Chimera Rising: Beast King Ascension [How a human-turned-lion went from Zero to Absolute Ruler]

It was only a few minutes after that when the elves began streaming out of the trees. Dominic had been expecting that – Isalia and the other mages had explained that the ritual would focus on transporting both the trees and everything within them. And however that worked, it was evidently safe, not just for the plants, but also for the people.

Out of the Great Mother herself streamed the greatest number of passengers who almost all stood and gawked at their new surroundings for a moment after leaving the massive tree. As it turned out, though, it wasn't only elves who had been brought along.

'Are those…farm animals?' Dominic asked in interest. He had apparently projected his question to more than just Leo as the closest mage – Milthu – responded.

'We did not want to have to start entirely from scratch,' he explained. 'Our farmers have brought as many plants and beasts with them as they can and we – the mages, that is – will help them to prepare the earth for planting. Our food production should be back to normal within a couple of weeks and we have enough stores to last until then.'

Dominic eyed Milthu cautiously.

'You're using magic to grow plants? But you still need to prepare the earth?'

'Yes – though magic works well to enhance the way plants grow, it cannot replace the benefits of the natural process,' Milthu explained. 'We still need to plant them in the earth, even if they won't need to be there as long as naturally would be the case.'

'So where are the farmers going to put their fields?' he asked. Because that was a complication he hadn't thought about – fields would surely leave the elves far too open to attacks. Maybe Dominic would have to ensure that the area was patrolled by some Pride members or allies at all times.

The elf shrugged.

'I'm sorry, Lord Dominic, I do not know. You will have to ask Elder Melia.'

It appeared that he would get the opportunity to do so shortly as five familiar figures had already rounded the trunk of the Great Mother and were clearly making a bee-line towards him.

'My lord,' Alwen greeted him immediately, making the respectful gesture of touching her right hand to her left shoulder and then offering it to him with its palm facing upwards. 'Thank you for your participation in the ritual. I felt how smooth it was, and I am certain that part of that was to do with the land's easy acceptance of us.'

Dominic huffed, slightly uncomfortably. It wasn't as though he'd felt like he'd done a huge amount. But she was probably right that his presence had made some impact.

'I said I'd help,' he replied finally before changing the topic. 'The arrangement of trees is different from what it used to be,' he commented, his tone inviting them to explain.

'We felt that it was more appropriate for our new situation,' Melia answered quietly. 'And the trees agreed.'

'We've offered our allegiance for your protection – our position at the edge, but still part of your domain makes that clear. Yet, you will not be governing our people directly, so having the Great Mother be the liaison between you and our people seemed the best option,' Alwen continued in more detail.

'While I agree with your points,' and had indeed actually thought of them himself while the housing-trees were moving in, 'that wasn't the only difference I noted. The trees are also closer together. Will they be fine with that?' Not that he was any expert on plants, but he thought that each one needed enough space for its roots and foliage – the trees of his own forest had certainly naturally left space between them which was filled by other types of undergrowth.

'The trees will communicate with each other and ensure that resources are shared once they have settled properly into this new land,' Melia answered, though her tone seemed a little warmer than before. Was it because he'd bothered to ask the question about the wellbeing of the trees? 'In the meantime, my farmers and the mages will ensure that each guardian tree is given what it needs to survive.

'We felt it was better to bring the trees closer together since we were disrupting them badly anyway to move them at all,' interjected Ilastir. 'It is easier to defend them like that. Our original town plan was based on a world which might have to deal with a roving group of bandits or a rabid pack of aarnam, at worst. In the last three decades, we've only had to call on the king's warriors two times; everything else has been manageable by our own inhabitants. Fortifying our position was therefore never needed. Now, however….'

'Speaking of fortifying your position,' Dominic picked up even as his mind processed just how at-peace the elves' world used to be. 'Milthu indicated that your farmers would be planting their fields immediately. Do you have any plans about how to defend these from the oncoming beasts?' He decided to see what they'd come up with first before making his own offers.

He checked the timer – less than two hours left to go. Abruptly, he felt antsy, the need to prepare for the oncoming beasts almost overwhelming him. It took reminding himself that sorting out the elves' defence strategy was part of preparing for the upcoming System event for him to settle down again.

