Dinner that evening was interesting. Gabby, Ylsa, Raiju, Volta, and I sat with Uncle Galloway around a round table he pulled from his spatial ring and set down right outside the [Celestial Oak] in the center of the glade, but on the opposite side from the main entrance. We were seated in what I later learned was once a particularly gorgeous series of hanging gardens. When I brought the steaks, potato croquettes, and white asparagus I’d made out for dinner, I heard the two of them discussing how they’d restore it to its former glory.

  He was insisting on trying to revive the dead plants, or trying to harvest their seeds, but she thought that was a waste of time. She had a veritable seed vault in one of her spatial bags and offered him what he needed to replant, but he begged off just as I placed the food in the center of the round table.

  “It’s the principle of the thing.” He nodded toward the food I’d just deposited. “Anyway, let’s eat, then we can discuss next steps for our burgeoning Dominion.”

  The conversation during dinner avoided any conversation one would refer to as ‘heavy’, but it didn’t shy away from Raiju’s new form. At first, I was worried, but she leaned into it and I learned a lot about her and, notably, all the races as a whole.

  Uncle Galloway sat with a fork full of potato and white asparagus halfway to his face as he stared at Raiju, who’d just dropped a bombshell that would shake the world to its core if it got out.

  “Can you repeat that? I must have misheard you the first time.”

  She gulped down a full quarter steak and bared her prominent canines. “Sure can, but I’m sure you heard me right.” She glanced over at me, quickly looked away and patted the steak drippings from her face, and turned back to Uncle Galloway. “When I finally sat down and looked at Primal Elf in my Status it said all elves were originally Primal Elves. It had something about where they came from beyond that, but I didn’t read the whole thing.”

  “Raiju,” I set my knife and fork down and she locked eyes with me, “would you mind sharing just that window with all of us? I know at least Gabby, Uncle Galloway, and I would be very interested in reading it.”

  “I know Goliaths are descended from the ancient Primal Giants. Learning elves are the same doesn’t change anything for me.” Ylsa shrugged. “I’ll read it to see how closely it matches up, but I’m confident in our [Storykeepers]’ ability to maintain our history.”

  Volta speared a bit of steak and moaned to herself. “So good!”

  Raiju fiddled with her Status window for a few seconds before we all suddenly had the same window floating in front of our vision. “Got it!” She grinned as she snagged another steak from the rapidly dwindling pile. “Bonus steak for me while you guys read.”

  Rather than challenge her, instead I got to reading the information she’d provided. It ended up covering far more than just Primal Elves.

  [Primal Elf is a general term for the varied race that has since become the elves out in the world at large. Technically, you are a Primal Elf - Fenrir, but that designation was purged from the System as a Race. This change has since been reversed and your Status will display your race properly now.

  In reality, all of the races, besides humans, on Genovia are descended from a primordial beast or species of beasts now only known as the Primordials. As your original species, Gale Wolf, is most closely descended from Fenrir, the Howling Death, your Primal Elf draws its features from it. You are the first Primal Elf - Fenrir since his line was wiped out by Primal Elves descended from Krom, the Unstoppable Tusker. Those Primal Elves are now known as Wood Elves.

  With your birth, a new path to power has been reopened. All beings descended from creatures native to this world will have the potential to awaken their race to their Primal form once more. The trigger to do so is not the same for each person, but it should be known that doing so will grant them a second chance at a System integration if they so desire. If a being is descended from multiple Primordial Genovian beings, they can awaken each portion of their parentage individually.]

  Part of me wanted to immediately start trying to figure out what would trigger my Gold Elf Awakening, but I stopped cold. “Wait a second. Does that mean humans aren’t from Genovia originally?”

  Pulling up my Status, I selected my race and then picked out the subsection for human and asked for more information.

  [The Humans living on Genovia are a remarkably adaptable species, thriving in diverse environments and readily integrating with other cultures. Their ingenuity and resourcefulness have allowed them to flourish in a world teeming with magic and mythical creatures, despite their innate lack of magical talent. While they lack magical talent, they more than make up for it in technological aptitude, with more System Speakers coming from their ranks than any other race by percentage in addition to raw numbers.]

  That’s not what I wanted, I knew all that. I want to know about where humans came from!

  I pushed harder on the thought of humans not coming from Genovia and a smaller box appeared before me.

  [Driven from a dying world by an encroaching force of desolation, desperate bands of human refugees fled across the void in vast metallic ships, seeking refuge in the vibrant, untamed world of Genovia. This perilous journey, fraught with dangers both cosmic and unforeseen, laid the groundwork for their eventual integration into the complex ecosystem of their new home. Their arrival on Genovia allowed the System to locate Genovia, though it took nearly a thousand years for the System Integration to occur after their arrival.]

