nanites in a fantasy

Ch. 4 fighting back

Eight years according to their internal clock they had been sitting here for eight years. Now they had not been idle quite the opposite they had been busy expanding, growing adapting, and studying everything they could get their hands on. To the point, their core had even begun to grow slightly. They now had a small swarm of remote controlled slime like nanobot swarms patrolling the forest. Both acting as caretakers and hunting any creature that entered their domain, well not entirely.

About two years in they had discovered that most animals gave off one of two energy signatures a positive or a negative energy signature. The giant wolves, carnivorous rabbits, giant spiky bears, and all things goblins there never seemed to be an end to the goblins. Were all firmly in the negative category and the positively charged ones were closer to your average animals. With a few larger and more mystical variants. After dividing the forest in half and experimenting for a little over a year on hunting one type over the other they had discovered that the positively charged ones improve the environment. On top of that if the energy in the positive zones became high enough his nanobots could run off them without needing to be recharged. Though he was still trying to figure out how that worked the negative energy was similar but to a much lesser degree also it seemed to actively kill off the local vegetation. The strangest part was the two seemed to be drawn to each other actively warring over territory and did not attempt to cohabitate. Wherever positive energy would build up it attracted more positively charged creatures who would generate more of this energy. It would then slowly spread outwards boosting growth to continue to generate more energy. Passively purifying negative energy whereas negative energy would actively hunt positively charged zones to consume. But instead of trying to grow their area of influence, it seemed to be actively removing the positively charged creatures from the zones. Consuming them to grow or multiply, would in turn passively grow their area of influence. So, while the negatively charged ones had numbers on their side the positively charged ones were far more powerful, going for a more quality over quantity approach.

Sam had their slimes actively hunting negative energy signatures. Allowing more positive creatures to take up residence in his forest thus causing a massive balloon in the biosphere. The most curious part was the strange crystals that began to grow not only in and above ground but on trees and inside plants. Even some of the creatures began to grow them though those were few and far between. But a massive deer with crystalline antlers and a spiky bear with crystal spikes and claws roamed their forest.

The cash of coins had long since been eaten away and a massive subterranean complex spread underground throughout the entire forest carving itself ever deeper and further. Well, massive might have been a bit of an exaggeration as except for the main downward shaft of which the main cable ran not one of the tunnels was more than an inch in diameter. Better to be called pipes than anything else regardless they worked for Sam's purpose. The nanobots had spread to almost a dozen trees. The once massive Dead tree was now vibrant and lively once again. Its bark was now marked with silver circuitry patterns it leaves replaced by crystalline solar panels. Among its many branches were several platforms for small aerial drone units to take off and land. These drones scouted for the largest negative energy sources in the surrounding area. Usually, the larger creatures held more resources within them. These drones with airdrop slime's on larger energy sources while the patrolling drones hunted down any smaller creatures.

The forest itself was actually starting to expand new trees sprouting up and growing over what was once barren fields or in terms of the mountains a craggy wasteland. Sam had not yet ventured up the mountains as something powerful slumbered there, its energy was neither positive nor negative but so high it was undoubtedly a powerful life form. This had been attracting negative creatures just like his forest did but since this creature did not bother to defend its home the large swarms of negative had left the mountain of barren bleak and blackened wasteland. Sam did not go further up the mountain than the forest spread just protecting its border. Not wanting to risk an encounter with the massive creatures, it would likely just ignore them as it did with the negative ones but best not to risk it.