Chapter 1378 (Patreon)

After dropping Lisa off with Maggie, I told her I’d be out of the local area for some time. Then, I went back to my shelter and wiped the memories of Alice and Xander, thoroughly erasing everything they had experienced back to about two weeks before I met them and deposited the pair somewhat close to Maggie’s community. That their drop-site just happened to be in the path of a group from there was a convenient coincidence, making their discovery essentially inevitable. I didn’t want to kill them, especially as I was curious about the long-term effects of memory erasure. With them being in Maggie’s community, I could keep an eye on them, and if they happened to remember something, I was fairly confident that the people there would generally side with me. Either because they already trusted me, or because they were too scared of crossing me, I wasn’t sure. 

Once that was accomplished, I jumped over to my latest base and continued my way east. There wasn’t a whole lot to do while flying, so I mainly trained my magical control and practised to split my mind and attention, allowing me to increase the number of scrying constructs I could pay attention to at the same time. 

And I also worked on my ability to ignore things, something luckily aided by a few of my traits. That meant I could actively and aggressively ignore what shenanigans Lisa was up to, as she enjoyed the magical connection to my powers a little too much. It was, quite frankly, incredibly creepy just how aroused she got when using the power she received as a Warlock, and I had a feeling that she only got more aroused knowing that I was aware of her arousal, though that might have just been my imagination; I wasn’t certain. I just had that incredibly creepy, uncomfortable feeling in the back of my mind. 

This training and the accompanying experimentation also allowed me to put some focus on the winged lizards I had discovered. Given that they were quite close to what I considered draconic in their natural state, without intervention from yours truly, I wanted to see how close to my kin they were. Over the last couple of days since I had created the draconic statue near their territory, I had occasionally looked through the scrying construct I had left there and managed to get a fair idea about their behaviour. 

It was quite fascinating; they weren’t truly smart, not as I would consider it, but there were moments that straddled the line. Their social structure was, quite frankly, fairly advanced and rather interesting. They didn’t hunt as a single, large group. At most, I saw a few small groups work together, but never more than a handful of winged lizards. Which, in my opinion, was rather interesting, though maybe it should be expected. 

A larger group might allow them to bring down bigger prey, but then what? Given that I had observed them carrying food back to their nesting area, a larger kill would only mean a harder time carrying it away. So, not really a good idea, even if they were tearing the kills into pieces for easier carrying anyway. Still, hunting bigger prey meant taking bigger risks. Or maybe they simply didn’t have any large prey in easy reach; that was another possibility. The winged lizards were quite obviously keeping to their territory, large as it might be. 

Adding to their interesting traits was the clear and obvious specialisation I had already observed. It also included their curiosity. The statue I had left there was occasionally approached and investigated. Initially, that was done by the same pair of winged lizards, both of whom I had observed ranging ahead of the rest of their group during hunting, making them some sort of scout, or maybe just naturally curious; I wasn’t sure. 

They might have been responsible for checking whether the statue was safe in the first place, and once they decided it was, I never saw them approach it again. Maybe their duty was done, or their curiosity sated; I wasn’t sure. Instead, another of the winged lizards approached and started to investigate, sniffing, scratching and even licking the statue. It was something to keep observing, though, so far, I hadn’t seen any real indications of higher thought. They were almost there, but not quite yet. I would, however, keep a close eye on them, maybe give them a push or two. 

After all, they were acting closer to what I considered intelligent than the giants had initially. The only reason I would have considered the giants intelligent at the start was their simple tool use and the ability to build their own shelter, both of which were mainly predicated on their opposable thumbs. Without those, and their humanoid physique, I wouldn’t have seen them as intelligent, which was a curious observation in and of itself. Recognising a bias was always useful, as it would allow me to question that bias in the future, even if it wouldn’t help me in the present. Maybe I would have to check whether the winged lizards were building their own nests in the rocky caves in their area, because if they were, I might consider that the construction of their own shelter. 

Or maybe not; it didn’t matter too much. Ultimately, the winged lizards were a species primed to receive some magical assistance. Hopefully, it would allow me to make them truly draconic, increasing their intelligence and overall physical attributes slightly. Some Blood Magic using my own blood, or maybe something taken from the species nesting in the Temple of the First Dragon, could serve as the base, and a bit of Soul Magic to give this first generation and their offspring the initial boost. Maybe I could even relocate them into a more advantageous area for their skills, though I wasn’t sure where that might be. They seemed to be quite adept at taking advantage of their surroundings, though they’d need to spread over a much larger area if they wanted to survive in the long-term. Otherwise, the small, rocky area they were currently in would get crowded incredibly quickly. 

During my flight, I realised another issue. Finding my old hometown would be a little more challenging than planned. I had started on a simple vector, and I was reasonably certain that I had managed to maintain my eastern trajectory. That much was relatively easy, though the constant checks at ground level really slowed me down. 

But that only got me from a relatively large radius on the map, namely the entire area between Denver and Colorado Springs, into an ever-growing cone. While I had been moving east, I wasn’t completely confident that I had hit the trajectory perfectly, so I might have been off by a degree or two. And even a degree or two would quickly turn into some serious distance, at least once the roughly thirteen hundred kilometres between my old home and Denver were factored in. Even a single degree off would mean I would be over a hundred kilometres away, and that was ignoring the possibility of larger, geographical shifts. 

And I couldn’t ignore that possibility, as I was well aware that it existed. The combination of Denver and Colorado Springs was one piece of evidence, and the spatial anomaly around the Charland was another. I had no idea how many other anomalies were out there, though I was fairly confident that we had encountered at least one more. 

Namely, the forest with the proto-elves in it, with its massive trees. Because, as I had been travelling east, I should have seen some hint of that forest’s existence. But there was nothing; I had only seen the relatively flat, grassy plains I would have expected in the area before the change. None of the impossibly large trees we had seen on our way west, which had made me question my own memories. I remembered those trees; I remembered climbing them to get a better sense of the area ahead, but now they were nowhere to be found.

The only way that would make sense was if I considered the possibility of outdoor dungeons with distinct entrances. Areas that could only be entered from one direction, or maybe only if you moved through specific geographic features. Considering the possibilities there started to give me a headache, and, annoyingly, it didn’t really help me with my issue. 

How was I supposed to find my old home if I had no idea where I had to look?

As a result, I began to consider other options for finding the area. Scrying was one possibility; I still remembered some of the Astral River’s peculiarities in the area, though I couldn’t be certain that they hadn’t changed in the meantime. Alternatively, I might try praying to Lady Hecate and asking her for directions to the original shrine I had set up for her. She might even answer, if I asked nicely.