"Shall we gather the others?" one of the chieftains asked.
"That won't be necessary, just us three will be enough," Lucius replied reluctantly. Using massive carts, Elmando, and a bit of strength, they would be able fo complete the work faster than the shrooms ever could.
"Though this means that we'll only be able to build this structure tomorrow since its getting late," he added. It was currently late afternoon, and he didn't want to be doing construction work in the middle of the night.
"We'll head out after eating and a quick session. Could you bring some food for them as well," he ordered, to which the kid shroom rushed off to complete its task.
"Take a seat," Lucius said, creating a round table for the chieftains as well as six chairs. The chieftains were a little confused at first but quickly copied from example.
"So how have you been finding life in the camp?" he asked once they had all settled down.
"G-Good," the chieftains answered in unison.
"Good to hear," Lucius responded, and an awkward silence ensued.
"Ask him," one of the chieftains whispered to another.
"Oh, by the way. The details I told you guys to report, the state of security, food levels, and so forth. Who have you been reporting them to?" Lucius asked.
"We have one of the Lighted One's messengers come to use every day. We give our report to them, and they give it to the Lighted One's second hand," one of the chieftains replied.
"Oi, Pagan isn't the Captain's second hand, I am," Alpha shouted. He was growing quite annoyed with the whole thing really. Sure, Pagan had been the first to evolve, and by extension had become the most active, but it was still Alpha who had been working by the Captain's side all along.
~If I don't catch up soon, then this'll only continue. Can you imagine... Pagan, that lazy idiot? Second in command? The entire commune would be in shambles,~ Alpha thought to himself.
"F-Forgive me... I'm confused. So then are you the Lighted One's second in command?" the chieftain asked. Of course, it would make some sense, since Alpha's physique seemed a little scarier than Pagan's.
"Ahem... neither of them is second in command. There is no second in command, we are Lucius's hands, no second, third, or forth, we're all equal," Hannibal explained. If this went on any longer, Alpha and Pagan would get into a fight, and Lucius would probably reprimand the both of them.
Besides, if there was truly such a thing as a second hand, it would be Hannibal.
~Who else does Lucius discuss the important matters of the camp with? Alpha? Pagan? If those two idiots were to be second in command, the entire commune would be in shambles,~ Hannibal thought to himself.
"Hannibal's right. There is no second hand, we are all equal. Now tell me, what structures did Pagan have you guys build?" Lucius asked after a moment of silence.
"He had us make buildings within each of the pillars dedicated to praise," one of the chieftains answered.
"Hopefully Radiant trees will soon sprout," another added, as if sighing.
"Radiant Tree? Sprout? Just what nonsense has Pagan been feeding you guys?" Alpha asked. How Pagan managed to completely brainwash an entire clan was beyond him.
"The Lighted One's hand told us that this Radiant Tree sprouted because of his praise to the Lighted One. And that the Lighted One would offer us such gifts if we praised enough,"
"I see," Lucius replied, looking towards Hannibal. Hannibal shrugged in response, this was news to him as well.
Soon the food arrived, and the group dined. After they were done Lucius began preparations to have a session.
"What about Pagan?" Hannibal asked, after Lucius had sent a kid shroom to gather all the residents of the internal camp.
"Pagan is about to... so he can't have one," Lucius explained.
"L-Lighted One," a chieftain whispered, being nudged forward by the other five.
"Yeah?"
"M-May we... may we visit the Radiat Tree?" the chieftain blurted out, to which sounds of dissatisfaction came from the others. They had nudged him forward to ask if they could join his warrior unit, not see the Radiant tree. But that in itself was a gift, so they were willing to wait for another chance.
"Sure. Take them there," Lucius ordered, looking toward the kid shroom who was currently standing at the door of the building like a guard.
"And don't touch anything there. I'm sure Asclepius has begun her experiments, and trust me, you don't want to mess that up," Hannibal added.
*
The session lasted 1 hour in total and Lucius had absorbed about 1.9 million helios.
The arachnid baby had grown by about 2 centimeters, now about the same size as an adolescent shroom. The insectoid on the other hand had grown to the size of a medium-sized rodent, about the same size as a common house rat.
Alpha and Hannibal had managed to last the entire session, though most of their growth had been in volume and dimension instead of height. As per usual, their skin was slowly becoming more similar to the color of wood, and Alpha's in particular was becoming harder.
Since Lucius had decided to save all of his helios for the upcoming evolution costs, he hadn't grown at all. Perhaps the only change was his mental capacity to channel solar energy.
After they were done, the group met up at the Radiant Tree, where the chieftains were currently giving praise.
"We'll be heading out now," Lucius said, before touching the tree. He quickly used its Elmando boosting effects to morph one of the buildings into several carts. He then used a memory from one of his mechanics classes to create a pedaling mechanism that would allow them to move the carts without Elmando.
"Time for a little leg workout boys," he said with a smile, four carts currently standing right in front of the group.
"H-How?" one of the chieftains couldn't help but ask.
"Get on, we're burning daylight," Lucius said, before jumping on top of the largest one, and using Elmando to move it forward.
