider this you becoming an ant king.

Swarm mind: This links you to the minds of all of the ants who've eaten your food. You are currently linked to about ten percent of the ants in the area. Ants who've eaten your food fall under your control. Ants in that category are part of your swarm. Other insects, especially other social insects like wasps and bees, will also fall under your control this way.

Sovereign of the swarm active powers:

Command: You can command ants under your control to do a particular act. This can be done once a day, as of right now.

Dream: You can send creatures in your swarm a dream.

More things will be unlocked as your swarm grows, as you gain greater influence over the domains of dreams, minds, civilizations, and the subdomain of vermin.]

It was at that last part that I curiously asked the system a question about the subdomain of vermin. ”When are you at least gonna let me gain access to my vermin powers? Especially now that I'm a swarm-sovereign?” I asked it, curiously. It sighed.

[I'll grant you access to your vermin powers as soon as you finish practicing with the magic you wanted to practice with.] The system said that to me in the same tone as a parent might deal a child to practice what they learned at school before setting out to play with their friends. It made me chuckle.

[We're also gonna lock down the swarm sovereign things. At least until you battle the caiman. We want you to experience more of life in the world before you start to play with your godly toys.] The system told me, this time truly sounding like a parent with an exhausting child.

I sighed and muttered something under my breath. ”Of course you would. I just want to be free to use my powers, yet they all keep being locked away.” I said, annoyed at that declaration by the system. I began to stride towards the caiman, hands out as I readied myself to practice my spells.

And it was at that point that I recalled something I had heard before. It made me grin devilishly. ”You said that for me to gain influence over the subdomains I want to gain influence over I have to use the spells right?” I asked, a confident glimmer in my eyes.

[Yes... Why do you ask?] It said, curiosity and cautious audible in its voice.

”Well, I'm gonna use those spells. But I won't kill the thing. I won't even permanently damage it.” I told the system, hoping to take the wind out of the pesky thing's sails. I heard a mechanical sigh once more.

[We figured you wouldn't. But at least you have some self-control and don't want to kill everything you see.] The voice told me. I grinned at that and began to ponder which spell I should use first as I laid my eyes on the creature I came to hunt and studied it for the first time.