'We intend to practise a far more intensive style of agriculture, at least to begin with, which will not extend very far outside the canopies of the trees,' Melia answered, the other elders deferring to her since this was obviously her domain. 'Since your success in the Challenge, the trees have proven themselves capable of erecting a sort of wall with only short notice. We have determined just how far the trees can create this barrier from their boles and our farmers will not plant past this limit. Only animals which are able to move quickly will be allowed to graze past it.' She fell silent and Ilastir picked up the explanation.

'I will ensure that there are scouts watching at all times. If a group of dungeon beasts are spotted, we will notify the animal herders and then raise the wall as soon as they have entered, protecting the whole town. We only need some way of communicating our predicament to you, as we will need the support of your forces if the beasts are too much for my hunters to manage.'

Dominic nodded slowly. It appeared the elders had used the days since he'd left to good effect.

'Just as well,' grumbled Leo in the back of his mind. 'We can't do all the work here.' Dominic ignored him.

'I will consider what would work best as a signal, but perhaps if you're able to create a fire at some high point?' Dominic suggested. 'At night, that should be easily observable. And maybe in the day, if a fire isn't so easy…a pillar of smoke?' Those signals had worked well enough for humans for centuries, after all.

'We can assign a mage to be ready to create either fire or smoke depending on the time of day,' Alwen answered agreeably. 'But what if you are not looking?'

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

'Well, just like you are planning on assigning scouts, I'll make sure that there's someone watching at all times,' Dominic promised. 'Make sure that all of your people recognise which are my allied beasts, and which are the potential dungeon beasts.' He realised that that could become confusing if the dungeons were using beasts of the same species that were common in the area, like the dungeon he'd gone into had had trodils and warthogs. Obviously, those who were wearing armour would be easily identifiable. 'I will need the help of your crafters to create something which makes them easily differentiable at a glance – maybe more of those spiked collars to help protect their necks as well as being a sign to your people that they're friendly? And maybe if they're dyed an easily visible colour?' He wondered if the elves had invented neon dyes.

Alwen looked at Sylmar who seemed to consider it thoughtfully.

'It will take some time,' he mused, 'but if each piece is not too big, it will be possible to complete those in a few days, especially if our allies can provide some hides and bones for us.' He hesitated for a moment. 'Lord Dominic, do you wish the beasts to be able to remove the collars, much as you can with your armour? If so, it will take significantly more time.'

Dominic considered it. Obviously, that would be ideal, but perhaps such magic should be reserved for the full sets of armour. A spiked collar shouldn't be too complicated for the kesh to help them with.

'No, I don't think that's necessary, though please make them easily removable. Self-repair enchantments would be a good idea, too, if that won't take too long.' Thankfully, Sylmar shook his head.

'It will extend the time, but not significantly – most of the enchantment is done while the hide is drying.'

'Good. Then here are some carcasses to get started with.' So saying, he pulled a few out of his storage space. 'I'll send the first group in, what, a day's time? Accompanied by some beasts you've already encountered, of course.'

'That should be enough time to complete about thirty of the collars if I pull most of my crafters and some of the mages onto the project,' Sylmar agreed. 'After that, perhaps I could signal to you in some way when more are ready?'

'That sounds good,' Dominic acknowledged, then another thought occurred to him. 'In the days since we left, have your crafters managed to complete any more armour?'

'We managed to finish all the armour sets,' Sylmar answered proudly. 'Since the crafters weren't needed to prepare for the ritual, we've dedicated ourselves to this.'

'Great!' Dominic answered enthusiastically. 'We definitely noticed the differences they made in the recent battles.' He noticed the question in the elves' eyes at that, but he didn't feel like getting into it. No doubt Isalia and the other elves who had been with them when they returned to the forest would fill the elders in later. He continued speaking, having had a thought about a good way to signal an attack. 'Actually, do you have any sort of drums? Or horns? Or other types of loud musical instruments which would carry?'

The elders exchanged startled glances, clearly taken aback by his question. Was it that they were surprised he'd know of musical instruments, or because they hadn't thought of it themselves? Or even because they didn't have musical instruments?

His last thought was quickly proven wrong.

'We have a sort of horn which makes a loud sound when blown,' Sylmar ventured cautiously. He made a gesture to an elf not far away. She hurried closer and he quickly instructed her to find a 'malice'. Dominic hoped that it wasn't as unpleasant as the name made it sound.

