Chapter 98: First Watch

~Hmm, I wonder,~ Lucius thought to himself as he stared at the watch division members who were awaiting his attention.

If he had to be honest with himself, he felt more inclined to choose the radiant index over the solar index.

It had proved to be more useful during his fight with the 'furry-folk' and had one vital advantage over the solar index- it could regenerate its energy so long as he was breathing. Whereas the solar index stopped functioning as soon as he was deprived of sunlight.

To add to that, it had a self-healing technique that he could leave on without repercussions apart from mental strain. Whereas he had a limited amount of solar cleanses. Not to mention, that even if he trained his solar crux like crazy, he probably wouldn't be able to cast more than three solar bursts without getting exhausted.

~In an ideal world I would've chosen the radiant index, but realistically I have no choice but to choose the solar index,~ he decided.

A single feature of the solar index overruled any downside it might have.

Photosynthesis.

Lucius didn't want to be reliant on the leaflings for his source of actual power. He was nothing without evolution, and he knew it. By throwing away the solar index, his rate of evolution would be exponentially slower as he was the only one with catalyst absorption. And for all he knew, there might be catalysts out there that give up to 1000% efficiency increases.

The radiant index showed promise, but sadly it was a road he could travel right now.

~It was rather fun using it though,~ he thought running radiant energy through his body one last time.

~Hopefully Alpha will pick this index over the solar index, and I'll get to see the techniques I was unable to achieve,~ he thought, before trying to destroy the vessels.

However his pull on the crux was not enough, it seemed he would require help.

"Ah, Pagan, come here," Lucius called out once Pagan arrived. The watch division members who were waiting decided to genuflect in wait. Perhaps a gesture they had picked up from Pagan.

"What do you need Lighted One?" Pagan, asked genuflecting in front of Lucius as well.

"You don't have to do that, that goes for you guys as well," Lucius said, before explaining to Pagan the circumstances he was in.

"So you need me to help you pull it out?" Pagan asked for clarification. He had shown an aversion to destroying the radiant index after hearing about it but helped anyway as it was his Lighted One's command.

"Indeed," Lucius replied, before closing his eyes, and touching Pagan's head.

The process was painful, to say the least. It felt like every nerve in his body was being incinerated, and then collapsed in on itself. It took about 30 minutes for the crux to finally be set free, and even then there were still residual traces of the radiant vessels.

~Ahh, this doesn't feel as good,~ Lucius thought to himself as solar energy rushed into his body from his crux.

He moved the crux around his head, then -with a hand gesture- made it float out as far as it could go, as if to stretch.

It went just a bit above 2 meters away, meaning that his evolution hadn't affected it much. It seemed that it would only grow with continuous use, and not with continuous evolution.

~I'll start leaving out until it exhausts its reserves,~ he decided. It was much like circulating radiant energy even though he didn't plan on using it.

Though this could prove to be dangerous in the case they were attacked and he required the energy, which was part of the reason he hadn't done it before. But now with Alpha and Hannibal evolved, he could afford to be a little bit careless if it meant a faster growth rate.

"Pagan, keep your crux out when you're inside the camp. If I have a mission for you, then I'll tell you in advance so you can save up energy," he said, after getting accustomed to his solar crux.

"Mission?" Pagan asked. Though he was clearly an important figure within the camp, he had never been sent on a mission before.

"Yes, mission. I called you all here to talk about the future of the camp, and this is going to be one of the major changes," Lucius said, turning to the watch division.

"Keeping you all idle was a mistake on my part, I had assumed that with time you would all grow naturally," he said, before stopping to look towards the direction of the Dark Forest.

"But my recent mission has taught me that it is not an option. I will force you all to become stronger, whether you all like it or not," he continued, realizing that he sort of sounded like a tyrant.

"Each of you will be given a mission every week, and depending on how well you complete it, a rank will be assigned to you," he started, looking at Pagan.

"I know that none of you know what a rank is, but think of it as a role of importance. As some of you are aware, I plan on building a large commune. Soon creatures from other species will join us," he said, imagining what his little settlement would look like in the near future.

"As such, I will require a way to decide who gets priority in certain things. Whether that be food, upgrades relating to the solar crux, or a say in the direction that the commune must be led," he said after some thought.

"Of course, for the watch division, your mission will only be given to you once you have all evolved. But for the work you have done thus far, I am going to hold a naming ceremony," he said, before looking towards a leafling that looked confused.

"Will we all be named?" it asked.

"I've watched your group for long enough. And even though I gave you guys the choice to leave, you decided to continue your duty anyway. So as a reward, you will all be named," he answered.

The leaflings shivered in excitement, perhaps the only one to be able to keep their composure was Alpha's right hand, but even she had a small smirk on her face.

"From this day on, you will no longer be known as the watch division. That's an umbrella term now. From today on you will be known as the first watch, work hard to stay in this position," he said before going back towards the camp.

He had succeeded in doing what he wanted to do. Motivate them. Give them a reason to work harder, and give the others something to strive towards.

Though this whole thing was not in line with the way he wanted things to go, he had no time for leaflings who didn't want to help the commune grow in one way or the other.

There were simply too many threats for the commune to carry dead weight,