  “Dominus save me.” I sagged into my chair and took a few deep breaths. “Humans are the reason the System came to Genovia?”

  The sound of glass breaking to my right snapped me out of the haze I’d found myself. When I looked over, I found Gabby holding her hand as blood dripped down to the polished wood of the table. Her eyes blazed as she looked at me.

  “Humans did what?!” She practically shrieked.

  Sighing, I flicked the windows I’d generated over to the rest of my companions. “Take a look for yourself, I had no clue until I pushed the System a bit.”

  Uncle Galloway practically choked. “You did what?”

  “Pushed the System.” I shook my head and sat forward to eat some more food, trusting it to settle my nerves. “Gramps taught me a few tricks, but he said everyone could do it. He insisted that I practice as soon as I was integrated so I could get better at it fast.”

  “Your family is insane!” He threw his hands up in frustration. “That is distinctly untrue. Pushing the System is a death sentence!”

  I scoffed after swallowing a bit of croquette. “Not true. Trust me, I’ve done it a few times in just the past month or so. It’s all about flexing your will.”

  He made to argue once more, but instead scratched the side of his neck and sighed. “Can we please talk about anything else? I need time to reconsider the way I view the world…again. For the third time today.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Gabby, to her credit, settled down after reading the System window I sent to everyone about humans. “That reminds me, can you please explain why you dumped this pile of loot in my inbox for me to manage?” She flicked a window out for me to review.

  [Misc Loot:

  Armored Cultist Robes (x98)

  Ritual Dagger of Sacrifice (x17)

  Robes of Shadowy Whispers - Common

  Eye of the Devourer Idol

  Scroll of Abyssal Incantations (Non-magical)

  Ritually Carved Skull of Former Cult Leader

  Obsidian Dagger

  Caged Spider (Familiar)

  Talisman of Void Warding - Common

  Iron-Spiked Mace

  Broadsword of the Fallen - Common

  Hunter’s Bow - Common

  Leather Armor

  Steel Helmet

  Throwing Knives (x6)

  Rusted Chainmail

  Warhammer

  Short Sword

  Dagger

  Javelin

  Handaxe

  Battleaxe

  Longsword

  Two-Handed Axe]

  “None of us need any of that and you’re in charge of the treasury.” I shrugged. “Until we get a steward or a reeve or something, you’ve got that to deal with the chaff loot. Maybe you can sell it or something?”

  “Sell it where!?” Her face went red. “We’re in the middle of the forest! Should I try to sell a handaxe to a squirrel?”

  Seeing how irritated she was getting, I held up a hand. “I understand. Don’t worry about selling anything until we reach civilization. Just organize it all into different sections of the warehouse tab and we’ll figure it out when we get somewhere we might be able to sell some of the stuff.”

  That seemed to mollify her as she smoothed out her dress and preened her golden locks. I thought I caught her sneaking a glance at Uncle Galloway, but pushed the thought aside and didn’t dare trigger [Heartsight].

  I do not need to know if she’s got the hots for him. Nope, I’ll leave that as a mystery.

  “I have another question, what do you want me to do with the massive pile of coins you dropped in the treasury?” She pulled up a window and turned it around so she could draw on it with everyone watching. “With nearly a hundred thousand gold to work with, we’ve got some options.”

  Nodding, I motioned for her to continue. “What do you recommend?”

  She snorted, then blushed as she covered her face and started talking fast. “It all depends on what you want The Dominion to do as a nation.” She wrote Diplomacy, Infrastructure, and Research at the top of the board. “These are the broad categories I’ve been considering, but I need to know what you want The Dominion to focus on before I can start making an actionable plan.”

  Rubbing my hairless chin, I looked around the table. “What do you all think?”

  Surprisingly, it was Raiju who offered her opinion first. “Why not split it up?” She stuck her steak juice coated fingers in her mouth and removed them with a pop. “It doesn’t make sense to me to focus on just one thing.”

  Everyone around the table murmured their agreement and Gabby dutifully added a percentage sign next to the list of words on the board. “Alright, so if we’re going to have a split focus, what kind of split are we looking at?”

  With an uncharacteristically trembling hand, Ylsa stepped up next. “As much as I’d like to say infrastructure should be a large focus…”

  She hesitated and I motioned for her to continue. “It’s OK. Say your piece.”

  Throwing her shoulders back and taking a deep breath, Ylsa continued. “I believe infrastructure should take up no more than twenty percent of the budget, now or going forward.”

  “Can you elaborate on why you believe that?” Gabby asked the same question I’d been considering. “Specific examples are best, but I’d take a general option if that’s what you have.”