'Then perhaps, night or day, if there's an attack, and you need support, blow the horn as loudly as you can. Actually, you might as well use both the fire and horn signals, or smoke and horn, depending on the light level. That way, even if the scout doesn't spot your visible signal or there's interference with fog or something, hopefully someone will hear the horn. And perhaps, if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction or we're already engaged in a battle of our own, we might spot the smoke or fire signals even if we haven't heard the horn. And keep repeating the horn every few minutes – or more frequently, if it's urgent. And if it isn't urgent – if you just want to get my attention – then perhaps make short horn noises with time between each of them. And don't use any smoke or fire signal if it's not urgent.'

That might actually work pretty well – the signal to show an attack as well as the length and time between the horn blasts to show how serious it was. And who said old-school was outdated? All it took was the end of the world to bring it back into fashion.

The conversation died for a little after that – the elders seemed to be deeply in thought and not interested in starting another conversation themselves. Since they were waiting for Sylmar's assistant to bring the horn, Dominic decided to use the time to broach another topic, something he'd been planning to do for a while.

'In between attacks, I was hoping that you could help some of my Pride mates.'

'Of course, Lord Dominic,' Alwen answered, sounding startled. 'We are at your service.'

'Then…' Dominic hesitated and then took a deep breath and went for it. 'Would you teach them how to count? And do basic maths?'

'Basic maths,' Alwen repeated blankly. None of the other elders responded and in the back of his mind, Dominic felt Leo's attention sharpen.

'Yes, you know, addition, subtraction, maybe even multiplication and division. I don't know how well they'll do with that. But it's clear that this System requires a better understanding of numbers than they have and I haven't found a moment to teach them and doubt I will anytime soon.'

That earned him a sharp look from all of the elders. Dominic strongly suspected that they were wondering exactly how he had enough of an understanding to recognise the lack of it in his companions. But they didn't ask and Dominic didn't choose to explain either. There would be time for that at a later date if he wanted to.

'I said we were at your service, and I meant it,' Alwen answered slowly after a long moment of silence. 'Teaching your Pride members how to count and do basic arithmetic is well-within what you could ask of us. We can engage some of the children's teachers to accomplish this task. However, I do venture to say that I don't know how they will do so without being able to communicate directly with your people.'

'Don't worry about that,' Dominic dismissed. 'I have a plan.' Telepathy, after all, would be something useful for all of his Pride to learn – and thanks to Pride Enhancement, they should be able to. He might have to learn the Ability from Sekhmet first, though, since his own Telepathy wasn't technically an Ability but an Aspect. Thinking of it, maybe it would be best to give Sekhmet Pride Enhancement – then he could delegate the whole task to her – It would be ironic if he delegated teaching maths to save himself time, but then ended up spending more time teaching everyone Telepathy first.

It wasn't long after that when the elf returned with the horn and Dominic was able to hear that, indeed, the horn was very loud. It was surprisingly melodious for something called a 'malice', but it would do well enough as a signal, he reckoned. If his half-deafened ears were anything to go by, that was – Sekhmet's little group still sheltering under the protective leaves of the forest all complained about its volume too.

After deciding that his toad caltrops would be best served near the elven town where slowing down the oncoming beasts and potentially poisoning them would be most helpful, Dominic spoke to the elves to discover where the limits of their farmland would be and whether they were willing to have the traps at all – seeing that they had grazing beasts had made him wonder if they would prefer not to. In the end, Melia and Ilastir together made the decision to have them, but asked Dominic to indicate where they were with rocks so that the herds-elves could make sure their charges avoided the areas.

Sekhmet and her little band of Pride members accompanied him as he arced around the town and helped him to half-bury the dead toads so that their spikes were hard to see but very much present and to move rocks into place to show where the 'mines' were. How long the poisoning aspect would last now that the toads were dead, Dominic wasn't sure, but having spikes through one's paws or hooves would ruin anyone's day.

With that completed, and the elves all highly busy as they established their new homes, Dominic headed back to the centre with Sekhmet and her group. Remembering his resolution to find out what had happened to the two rogue amesheks, he reached out to the group.

'How do you feel about checking on Sirius and Procyon?'