Setting up the explosives was easy.

What was difficult was putting them in a place where whatever creature would burst out would be bombarded by explosives.

There were no signs of the creature on my scanners so I had to rely on my combat algorithms to predict the most likely places for an unknown creature would pop out.

While I had tons of explosives most were not going to be used for this trap.

The reason being that if I detonated them so close to us while we would survive there is a great chance we would be crippled with our limbs being blown off.

..

It took some time to place the explosives in the optimal place but I had enough time.

The creature was taking its sweet time to break out.

While at first it was nerve racking how there would be occasional booms in the background it seems that whatever had sealed it in here did a good job.

Not only was there a seal, the actual material holding it in was enough to hold it in for a considerable amount of time.

*BOOOM* *BOOOM*

The booms only got closer until a final one broke through the floor and we could finally see what it was.

What left the fracture wasn't a creature like Tama and I thought it was but several hundred thousands of spirits.

Some were corporal enough that we might have been able to touch them but others were completely incorporable.

They were madly dashing towards the exit. Hundreds of them were able to leave before I could regain my wits and yell at Tama to run for it.

We both dashed for the entrance of the cave.

While we were running I was setting explosives around because it seemed like the spirits could not go through whatever material the cave was made out of.

Once we got far enough out of the cave I detonated the explosives

The sound was deafening.. for Tama at least I had activated my sound canceling earplugs before I had detonated the explosives.

"Let's head back," I told Tama.

"Ok" Tama agreed.

..

Me and Aoif were both just making small chat waiting for the news from our subordinates when a huge explosion happened off in the distance.

Followed by an announcement being shown to both our visions.

[Pandora's box has been unsealed, a gathering of spirits have congregated upon a certain sub realm all lords with a territory of tier 8 or higher will be given the blueprints to a teleportation device linked to the sub realm]

"Do you think.. it couldn't have been a coincidence right?" I asked Aoif with astonishment on my face.

"Chances are it was not a coincidence," Aoif replies with a grimace appearing on her face.

While both Aoif and I knew that they were strong and could make it back, we didn't know if they had injuries or not. The explosion was big enough that if they were hit they would be injured but we couldn't know for sure not having seen the full extent of their combat abilities and defenses. Chances were that they were unscathed knowing their high tier but on the off chance they were injured we had no medical facilities to heal them.

"Have you upgraded your territory to tier 8 yet?" Aoif asks, breaking our silence and trying to change the subject.

"Not yet I haven't actually gotten around to it yet, not with everything going on recently,"

"Do you have the materials, you should upgrade your territory to tier 8 now so that you can construct that teleportation device"

"I will, now in fact" I respond before pulling up the house menu.

Upgrading the house was simple. All I was lacking was a bronze tier core which I had recently gathered in bulk so it was no detriment to my stock to upgrade my territory now.

..

[Crowns house]historical

[Tier/Level: 8/1]

Upgrading to tier 8 was a simple affair; there were no major changes to the inside or out; the only noticeable change was that the house was heated.

The actual big change was in my status

[Congratulations for unlocking a skill, please check your status.]

[Name: Darwin]

[Territory tier/level: 8/1]

[Personal strength: Tier 9/1]

[Skills: Dream*]

[Dream: Allows the user to view the lives of his subordinates through dreams. Only subordinates with absolute loyalty can be viewed]

[Talent: Evolution*]

[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]

[Warehouse: ..]

A personal strength tab was added to my status.

"You feel it don't you" Aoif inquired

"Yes, I do" I respond

What Aoif was referencing was the small trickle of Aether that had appeared in my core.

Just with that I felt as if I could lift 50 more pounds than I previously could, it was an intoxicating growth of strength.

"Does it grow with our territory?" I question Aoif.

"Unfortunately not, I have upgraded my territory several more times after the upgrade to tier 8 but no growth, my strength sits stagnant at tier 9 level 9."

"Have you tried asking Delta about this?"

"Yes, however her answers were vague, practice is the only thing I got out of her."

I pull out the blueprint to change the subject to something more productive than speculation. I figure that we can question Tama and Delta further about their growth in strength and how we could replicate that.

[One way teleportation gate]

[green bronze or higher tier aether core, 10 units of raw iron, 10 units of raw copper]

"This is difficult there is no way to build this at the moment"

"Agreed" Aoif responds "We have none of the resources to build this except the green bronze tier core from the Gaul queens."

"I can get us higher tiers of cores but the ores will have to wait. I have sent Ali, an alicanto, to find ore veins but even then it will take at least a couple of days to procure the resources assuming she even finds the right veins."