RinoZ
patreon
Chapter 1025 - Wizened Words
🕑 Added 2022-08-05 09:31:45 +0000 UTCAs before, my consciousness fades away before it’s drawn from my body. The dizzying experience of having one's soul sent spinning down the plug-hole isn’t one that I missed, but I’m starting to get used to it.
What does that say about my life?
Eventually, everything falls still and I float, formless in the void. I suppose that means I’ve arrived?
[Indeed. I am interested to see that you have survived yet again.]
Wow. Way to damn me with faint praise. You sound surprised that I survived. I’ve been kicking backside in the Dungeon! I’m taking names up there!
[You continue to surprise me with how well you have adapted,] Gandalf muses. [If all of your fellow introduced souls performed as well as you, progress would be much more swift.]
Progress? Progress to what?
[I don’t believe that is any of your business.] The voice is faintly amused, happy to continue dangling his secrets beyond my grasp.
Fine. Keep your damned secrets to yourself then. I’ve got other things I want to complain about.
[You want to complain?] Gandalf sounds almost surprised, as if nobody had ever done so before.
Of course I do! Diamond Centipedes? I mean… really. DIAMOND CENTIPEDES! Why don’t you just spit in my face, huh? Why not just show up and poke me straight in the eyes? It’d hurt less!
[I believe I’ve explained to you that I am not in direct control of such things. The centipede species has been performing well in the Dungeon and so they are being propagated. Success breeds success.]
Performing well? My family has stomped them into the ground every time we see them! Obviously ants are the superior insect. Something must be direly wrong with the Dungeon if it keeps spitting out those clawed idiots.
[The working will take care of itself, there are no mistakes. The System does not play favourites.]
Could have fooled me….
[I am more interested in discussing your new evolution. You decided to forgo the Larval Deity evolution? An interesting decision.]
I can’t really shrug as a bodiless soul-thing, but I make an attempt.
It wasn’t really my vibe. Besides, there were a few things about it that I didn’t like.
[An evolution like that would surely have been picked up by the powerful Dungeon Seers located around the globe. I doubt you would have survived to reach tier eight.]
… there’s also that, I suppose. Yikes.
[I am pleased you continued down the Path of the Paragon to its conclusion. Though I didn’t expect you to choose the Altar of Self. You have been rather selfless in your actions, generally speaking, to this point.]
I was pretty tempted by the Altar of Many. I can admit that. Perhaps this is a little un-ant of me, but I want to step forward to protect my family from the things out there that want to harm them. The best way for me to do that is to become strong enough to fight off all challengers.
[Even the Ancients?]
Especially the Ancients. Can you believe those bums stuck this stupid Call in me? It’s a literal pain in the backside.
[It’s almost irritating how stubborn they are,] the voice of Gandalf muses, [I ceased taking pleasure in their futile struggles millennia ago. Yet still they persist.]
Struggles? Against what?
[Fate, I suppose you might say.]
Care to… elaborate on that?
[No.]
You really are a stick in the mud. Are you going to let anything slip? It’s not like I get a lot of opportunities to come down and speak to you. In fact, I’m probably running out of chances to engage in this conversation. Pretty soon I expect I’ll run into the wall and won’t evolve much anymore. One or two more times, probably, three tops. After that, you’ll be forever denied the pleasure of my company.
[You know, I may actually miss that. Observing your journey and engaging in these conversations has been a highlight of the recent cycle.]
There. You just throw out words like ‘cycle’ and I have no idea what that refers to.
[I suppose that is no great secret. The Dungeon operates in a cyclical manner, mana surging, new monsters emerging, fighting to see which are the best, then receding and slowing before starting again.]
So then I assume we are currently in a surging part of the cycle?
[Correct. Mana levels are rising and will continue to do so. New species will be injected into the Dungeon and refined. You may even see more ants start to pop up, considering your own success.]
Good! Ants are the superior insect after all…. Except that ants are often each other’s worst enemy. Wars between ant colonies are horrific, bloody conflicts with death and destruction on both sides. Some ants' primary food source is other ants!
That might be bad.
Eh, we annihilated the termites. If some fancy ants want to challenge my family, they’ll be put right back in their place.
[I’m sure there will be no shortage of challenges in the coming months and years,] chuckles Gandalf. [Turbulent times are coming for all who live on this world. The only way to be truly safe is to rise above it all so that none can challenge you.]
That’s what everyone says. Is the endless pursuit of greater power really the only thing that anyone is interested in on this planet!?
[Are you not interested in it?]
Only because I need it to protect what I love from idiots who seem determined to be dumb at all turns! Why can’t people just chill out?
[Will the Colony allow them that freedom? Or will they too seek to push until others begin to push back?]
I see what you did there. My family is different. We haven’t started a war of aggression, not even once.
[That is true. So far. Now our time together has come to a close, I believe. Try to stay alive, and I will see you again. Who knows, I may even share a secret with you if you make it back.]
Somehow I doubt it….
Comments
Pastor Joubert
But isn’t the colony busting cities on the first? And they literally have a ongoing campaign of conquest in the third…
David Burchfield
Yet...
Greyg
Granin knew he would need to call in all the cults for protection he simply didn’t say exactly why he was also thinking greedily not knowing the full picture not every day you get golden silk diamonds and godly tier flesh but yeah it was a trap without enough bait
Louis Cypher
It’s as expected then. Larval deity is a complete death trap considering the existence of seers, which Granin conveniently left out lmao. But the completion of the Paragon series of evolutions is likely to lead to a better outcome in Tier 8 I feel.
Nathan Quitugua
No... our MC and Co aren't a bunch of DnD murder hobos
Runaway_Cactuar
I think the Golgari noted that ants typically never make it past tier 1, so I presumed there's no such thing as a 5th stratum ant.
