Nanites in a fantasy

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 creatures 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.

Down the valley and through the field there was a massive lake, something slumbered there as well but Sam had plans for that one. Flowing water was hard for his nanobots to function in, so they had to get creative. His bots dropped rocks into the river to build an improvised dam along with some pipes to redirect the water. And they had been able to dry out the riverbed enough he could begin construction on a proper dam. Which would allow him to redirect the water flow away from the lake as well as giving them a massive power source when he could open the flood gates back up. Currently, the water of the river is being dumped into the underground aquifer on the opposite side of the forest. The aquifer had been drained in the past few years for some unknown reason and was teetering on the edge of collapse. After reinforcing the aquifer, making use of it for future underground construction was tempting. Though for the time being they would just dump the water from the river into it so he could build his dam.

Once he had let the lake dry up and they had ran that creature out of its home he would begin to set up shop there. Even though water wasn't exactly the safest space for his nanobots. They had already begun researching aquatic adaptations. The lake while inconvenient was one of the ideal spots for larger scale construction. Currently any large scale construction either had to be done above ground by a group of nanobot slimes or done underground and then later excavated. Neither method was nearly as useful as they would have liked. They would have liked to have large scale surface based construction without having to clear large swaths of territory. In all honesty, it was more because they were afraid if they started building large structures in the middle of fields or whatever. That eventually something intelligent would find them. They had yet to run into whatever had buried the chest yet, but his drones had spotted from a distance caravans of humanoids and beasts of all shapes and descriptions. But none had bothered coming towards the forest, so Sam was happy enough to leave them be.

Now in truth, they knew eventually they'd have to bite the bullet but whether they tried to keep hidden or try to interact with them had yet to be decided.

However, it wasn't long before that decision was made for them. What they had at first just assumed was three more of the humanoid creatures started to venture into the forest. However, they were quickly made aware that these were not the same as the ones they had seen previously. These strange creatures they would later come to know to be undead gave off a variant of the negative energy signature and were likewise attracted by the positive creatures. In order to protect the forest, they quickly joined Sam and their nanobot slimes. Though Sam slimes proved far more effective than the local fauna. When the undead died, they didn't necessarily stay dead when one died two or three would begin to make their way over to their falling comrade only for it to seemingly feed off of their energy before getting back up. The process in truth could be done by one undead but it was far slower. The larger their numbers the faster they’d get back up. The scary part was an entire squad could be taken out only for a random straggler to show up a few hours later and begin to revive the entire squad. Even if they didn’t manage to revive but a few before the fauna showed up to fight them off again their energy didn't fade so long as the body was intact. So whenever enough of them died in one place eventually the energy would coalesce in the most intact body, and it would get back up and start the process all over again.

Thankfully the only reason Sam knew this would happen was because they had let a small section of the forest go unprotected and uncleansed by their slimes temporarily as an experiment. They could easily see how these creatures could snowball. Especially since they never stopped showing up, it was just a trickle, the largest group of which had only been five or six at a time, but if left unchecked they could multiply dramatically. There was no doubt in their mind that they would eventually kill the local fauna and inevitably add them to their ranks.

Sam didn't have to wait too long to be proven right, as less than a week later a pack of undead wolves found their way into their forest. These things had been a pack of negatively charged creatures that they had been hunting just outside Sam's forest. Sam had stopped hunting them figuring it was better to have them as a buffer against the undead. They had been proven right as letting them recoup their numbers had slowed the tide but hadn't stopped it. Eventually, they fell to the snowball effect of the undead and Sam had to deal with one of the largest groups they had faced yet. This was made problematic as Sam couldn't invest the time and resources into hunting down the negatively charged creatures and the undead at the same time. Thankfully one took care of the other so that was useful, but they had to keep on top of them or they would snowball.

The best solution Sam had found was to start creating slightly larger aerial drones capable of using a one shot harpoon pressure cannon. These were few and far between due to their price, but they were the best option. Sam would send them out to snatch up corpses and drag them back to the forest to be consumed by nanobots. The bodies lacked much in the way of usable material. There were some in there though the greatest source of materials came from whatever little bits they had on them. A few coins in a pocket, a belt buckle, or the occasional bit of armor or farming tool. The caravans they had been seeing were still coming though less often and when they did come, they were in larger groups and far more heavily guarded. They seemed to understand the same thing Sam did and burned the bodies after a few of these caravans passed through, ash pits started marking the road. They were tempted to send out a few slimes to dig through them for any usable resources but held off on that. Even with aerial surveillance Sam didn't want to risk running into a scout or something unprepared.

The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned to months and the caravans became less common as the undead became more so. Even with Sam’s timely intervention sending out aerial drones to snatch up bodies whenever possible. The negatively charged creatures that had started to become more populous after Sam stopped hunting them began to die off again regardless, they were no longer applicable. Sam would send out hunting parties of slimes to try and keep the undead in check only occasionally hunting the surviving negatively charged creatures. After close to a year of the undead presence most of the creatures still left were either very intelligent packs like goblins or wolves or were particularly powerful. Like the creature that Sam could only describe as a cross between a giant crab and a troll that was living in what was left of the lake. Sam almost felt bad draining it leaving it open to the undead hordes, but it was keeping them busy and if they killed it Sam could then throw hordes of their slimes at them and consume the corpse before the undead could raise it and take over. The only reason why Sam didn't take time to push the creature out on their own was simply because they needed it. As Sam's slime like nanobot swarms we're particularly good at tearing apart the undead before breaking them down to their base materials normal creatures were not as well suited. Some could eat them, but most didn’t like rotting corpses, and even the most starving animals would try to avoid them.

