---
Lirien wiped sweat with the back of her wrist and grinned through soot. "This is a city of iron," she told Kai, happy as a smith at a royal wedding. "I'll feed my fires all night. Give me Shale's slow ones and Shadeclaw's quiet ones as helpers, and by dawn your two thousand will have collars and grips, if not full harness."
"You'll have them," Kai said. He turned to the piles. "Strip the leather and the good cloth first. We'll weave the drones hand wraps so their grips don't slip when they work."
A murmur ran through the ledges — a good sound, hungry and ready.
As the first groups of drones finished their trial feedings, Kai felt a tug in his veins, like heat moving toward him from far away. It wasn't the usual burn of the Essence Eater. It was softer, but steady — clicking up inside him the way a water clock counts drops.
[Ding! System notifications- You gain +4 unallocated stats when your drone ants devour enemies.]
Kai's eyes narrowed. "How?"
