Tower of Heaven

A conversation took place between two Neurics in a small cave connected to the main cavern. Their language was primitive and sounded like chirps and growls, but Atlas was able to understand them perfectly.

"Jok. Cannot work."

"Must work. Behind rock, treasure."

"Jok, no treasure. Only rock."

"No. Treasure here. Must work."

As could be seen from the small interaction, Neurics weren\'t a lazy race. They were obsessed with rare metals and had a natural instinct to tinker. When they were doing anything related to those two topics, they were the hardest workers one could find.

The only problem was that the work they did wasn\'t nearly as efficient as it needed to be.

They did not know how to use tools yet. Their only tools were rocks that had been sharpened to their needs. Their creations were limited to small and useless things, which was why they could never leave the hidden cavern they inhabited.

\'All of these tunnels were dug by them. It\'s impressive by design, but it is even more impressive where each and every tunnel stops.\'

Atlas didn\'t know how they developed these kinds of instincts, but they stopped tunneling right before they reached the borders of other beast territories. They stayed within their small area and didn\'t even look at others, which kept them alive.

\'In the end, they are cowards. They are weak, and they do not have intelligence. Even if all of these problems are fixed, I do not know if they\'ll be able to survive in sunlight after living underground for so long.\'

There was quite a lot to do.

\'Then again, I have ten thousand years.\'

They were simulated years. If Atlas wanted to, he could control the flow of time to be as slow or fast as he wanted. In fact, he could even end his ten thousand year period now and keep these undeveloped Neurics as his final army.

\'However, I would be an idiot to do that.\'

Atlas kept himself away from the time controls. He needed to make the most of every single year that he could.

\'Currently, there are one hundred of them exactly. They live independently, but there are signs of a society developing. This is a perfect starting point.\'

Beings with such low intelligence could not create the existence of a God on their own. He had to introduce himself to them through divine intervention and build their faith.

\'To do so, I must find a Saint or Saintess.\'

One Neuric who would act as his voice on earth, an apostle of sorts. He had to pick out the one with the most grit, and more importantly…

\'...I have to find the spark of intelligence.\'

It had to exist. Neurics lived somewhat similarly to humans by building houses and mines that functioned very similarly. They were undeveloped, sure, but the potential was still there.

The one called Rok was a fool who wanted to keep working regardless of the state of his body. Someone like him was not fit to be a Saint, but he would be perfect for a hero.

\'Keep acting the way you do, and you will become someone great soon enough.\'

However, first, he had to direct his attention elsewhere.

Atlas spent the next week observing the Neurics as they lived their lives normally. That amount of time gave him more than enough freedom to watch any candidate for as long as he needed to before confirming or denying their worthiness.

By the end of the week, he\'d narrowed it down to three.

\'There is Uk, a male Neuric with stalwart qualities. Ye is also a male Neuric with a rebellious personality that would lead them to grow fast, and the final one, Yin, is a female Neuric that seems to be the rallying point of this society.\'

Uk and Ye were great candidates for leadership positions, but rather than Saints, they were better as generals. Their personalities were completely opposite to each other, but their goals were the same.

Unlike the other Neurics, they had visions of the world beyond their cavern.

Yin wasn\'t anything like that. She was quiet and calm and didn\'t have much of a presence.

\'However, she has somehow managed to become this village\'s anchor. She has a strong power of connection that affects the rest of her people, and that makes her the perfect Saintess candidate.\'

At the end of his week of observation, Atlas left the clouds and placed his perspective within the cavern. He appeared as an illusionary being who could walk and talk, but he could not be perceived by those around him.

Luckily, that didn\'t matter to his current goals.

In the middle of the large cavern, where the main Neuric village was, Yin sat in front of her home and tinkered as a Neuric did. She seemed to be building some sort of dreamcatcher out of threads she\'d been provided by the village\'s warriors.

Krr…

She hummed to herself words that had no real meaning when translated into other languages. She was merely speaking to herself, enjoying the scenery and tinkering.

Tap!

She ignored the sound because she didn\'t think it was anything of note.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

However, the noise soon became so frequent that she was unable to ignore it.

She put down her dreamcatcher and stood up angrily, looking around.

Yet, there was no one around her. She only understood where the tapping came from when she looked at the ground.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sound continued, and as she watched, the ground around her changed. A picture was drawn there of something she knew well.

"Fire!"

She gasped, stepping back. When the symbol of fire was finished being drawn, a line was formed connecting it to something that looked like a triangle with only two sides. Explore new worlds at empire

"That. Fire?"

She knelt down and touched the coarse gravel, drawing the symbol herself.

"This! Fire!"

Even Atlas was surprised by how fast she understood what he was trying to do. He did not have to prompt her or give her more clues. It was a bit troublesome that she didn\'t question where the knowledge was coming from, but that would come in due time.

Yin was already absorbed in the symbol Atlas had drawn. And, through it, she gained insight into the first step of Atlas\' plan.

Written language, a way to communicate intent without having to speak. This way, they would be able to increase their efficiency while improving their mental capabilities.

Proving rapidly that she was the correct choice for this tribe\'s Saintess, Yin put herself to work. She started to draw her own symbols, depicting rock, metal, treasure, and most importantly, Neurics.

She created a means to give their species identity, and within only some days, it was already spreading.

More Neurics made their own symbols for things they cared about. These symbols were associated with words they knew, and in time, they started to create new words entirely.

And, Yin became the center of it all. She became the highest authority as she was the first creator of language. Under her facilitation, their dictionary was able to grow at a swift pace.

As more words were created, as the language was bolstered, Yin and the other Neurics started to become slightly smarter.

For Yin specifically, she was just intelligent enough to ask an important question that Atlas had been waiting for.

"Who?"

Who was the one who showed her the very first symbol?