Chapter 25: Chapter 24: Ability Showcase

So…I didn’t really see one location that’s better than the rest, how about you?

“No, me neither.” Rose replied. “For now, how about we just like…carve out a few holes in the ground, coat them in modeling wax, and then keep them there? You said this is a university, right? There are probably books on this sort of thing if we look hard enough.”

Actually…there’s probably at least the skeleton of a farm somewhere on campus. Lia mused. Near the science buildings, perhaps?

“Really? Why? It seems kind of a weird thing for a place of learning to have.”

Things have changed a bit since you were alive. Lia explained. Correct me if I am wrong, but most scientific advancements were made in people’s homes, not in laboratories, right?

“Laboratories?”

Ah. Um…how do I put this…well, thanks in no small part to your wishes, we made a lot of progress in science these past five hundred years. A laboratory is like…a dedicated space for scientists and magicians to practice their craft, and to store any dedicated instruments or other materials.

“I think I’m following so far. What does this have to do with rat farms?”

Well, rats happen to be excellent for use in testing. They breed incredibly quickly, they don’t have souls, and they’re mobile and as mammals they’re at least…partially related to most humanoids.

“Mammal?”

Oh, right. We’ll…well, honestly it might be best if we get you a bunch of textbooks later. They’re going to be pretty dry, but…they should be able to fill in the gaps of your knowledge. For now, just know that any humanoid that gives live birth is usually a mammal, and that mammals are all related in a sort of…distant way.

“I’m not sure I understand, but I’ll trust you on that. And please, do give me any textbooks you find, I’m quite curious to see what new knowledge has been gained since I was last…alive.”

Right. So, the point is, rats react to a lot of chemicals and medicines the same way people do. We use them to test how people might react to certain things, so it’s handy to have a stock of them on hand at all times. So, if we can find that infrastructure, we can both use that as reference and as a start for our own farm.

“Shall we make that our first target, then?”

I think we should. My guess is the farm will be somewhere near the science buildings, I can point those out to you later. We can occupy those, and then work our way towards having some accommodations that are more…livable.

“Got it. Shall I begin preparation to invade?”

Lia shook her head. No. You go familiarize yourself with your new form and abilities. I’m going to go oversee construction of a few pits to put some rats in for now, and we can worry about invading once our army gets back. I’ll be near the middle of camp if you need me, and please come get me once you think you’ve got a hang of everything, I’m excited to see how it works!

Lia jumped off of Rose’s shoulder, and sped off towards the a spot just outside the center of the camp. From there, she gathered some burrowers and drones and set them to excavating a series of pits, which were then coated in modeling wax to discourage burrowing. She decided to only make four for the time being, one for males, one for pregnant females, one for non-pregnant females and children, and one for breeding.

In the future, she’d want more, a lot more, but right now she wanted something that would be relatively easy to move into a more proper setup. These would, hopefully, only be in use for a day or two, so it wasn’t like she was going to need that much room anyway.

A note dropped to the ground in front of her. Hey, looks like you’re ready for some rats. It read. I’m going to drop…let’s say eight females and two males into those pits. I’ll put them in their proper places, of course, don’t worry about that. Just nod if you’re ready.

-Amelia

P.S. I started setting up a farm of my own, and yes, there is a farm on campus. It’s deep in the biology building and is probably a little small for your purposes, but you can expand it pretty easily. Good luck!

Lia gave a nod, and squeaking filled the air as rats unceremoniously appeared in the pits she had made. Now she just needed to figure out how she was going to transport the things between pits, and everything would be operational.

After a moment’s thought, she decided that was what her drones were for. Hopefully some time in the future she would be able to make some sort of “rancher”, but until that time came the drones would just have to do things this way.

She called a few drones over, and had them take one male and four females and put them together in the breeding pit. Now…she just had to wait for them to do their work. She could probably use some sort of mental magic to get them going faster, but that…would probably have side effects that she wasn’t ready to deal with, and might not even work properly, so she decided it was best to just let nature take its course.

She had some time still, so she made her way to the direct center of the camp, where she had had the food dispenser placed. Once there, she called over another drone and had the dispenser make some feed for the rats. It wasn’t anything fancy, just some scraps of bread, but she figured that was…probably enough for now. She didn’t know what exactly rats ate, but she was pretty sure they ate like…everything, so she doubted a day or two of bread would kill them.

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She had the drone take the feed to the rats, then began to order a variety of preserved goods. She didn’t want the food itself, but she needed to get jars made and cleaned out, so, until something more interesting happened, she resolved herself to doing just that.

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“Lia, I believe I have a good enough grasp of my abilities to show them off.” Rose said, crouching down so she was closer to Lia.

Got it. Lia replied. Give me a second to get on this stall counter so I have a better view.

“Allow me.” Rose said, gently picking Lia up and placing her on the counter. “What would you like to know about first?”

Let’s save the magic for last, I want to know about other stuff you can do with your body, like the photosynthesis or leaf thing.

“Of course.” Rose said. “First off, have you looked at my status yet?”

I have not. May I?

“You really don’t need to ask.” Rose giggled. “Take this as complete consent to peeking whenever you want in the future.”

Alright, alright. Lia replied. Give me a second, then. She pulled up Rose’s status, and began to read it through.

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