R47, R50, and the blue Eye, now a swirling blue and red, who introduced itself as R01 had formed a non-aggression pact with each other, which gave them a notification.

  [Would you like to form a lesser faction with entities: R50, R01?]

  R47 looked at the other Eyes and projected: did you also get an offer to ‘form a lesser faction’?

  R50 & R01 affirmed they did with an iris nod.

  R01 flapped to be slightly higher than the others Eyes to grab their attention. I believe we should do it.

  Why? R47 asked, flapping slightly higher while speaking then falling back down when it was done. R50 gave a general feeling of agreement with R47’s question.

  I feel good about this.

  The other Eyes thought about it. Why not? Can sense this not danger. R50 said. And it was true; just like any system message R47 could get a general feeling of what the message meant beyond the words on the screen. By accepting the offer, nothing harmful would directly come from it.

  Agreed.

  Yeah.

  [Who would you like to be the owner of this lesser faction?]

  Pick me. R01 said, flying slightly higher again.

  R47 and R50 looked up at R01 and almost perfectly in sync asked why?

  Do you want lead- I mean to lead? R01 asked R50

  R50 flapped for a second, then said No. I not know what I want. But to lead isn’t it.

  And you? R01 looked at R47.

  R47 thought. It wanted gifts, both those it takes, and those its allies give it. Being the leader might lead to more gifts from allies, but R47 would probably get almost no gift it takes from foes. Additionally leading just sounded annoying, R47 already knew while it liked being around R50 it would likely want to not be around it constantly for much longer.

  No, you can lead.

  [Would you like to nominate individual R01 as the leader of this unnamed faction?]

  Yes.

  [The leader is naming the lesser faction…]

  [Name chosen; faction, Alliance, made.]

  *

  R01 claimed to have some type of future sight, and said that all the Demon Eyes needed to group together. R47 was sent towards the sunrise. R50 was sent left of the sunrise. R01 went right of the sunset. The Eye’s goal was pretty simple; find weak Eyes to join the Alliance. R01 warned that strong Eyes might see the Alliance as a neat pile of XP just waiting to be gained. For this reason, R47 started off by observing the Eyes in its sector.

  There were eight Eyes doing the following: two were in a torporic state; another two seemed to be allies and taking turns in a torporic state; three seemed to be staring down each other, waiting for another to move; and one with a purple iris was quietly using its clawed Venom Speaker wings to drag itself towards one the unguarded torporic Eyes, its complexion nearly perfectly merging into the waving purple grass.

  R47 decided it was best to kill the purple Venom Speaker winged Eye; it was obviously not going to be a good ally, and most likely would become quite strong if left to grow. R47 quickly dashed at the purple Eye and shot out a sticky fireball, using silk mana to infuse the fireball.

  [You’ve slain foe: Demon Eye R20 level 2. Experience earned.]

  [Skill [Fire Eye 1] has leveled up once.]

  While R47 thought the sudden discharge of mana, heat, and psychic screams of the immolated Eye was quite pleasant and a perfect symphony to sleep to, the other Eyes seemed to disagree as it woke all three torporic Eyes. The brown one, that the now dead Eye was going for, frantically flapped away from the burning pile of scraps less than two full wing spans away from it. The three Eyes in a stand off, shot at each other. After a couple seconds only one was alive. The two Eyes who were allied stared at R47 concernedly.

  R47 connected to all of the other five’s minds. We are stronger together, ally with me. The Eyes just stared at R47.

  The grey one who survived the brawl spoke. Wouldn’t we grow stronger alone? You: strong, you: alone.

  I am far from alone, I have allies. Strong allies. R47 responded.

  The Eyes seemed to dilate at the realization of more–scary Eyes one let slip through the mental connections.

  R47 stared down the Eye that spoke and said we’re no threat to allies.

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  The Eye shied away. The other Eyes seemed dissatisfied with R47’s response. The grey Eye, who seemed to be the most coherent and self designated negotiator for the group Eyes, spoke. You want allies through threats?

  R47 looked at the grey Eye. I not threat…yet.

  The grey Eye stared at R47. …that was a threat.

  R47 paused and thought. It knew it was right so said so. Not threat—statement of fact.

  The grey Eye rolled its eye and flew away. R47 thought about attacking the Eye but it didn't seem like the grey Eye had any ill will against the alliance, it just wasn’t interested. The remaining four Eyes looked at each other.

