More time gradually passed.
Roland and his companions, along with Gallo, each refined their magic, using all of Atrelin as their chessboard in an ongoing battle of capture and the creation of new avatars.
Gallo sensed his avatars suffering constant casualties, but they had also spawned many new offshoots.
In the process, his entire mental network underwent successive upgrades.
Gallo was growing stronger in the unique way he had devised, preparing the ritual for his ascension to a Demigod Lich.
Yet for some reason, despite having more avatars and increasingly powerful nodes supplying the power of faith, the original body he inhabited periodically suffered interruptions in thought and shocks to his mind.
These "malfunctions," like network congestion or even lost connections, occurred with increasing frequency.
This seriously contradicted Gallo's initial predictions, even making him suspect that his experiments had taken the wrong direction.
"Something just feels off..."
He could not quite say what was wrong.
What Gallo did not know was that, inside the magical laboratory in the Atrelin Mage Tower, within "Gallo's World"...
"New actors in position. Deploying 100 custom puppets...
Simulated identities: capture team members, guild members, local nobles..."
One after another, mouse-sized pocket-sized figures-custom puppets bearing Gallo's genetic material and mental imprint...
Under the effects of Feather Fall, they drifted slowly down into the space below.
Shadowlike tentacles reached out from the corners, tightly binding them to individual pillars in an instant.
This room had already been expanded several times, and had even been connected specifically to a demiplane.
The vast space was packed with pillars like these.
A close count would have put their number at roughly ten thousand.
"There are fewer and fewer 'Gallos' appearing outside, but we still can't let our guard down.
With something like this, letting even one escape could allow it