David Burchfield
I actually searched for black Jack ants and striper ants since I had never heard of either before... then I got it.
crusaderstar
We are now down in the weeds of definitions but it's the internet so away we go. Seems to me there's two places to get a definition of 'war of aggression', one is colloquial meaning and the other is Earth international law. Anthony being a teenager whose scholarly energies were I think focused entirely on insects, is probably just using it colloquially, and in that meaning I think attacking folks who've never heard of the Colony, aka Rylleh and the demon cities, is an aggressive act. It was wise and greatly improved the Colony's position defensively! Still aggression. But I looked up Earth international law because what the hell, and apparently 'war of aggression' is a specific international crime, which I didn't know, and yes self defence is sufficient justification for a war to not be said crime. However! On Earth at least preventative and preemptive claims of self defence when launching wars aren't accepted. Aka also the conquest of Rylleh and random demon cities. Active provocation is required, which I don't think either did? But of course this is on Pangera and not Earth, there is no international tribunal, there is only the Colony! Go forth and conquer!
Brandon14754
A war of aggression is literally defined as a military conflict without the justification of self defense. Rylleh and the demons were both for self defense, to protect themselves from the surrounding empires. If all it took was the citizens of a one side to feel aggressed then every war would be a war of aggression and there'd be no point in the distinction.
crusaderstar
I appreciate all of your responses, but I am also confused, generally folk are equating war of aggression with evil / unjustified and bringing ethics into the definition, as opposed to an unprovoked war. The colony had enough justification for themselves to move, but no matter how it turned out for them I am sure the people of Rylleh and all the demon cities felt rather aggressed upon, and they themselves did nothing to provoke a war. That's a war of aggression by my lights. I'm not criticizing the colony for that, btw, this is a silly story about a monster ant colony, so as long as my precious MC and co aren't torturing randos or eating babies the ethics don't really matter to me. The reason I commented was because while it seems normal that Anthony would maintain that claim of no aggression to Gandalf, it's a bit strange that Gandalf just goes along with it when usually he likes to poke at Anthony.
kalada William-jumbo
Or maybe one of the many queens wants to start her own sister colony but with black jack and strippers
Anthony Romanov
Monsters need to fight and eat other Monsters to evolve primarily the demons. It doesn't matter to demons who rules them as long as they are allowed to follow the Ambitions and ants direct demons' ambitions without blocking them. Demons get safety of the cities that ants rule unless they want to battle in arenas or on battlefield. Rylleh had vital backdoor to the Colony, the Gate. And ants didn't know how to interrupt them remotely and only way was to dismantle it. Which left Rylleh without food supply and Colony already had human village to supply food for Rylleh. So they stayed to maintain public order and take care of Humans.
Nathan Quitugua
Rylleh was an unfortunate bystander caught in the crossfire between the Golgari and the Colony. They also kept loss of life to an absolute minimum where they could and then proceeded to take care of the population because they took away their lifeline, the gate. They could've just stormed over everything and dismantled the gate but they opted for an almost no kill strategy that would put their lives at risk, they also could've just left the city to die naturally after taking the gate. Instead, you have recruits from Rylleh that have joined the ant garrisons. The Demons on the other hand...is a little more iffy. They scedchule wars for one so it could be seen as just another culture indulging in another and abiding by their ways. Even after they took over, they took the demons in and gave them an outlet for all that instinct. Besides the population literally starts out as a mass of living fauna crawling on the ground in a constant struggle for survival.
Nathan Quitugua
Uber Eats for the ancients...
Void
I think Rylleh doesn't quite count is because they possessed an entry point for the Abyssal Legion in the form of their fortress. As for the Demons, they probably don't count is because they are monsters, and by nature of the dungeon peace is generally not possible. Unless the colony is administrating things.
Codered999
Neither of those were wars of aggression. They did the first for resources and convenience, not for hatred or revenge. The second is just the culture of the third strata and ultimately unavoidable as the demons were going to challenge them anyway so the Colony might as well make the most of it.
crusaderstar
Also they definitely started wars of aggression, 1) conquering rylleh and 2) massive demon conquest campaign?
Jeroen vam de werdt
Aaaaah sorry hahaha my mistake
Brandon14754
They might see the cults as a food delivery service.
Greyg
Now i want a side story of a newly spawned queen of a separate species of ant could see it being captured by the sophos bringing us a reintroduction of that lost empire when they reach out to the ants/Anthony maybe
Orangerazor120
Always enjoy these Gandalf chapters, shame we won't see much of them in the future since evolutions get reaaaallly difficult. I think it's likely the Ancients are great monsters from a previous cycle trying to stay relevant (since I assume evolving as an Ancient is pretty difficult lest they want to kill each other), the call could just be a lure to try and get monsters to grow to a powerful enough state so the Ancients can consume them
Rahsheem Reid
I’m really scared of some death ants from the 5th or some crazy form of ants from the 6th
Rahsheem Reid
I wana drop a gravity bomb on Gandalfs head. Always so vague.
Brandon14754
Welp, that ended way too quick. Well see you again in a few hundred chapters :(, may your beard be ever bushy
Khanalas
It's the other way around, the previous chapter should be 1024
Centuri
Incorrect! Gandalf the wise old wizard that he is would NEVER make the mistake that YOU’VE pointed out. Instead he made the mistake a tad we bit earlier in the chapter titles.
Centuri
Gandalf, care to explain yourself a bit more please, y’know FOR THE COLONY!
Jeroen vam de werdt
As always amazing how this story is build. You might want to check the title. I think you meant ch. 1024 instead of 1025