  One tentatively asked: if ally, what we gain?

  R47 jovially snapped its attention away from the retreating Eye to answer. The Eye which asked the question shied away in fear. Knowledge; we know how to gain power. You don’t. Safety; it’s harder to slay three-threes than one-ones. A goal; we are born lacking a direction. Leader gift us direction.

  **

  While R47 and the other four Eyes discussed further, R50 was having a completely different experience trying to gain more allies.

  Small One: want: me: join: All-I-ants? The biggest demon Eye, nearly the size of the egg R50 was born in, R50 had ever seen was flapping in a clearing devoid of any other Eyes. Well there were other Eyes, or more specifically their corpses. The purple grass was shining under the sun, which glared upon fifteen or so small piles of crystalline shards with a pair of wings poking out of most of them. The massive Eye had the wings of a sky dragon and a swirling white and grey iris.

  Yes. Will you? R50 replied.

  The eye stared at R50. Why: should: I: join: All-I-ants? Every word the massive eye said felt heavy, it felt similar to the difference between R01 ‘soft’ voice and R47 ‘loud’ voice. But this massive Eye’s voice was five times ‘louder.’

  Safety and peace. Small Ones not annor–annoy you.

  Why: I: care? If: I: strong: Small Ones: fear: me; Small Ones: leave: me: alone. Its words weren’t just heavy like an avalanche that could crush you but heavy like a storm rolling in, leaving nothing but furrowed soil and the corpses of those who oppose its will in its wake.

  Danger app-roaches, we strong together.

  I: strong: alone. I: stop: danger. The massive Eye stared at R50 as if it thought R50 was trying to trick it.

  You stronger with us.

  Insult: me? You: weak. I: strong. How: you: make: me: strong: when: you: weak? R50 could see sparks as the big Eye started to use a skill.

  If not ally, friend?

  [Would you like to sign a non-aggression pact for Alliance with entity: R16?]

  Why: should: I? The sparking died down a bit.

  I will grow. My allies will grow. You too strong, not grow from slaying me. We will grow to your strength. Ally with us, good future; no cost to you. Not ally with us, less good future; cost you energy. R50 felt slightly tired from the mana and mental cost of its prolonged speech and eloquence.

  The great Eye stared at R50, mulling over its words before the weight of danger on R50 wings lessened. Me: lose: not; your offer: valid.

  [You’ve signed a mutual non-aggression pact for Alliance with entity: R16. Don’t take aggressive actions towards it, or face consequences.]

  **

  R01, by far, had the easiest time among the three founding Eyes; its section had ten weak friendly Eyes, six of which had already allied themselves with at least one other. Four of the Eyes had even already formed a faction. It took R01 only a couple words to convince the Eyes that had already allied themselves with one another to join the Alliance and then they convinced the others to join.

  [You have offered to merge lesser faction, Pact, into lesser faction, Alliance. Pact’s leader choosing…]

  [Pact’s leader has chosen to accept your offer.]

  [You have peacefully taken over a faction approximately equal to your faction; Achievement earned.]

  [Pacifist 1: 10% increase to stats, skills, and traits effects, lost upon killing another sentient.]

  R01 looked at the achievement it just got—it wasn’t expecting the achievement. It was obviously powerful; but even so, R01 didn’t have another way of gaining experience and growing stronger beyond that of killing. As if to mock that thought, a screen popped in front of R01.

  [You fulfilled your duty as leader; you’re offered a Class.]

  R01 stared at the class in shock. The boons were truly insane. Bonus experience stats and skills. The curses only really meant that R01 would need to keep being a leader or face consequences, which it was already planning to do. While [Weighted] might seem awful especially if R01 were to choose to be a pacifist, [Knowledge] basically doubled the effect of each level.

  Yes.

  [Duty fulfilled, experience granted.]

  [Threshold met: leveling up. Level 2 -> 3. Free stat points available. Class stats distributed.]

  R01 proceeded to guide its new recruits to where the Alliance was formed while choosing its free stats.

  Once it got there, R01 directed the new Eyes with structure-like skills, similar to R50’s, to start building the Alliance's home base and leading the others to clean up the floor and make torpor chambers by ripping out some grass and pile it into a soft pile for comfortable resting.

  *

  [Duty fulfilled, experience granted.]

  R01 looked at the notification and then the returning R47 with four other eyes and thought maybe this will be easier than I thought. It started to rain.