It had passed a week since the encounter with the village and all seemed well. There were few notable moments that happened throughout the week, but they were still notable nonetheless.
First, Darren finally learned, through the eyes of his zerglings in the village, where he was and what situation the current area was in. The general shape of the land had not been made as apparently no cartographer had seen a body of water larger than a lake, so no oceans had been recorded for these people ever. The village was called Counter and it resided in the western end of what was called Aleria, the Human Kingdom.
Aleria was a beautiful place but was made dangerous due to an unprecedented rise in Wildling populations. The Elves, which Darren was still shocked that they actually existed, to the west of the kingdom couldn't help with the Wildlings as apparently there were problems of their own happening in their forests they needed to deal with first. The Dwarves, located in the mountains south of Aleria, had troubles with actual dragons, who once had a lasting friendship with that was abruptly ended. The north held nothing but a hot, sandy desert, abandoned the sentient races, infamous for leading travelers astray to die of dehydration, strange Wildlings sighted by the lucky, or of the bandits that roamed the area. On the east bordered, what was once more grassland and forests, a large snowy tundra empty of life except of the hardiest creatures.
Each of the regions had their benefits like how Aleria had fertile fields for farming, the Elves had large trees for lumber and fantastic animals that could be used for a variety of uses, and the Dwarves excelled at mining for precious ores. The Dwarves also, strangely enough, ventured out into the northern deserts to search for rare materials that couldn't be found anywhere else. The eastern snow lands though were rumored to house a grand civilization that guarded an even greater treasure no one had ever seen. Many expeditions to find the civilization ended in failure as people had no clue of where to start.
The leaders of Aleria, King Indulf and Queen Catherine, had asked for help from the Elves and Dwarves but were regretfully turned away as they had to deal with their own rising problems. Thus, they began to try and find the sources of the Wilding population rises, but to no avail.
While Counter had no such problems as of late, it could change in an instant.
Second, the zerglings, now dubbed Ace and Bandit, had gained the trust of the villagers of Counter. The two had been seen following Angie and her family around often enough that they had essentially become a normal enough sight, even if they were so unnaturally quiet for their size. One of the times that the zerglings endeared themselves to the village was when Angie's family had decided to have a picnic along with some other families outside the village.
Everything had been going well until a Wildling in the shape of a large snake like creature attacked hoping for a quick meal in the form of one of the families. The villagers were unprepared and nearly paid the price for it until Ace and Bandit attacked the snake. Overall, the injuries anyone got were superficial at worst and the two zerglings were praised for their defending.
Third, he learned more about Wildlings themselves. There were two types of animals on the land. Either regular, normal animals like dogs, cats, and birds or there were Wildlings. The Wildlings could be put into five types of threat classification. The first were Beta Wildlings who were about as dangerous as their five normal animal counterparts. Alpha Wildlings were twice as deadly as a Beta and about as twice as large. Omega Wildlings were even worse than an Alpha as they became smarter but were around the same size and coloration. Demi Wildlings were so rare that only three had been confirmed to have existed ever. And then there were Deity Wildlings who were only told in legends of their ferocity and intellect. Any Wildling can usually be found on their own but there were also some that were more inclined to traveling in packs to ensure their survival.
When Darren had learned of such a possible threat he had begun spamming out units to attempt to create a large enough army which brought up the last notable thing of the week.
Darren had expanded his army from a few hundred to nearly about 50,000 in number. It would be a good start to what he could have available in a moment's notice if the worst would happen. There was also base expansion with the creation of the Evolution Chamber and the Nydus Network. He had also made more Hatcheries and Creep Generators to increase his influence.
The Evolution Chamber looked like a large two-story organ with a strange looking spine that curled around the back of the building. He had found an opening that allowed him to get inside and found himself in a sort of living laboratory. After a bit of experimentation with the place, he found that he couldn't access more units or upgrades until the Hatcheries had evolved. The evolution would apparently unlock the DNA needed for better upgrades.
The Nydus Network was about three stories tall and had a giant mouth to send in the units. The strange part was how the mouth seemed to stretch to even bigger sizes somehow without straining itself.
Creep Generators had begun to branch out from the main clearing and into the woods without any interference and the Hatcheries continued to make more units. Creep Generators looked like the sunken colonies from SC1 except there was also an attachment at the top that spewed corrosive acid at threats that were too close. They had the tendril that attacked from underground as well to surprise threats.
Darren decided to check on the progress of the crystal mine that had been established. He had found that the crystals were in fact large energy stores that had somehow crystalized into their current form. He found from the village that it was the force of what they called magic.
Magic was apparently a force on this world that many had exploited for their own gain, all in their own fashion. Humans focused on militaristic was to bend magic, Elves looked for ways to bring life, and the Dwarves used it to bend the stone to their will. There were a whole variety of ways and other applications that magic could be used, but many humans didn't try to create new magic practices as they had short lives compared to the Elves and the Dwarves were content with what they knew. This didn't stop some people, but, there were limitations with having to learn everything that magic could offer and then some.
But back to the crystals, they could be absorbed by the Hatcheries like the minerals from SC which made it easier to acquire energy than having creep improve the environment, though it was a nice bonus. Often referred to as "magi crystals" the crystals were highly coveted by all the races as finding a mine could increase a nation's economy immediately and that magic was in limited supply to the people. Pure magi crystal, like the mine that Darren found, would be refined and then made to sell across the lands for a huge profit. So, incase Darren needed more influence he could always fall back on selling the crystals to a refiner and become a reliable source.
By now with all the collecting from the crystal mine and the creeper-plant symbiosis, Darren had enough energy to evolve to the next level of Zerg. He found a good spot next to the main Hatchery and prepared for whatever would happen and began the evolution. Immediately he was enveloped in a cocoon that filled with an embryonic fluid as he slowly faded from consciousness.