  “Of course,” Ylsa cracked her neck, a tick I’d learned meant she was nervous, but ready. “The biggest thing we have going for us, besides our connection to Dominus, is our mobility.” She gesticulated all around. “It’s just us right now, so we would do ourselves a disservice in locking ourselves down at the moment. Once we’re more established? That’s a wholly different thing, but by then, hopefully we’re generating enough resources that we can afford to maintain our base of operations with only twenty percent of our gross haul.”

  The whole table pondered what she’d said for a few minutes. Some short conversations between different pairs among them popped up, but my mind was racing. I had a crazy idea and I just had to bring it up.

  Gripping the side of the table to keep myself grounded, I began to practically babble. “Why not have a mobile base of operations? My Dad’s family, the Ironwind Clan, has a fleet of skyships they use for long distance travel. Why couldn’t we make something a bit more substantial?” Everyone around me was staring, so I continued. “We could use Sunhome, Ironhold, Wyrm’s Rest, and the Valley of Dominus as landing points if we need to land for repairs, it’d be awesome–”

  I felt a strange sort of…connection to the human part of me and my eyes grew wider as I saw something amazing in my mind’s eye. That almost never happened. Even with only one eighth dwarven blood, I often felt impulses from that part of me compared to three eighths human blood, but now it was almost like that information from the System earlier lit a fire in me.

  “What if we look for the ships the humans used to get to Genovia? What’s to stop us from using them as the basis for our new home?” It felt like my brain was on fire as I continued to go at it. “I’d propose twenty percent infrastructure, using that to build the places that would eventually become landing platforms. Forty percent diplomacy, with a focus on information gathering and trade, and the remaining forty percent focussed on researching the ancient world. So much has been lost since that time, knowledge of Dominus included, so why not work on rebuilding the archives the world has since lost?”

  “A flying base?” Volta’s eyes glowed with excitement. “I wholeheartedly approve!”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Uncle Galloway’s smile hadn’t slipped since he figured out where I was going a few sentences in. “With the revelations from today, we should focus on cementing our advantage as the only group who know of the chance of awakening our primal lineages. That, in conjunction with the ability to enter Towers and change their rewards, should let us get a real leg up on anyone who starts coming after us on our path.”

  Gabby waited for everyone else to speak, twisting her golden braid with one hand nervously until everyone went quiet. Once that happened, she started writing on the screen beside her. “I can work with that, as crazy as it sounds. Until we get settled, I’ll focus on growing our treasury by selling the loot we don’t need and can’t trade for political favors. In the meantime, I’ll work with Ylsa to get the supplies her people need into the Valley of Dominus and reach out to some family contacts about any ancient records we might know of.”

  Looking out at my friends around the table, I felt so warm. Everyone there chose to stand by my side, despite our disparate origins, and when I came up with something most people would call crazy, they all got behind it.

  “I love you guys.” I muttered under my breath before speaking up. “With that plan in motion, let’s talk about next steps.”

  Gabby banished her existing window to her notes log and pulled up a new, blank, one. “It’s time for some logistics.” She practically preened when everyone but me groaned.

  I waved to her. “You have the floor.”

  “Actually,” Uncle Galloway raised a hand, “I have something to say first.” He looked around at us and then continued. “I have a number of things to get settled before I can join you in any official capacity, I need to restore this grove so Dominus can use it to expand her interest, at least that’s what she told me a few minutes ago via a quest. I also need to go back and grant her full control of my other grove a few thousand miles away from here. That’ll take me a bit less than six months, so here’s what I’m proposing.”

  He leaned in and grinned as he looked around at us. “You should all walk to Sunhome. No teleportation, no super speed running or traveling via carpet. Walk.” Everyone began to protest and he raised a hand to silence us. “It should take you around the same time it takes me to get my affairs in order to do it, assuming you don’t get lost, and in that time I need you all to work on leveling up and mastering your Skills. Anyone under level forty in Sunhome will have trouble being taken seriously and having me around will help a bit with that, but having your own base of power will go a long way to gaining legitimacy for The Dominion.”

  Gabby didn’t seem happy, but the rest of us nodded. His logic was sound, despite how uncomfortable it would be.

  I had one question before we adjourned. “Any idea where we can level on the way there?”

  He rubbed his hands together. “I’ve got a map of Dungeons in the area and there are four on the way to Sunhome from here, with only a small detour through the foothills of the Verdant Peaks.”

  “Sounds good. Let’s take tonight to rest up and be ready to leave by noon tomorrow.” I beamed out at the crowd. “Let’s get The Dominion some new loot to help her grow.”