Except for the actual slimes in the area who we're eating well. Though the undead destroyed them easily natural slime seemed to prefer hiding underground during the day emerging at night to eat up whatever waste biological material they could find. Dead plants fecal matter corpses whatever so it wasn't too uncommon for one of the undead to revive while a group of slimes was feeding on it. Occasionally the slimes would get the kill and apparently slimes had some level of growth ability like with the positive and negatively charged fauna. Because of this, a few slimes had even taken to hunting and Sam had done what little they could to help them out.

Strangely the undead seemed to ignore Sam they could see them, but they couldn't detect them like they could everything else. The undead were seemingly drawn to the living no matter where it was hiding even if they couldn't find the creature they knew where. Since they seemed to be blind to Sam's presence, they also couldn't detect Sam's growing tunnel network underneath their feet as Sam spread down through the valley. In comparison, they weren’t digging as deep as they normally would just sticking below the surface. This made the tunnels all the better as quick access points for attacks or defense when needed. Allowing for Sam to develop a unique death from above and below doctrine.

The fighting went on for close to another year before anything happened. At this point, the caravans had all stopped, and the valley below was dying for lack of a better word. Where it once had been planes with a small river running through it. Now it was nothing but dead wasteland, the crab creature was still alive, so the river was still turned off. With only a few remaining defenders of the valley left Sam began to plan an offensive. When the remaining defenders inevitably fell Sam was planning on making a push to claim the valley as a buffer zone. There was a stark difference between Sams forest and the valley below. After about three yards of thin fields that went from the vibrant life of the forest to the bleak dried up wasteland that was the valley below.

Of the few remaining defenders, there was a cavern of goblins that had dug in deep and used the rock they dug up to build a proper if not crude fort. They used crude tools and died in the dozens, but their stupidly fast reproduction rate made up for it. Unfortunately, that also meant Sam kept seeing hordes of undead goblins thrown at their forest. Sam was already tunneling into their back lines to clear them out. they were more of a pest than anything raiding Sams forests for food hunting down the weak and young of the forest fauna. This wouldn't be as big of an issue if they didn't use such destructive tactics as setting fires to smoke out pray. It would be a few more days before Sam punched into their caverns and started flooding it with slimes to flush them out to the undead.

Next was a giant of a bear lumbering around the valley she had a small cave that provided somewhat of a defense from the undead hordes. She was somewhat of a neutral party and didn’t harm the forest, so Sam left her alone.

The last was the most annoying and one that Sam would probably have to get creative to take out. It was a massive hawk like thing it had been terrorizing the drones. Though it had mostly left them alone after it figured out that they weren’t too particularly good to eat but it still occasionally attacked one. The best solution Sam currently had was to just wait for it to get close enough to one of the trees they controlled to ZAP the blasted thing. Sam had figured out how to use its nanobot swarms to generate a small directed electrical pulse into their prey. Sam had then figured out how to use that upgrade on their trees, turning them into improvised Tesla coils. They currently had sixteen trees in total, well technically fifteen counting the ones in progress. They would make a good makeshift fortress if the forest ever started to fall to the undead.

Sam was really starting to get annoyed with the undead, they just kept throwing numbers at them and unfortunately Sam simply didn't have the numbers to throw back. The main problem was while Sam could handle groups of them, they had to devote a large number of nanobots just to make a simple slime like swarm and They couldn't just simply have them on their own. Sam had to have a transceiver to control them remotely, the slimes could only work remotely for so long before they'd have to recharge by either returning to the forest or returning to the pipelines underground. They had also figured out how to use the green crystals as improvised batteries. As the bots were able to drain them before breaking them down into basic silicon but even those were starting to get fewer and farther between. The valley was full of hundreds of undead abominations and while the slimes could take them out one at a time it took time to tear the bodies apart to make sure they couldn't get back up. Part of Sam was starting to consider building larger robots to help try and fight these things. There was also another part of them that was concerned that giving them a more physical target would just invite the undead to break them. It was rare but occasionally the undead would get lucky and managed to smash a transceiver. Thankfully another transceiver could simply take control of the leaderless swarm and absorb them forming a larger slime. That could repair or even replace the broken transceiver by breaking down the destroyed receiver to its base components and rebuilding it. Though that wasn't the problem, the problem was time. Every transceiver that needed to be fixed or replaced was another slime they didn't have in the battle. Even if the larger slimes are more effective at taking on singular enemies, another annoying part was Sam couldn't have them utilize the resources they were gaining. While yes, they could have them produce more nanobots, while they were mostly immobile consuming their dead opponents. A lot of the resources they were getting were just of no use for making more nanobots. If it couldn’t be used it was turned into what I was calling print blocks. Basically, legos made of differing materials. They weren't as strong as the blocks from Sam's old world, but they were firm enough that they could be stacked together into a basic locking shape with other resources. When the slimes became too full or needed a recharge it would make its way back to a pipe handoff its receiver to another swarm and drop off any gathered materials. These materials Would be gathered together into a palette that would then be transported by aerial drone back to the assimilated trees to make use of. Though things finally came to a head when a small group of humanoids made their way into the valley.