Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity

As the notifications stopped flooding in, Alchemy was engulfed in a flash of light. She felt a set of small pricks in her back, like two needles were being stabbed into her spine. Her eyes changed slightly as well, gaining a barely noticeable golden hue.

As the light faded, her eyes widened as she took several deep breaths. It felt like she was underwater for hours and only now got the chance to breathe.

Taking a few minutes to breathe, she looked at the notifications and let out a slightly annoyed sigh.

"[Nature Manipulation]... So many fancy words for the ability I wanted the least… [Unkindled Divinity], sure. Make it sound so grand."

Starting from Tier 1, every 3rd civilization Tier gave a [Unique] skill. For Magical or Demonic civilizations, they got to pick which ones they wanted. Divine Theocracies, however, got a random one. The catch was that the skill always had some powerful synergy with [Miracle Generation].

Pulling up the sub-skills, Alchemy hummed as she chose which one she wanted.

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"I'm forced to take [Communication]. The rest take too much SP." She frowned.

She wanted to take [Plant Manipulation] as that's what was needed for the synergy, but 1 she didn't have the right subskill for [Miracle Generation], and 2 she wouldn't be able to use or level the skill properly until she was a higher level.

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"Haaah… Master is talking to herself again."

When Alchemy chose her sub-skill, she heard a feminine voice from her side. Alchemy looked at the deer as no one, but she and Sapphire were in the room.

"Did you… Just call me Master?" Alchemy questioned.

Sapphire looked at her, just as confused.

"You understood me? But I thought…"

"Yeah, me too. I told you, didn't I? Get used to this stupid system. It does this a lot. Better question: how did you understand me before I got this skill?" Alchemy shrugged, already pretty used to all the bizarre things that happened to her these past few days.

Thinking about it now, she checked the [Communication] Sub-skill.

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That aside, Sapphire wasn't sure how to process this information. She had already discovered the system's power in a small capacity when she leveled up, feeling several times stronger after a single battle.

"W-what else can this. Sys-tem… Do?" Sapphire asked.

"That's the fun part. I have no idea. Its functions are slightly different from what I remember. For all I know, it could be a parasite eating away at our brains."

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"Eep?!" 

Alchemy's words made Sapphire jump. Between that and the system seeming to get defensive at the claim, Alchemy couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm joking. That aside, though, what's with you calling me "Master"? Also, you didn't answer my first question."

When Sapphire managed to calm herself down, she made a pouty face toward Alchemy.

"Uhm… Well, you were speaking Common, and I managed to pick it up from humans who'd wander into the forest on occasion. And you named me, so that makes you my Master."

Standing up, Alchemy rolled her eyes.

"First, the Verminae call me Mom, and now you call me Master. Whatever, I won't stop you, I suppose. My name is Alchemy, but call me whatever you wish."

"Hmm… Master Alchemy, then?"

"Good enough."

As she turned her back to leave the room, Sapphire let out a terrified scream.

"M-master Alchemy! Your back!"

"What about my ba- OH, What the heck?"

As Alchemy looked at her back, there she saw it in the corner of her vision. Tiny butterfly-like wings tearing through her hoodie.

"That… Explains the prick in my back…" She said, shocked at what she saw.

Part of her was yelling at her for not expecting this when she chose to [Evolve], but every rational part of her brain freaked out with mild panic.

"Okay. Uhm, yeah, alright. No, this is completely normal." She continued speaking to herself.

Oddly enough, she could feel that the wings were attached to her, but she couldn't move them at all, no matter how hard she tried.

Pausing to think about it for a while, Alchemy eventually pushed the thought to the back of her mind. At this rate, she'd never figure it out until she experimented with it.

Finally, she left the room and moved her mind elsewhere, glancing at the throne and remembering the events leading up to her losing consciousness.

"Oh, right! My Third hero token!"

Rushing to her throne, Alchemy finished the mission as quickly as possible.

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"Inquisitive Personality Token? Not bad. Its synergy with an [Insectoid Form] is bad, but it's powerful for such an SP heavy [Gravity Core]."

Overall, Alchemy was delighted with the tokens for her first, or second [Heroic] unit. Getting Sapphire to join her certainly dampened the excitement, but she couldn't imagine anyone else having two heroes this early, especially with such great Synergistic Tokens.

Insectoid was a shame, but because her Verminae faction was insect-based, it was guaranteed, so nothing could be done.

"Aside from that… Let's see here… Unit Gacha is terrible, the Lightning will definitely be useful for whatever my next big battle happens to be, and I can't even use the building Vouchers until I get my [Research Center] up and running. It's quite a mediocre hull."

Confirming the rewards, Alchemy stretched her body before heading out of the hut. Although her body felt powerful from all the levels she gained, she felt stiff and still had some lingering pain from the eagle.

As she walked out, she was unsurprisingly greeted by her Verminae. What was surprising, was the fact that nearly everyone was here.

The three squadrons of Sylvan Carvers were dismantling something. It was a small animal, a rodent of some kind, she imagined, as it looked sort of like a rabbit with three eyes.

2 of the Thornskirmisher Squadrons were just returning with more of those small animals, with the rest of them and the Granitects idling.

{Mother! You've woken up! How are you feeling?!} Numerous voices that appeared in her head asked, immediately disorienting her.

She wasn't used to multiple of them talking to her at once.

"Better. I'm not happy with losing one of you, but if I wallow for too long, it'll only make me lose more of you. Enough about me, how is everything going? How long was I even out for?"

{You were unconscious for just over a day. As you commanded, We have secured plenty of food while avoiding stronger creatures. However, the Sylvan Carvers have focused solely on food processing, so very few resources have been gathered outside the generators. The Granitects have had nothing to do while you've been asleep and, as such, have been idle.}

"You did the correct thing. Good job. That aside, I do have good news."