As it turned out, changing the evolutionary trajectory of an entire race was just as difficult as one would expect. Luna, even after a few days of thinking and a couple of careful and quite restricted experiments, had no idea how to fundamentally increase a Giant’s intelligence.

Judging by our observations, raising their level didn’t really change their base state. Sure, it made them stronger, hardier and, apparently, a little bigger, but when comparing the intelligence of the highest and lowest levelled giants we could find, the difference was minuscule. Brutus, as we had dubbed the biggest and strongest giant, who also happened to have the highest level at eighty-five and Runt, the second roaming giant we had observed, a smaller and weaker individual who clocked in at a less impressive level fifty-eight, both reacted to stimulus in very similar ways. Their actions, from what we could tell, matched quite closely, the only real difference being their abilities and physical prowess.

Granted, we couldn’t really tell whether a giant like Brutus was the highest level because he had always been bigger and stronger than his peers, allowing him to take down the biggest and most difficult prey, thus increasing his level faster than the rest or if Brutus had become as big and strong as he was because he had the highest level. To find that out, we would need to observe the giants for some time and track their level and their physical characteristics over time, a task that came with its own difficulties.

In another survey, we attempted to determine if we could use the various structures and shelters built by different giants to gauge their level. If that worked, we might be able to get an idea about their intelligence relative to their level and the growth of said intelligence.

Sadly, it was difficult to estimate the level of a giant by looking at the structures they had built and were inhabiting. Some of the strongest giants, like Brutus, lived in very crude structures, while a giant like Naya had a fairly well-designed shelter but was only level sixty-three. And that level sixty-three was after she had managed to successfully take down some fairly impressive prey after I had transmitted those lessons to her, leading me to think that her level might have increased due to that. Which, in turn, indicated that the construction of her shelter predated said level-up and was another sign against an increase in a giant’s intelligence with their level.

So we needed a different mechanism than level to raise the intelligence of the average giant. We briefly considered carving runic enhancements into their skin, similar to those we had used to strengthen and empower a few people near Jademoon Tower, but there were some obvious problems with that approach. One, an enhancement to one’s intelligence would need to be active permanently without putting too much strain on the mind, as it was a lot harder to heal a broken brain compared to some torn muscles or even broken bones. Another part of the problem was that the enhancement would only work for the individual, not their eventual offspring. Meaning it wouldn’t work for long and, additionally, it would be unbelievably cruel.

As I had been considering this, I briefly had the somewhat wild idea that I might be able to use the domain of the Mother to alleviate this and, somehow, turn the enhancements I could put on an individual into something that was passed down to their offspring but doing so would require… something. I had no idea how to go about changing things in such a fundamental manner, meaning it was nothing but a vague, wild idea that would only work with tremendous luck, to say nothing of the ample amount of time required to put things into place.

After all, if I wanted to make those kinds of changes, it would require me to stick around for a long time, which would only work if the forming Nexus was close enough to transplant the giants into its vicinity.

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Maybe that would be a good first step, to try and get the giants, or at least some of them, to follow me. That way, I would have all the time I wanted to turn these primitive and simple creatures into something worthwhile.

The idea brought a grin to my face, especially as it wouldn’t necessarily require me to get things done in this area. Instead, I would just have to uplift one or two giants and turn them into a symbol of leadership that the other giants would follow. Though given their solitary nature, I had no idea if that would work. If not, my best bet might be to get one giantess, likely Naya, to follow my directions, get her a mate and relocate the breeding pair into the vicinity of the Nexus so I could work on them and their offspring.

Nodding to myself, I realised that this particular idea had some potential, at least if I managed to get my disdain and disgust at the mating behaviour of giants under control. From what I had observed, the events between Naya and the roaming giant weren’t all that uncommon. A male giant subdued the female, demonstrating to them that he was powerful enough to produce strong offspring with her. That was all there was to giant courting behaviour, though, given that I had only observed two such attempts in addition to the one between Naya and the roamer, I couldn’t be certain; I could only make a few assumptions.

Though it had been viciously funny to watch a female giant overcome the male who had tried to, literally, put the moves on her and get his backside, and some vulnerable parts on the front, kicked. Violence wasn’t just limited to the male side of the species; the females could be just as violent, if not more so, if it turned out the male that tried to get them wasn’t up to the task.

Finally, there was the last topic I had to consider regarding the giants. Namely, the question of divinity and their links to the same deity who had once created Firnelves in his experiments. Such a link had existed between Sigmir and me, though it had been distant, and now, I wanted to know if these giants had a connection to the same being or if they were just, well, some sort of cosmic accident.

At my prompting, Luna had investigated some of those questions unsuccessfully. However, given that the tools she used for her magical investigations came from Lady Hecate, I couldn’t be sure that Lady Hecate hadn’t adjusted the mental and magical tools she allowed Luna to use so they wouldn’t be able to accurately discern matters of divinity.

Sure, Lady Hecate was supportive of magical learning in its many forms and had on more than one occasion helped me in matters arcane and divine, but that didn’t mean she was willing to just give away all the secrets of divinity.

So, I needed to investigate myself, which was quite problematic as I had yet to create the tools necessary to do the job. Thus, I would likely have to put off such an investigation for some time, a realisation that ultimately led to a somewhat simple decision.

The best option we had to investigate the giants was to guide a few of them north-east, following the siren’s song of the Nexus somewhere in that direction. By now, the song was somewhat loud, the lure of power drawing me in like a moth to the flame, making me think that we would soon be close enough to discern details. Maybe a few weeks, a month or two until we would hopefully reach the area around the Nexus and then we only had to figure out where exactly it was, make our way there and claim the area.

To facilitate that, I decided my best option was to build on something I had already started, even if somewhat accidentally. Ever since I had gifted Naya the memories, she had worked hard but more importantly, she had grown smarter. Smart enough to realise the obvious connection between the raven that she had encountered after waking up and her improved condition. That conclusion gave rise to a certain deference she gave to ravens, making her lower her eyes submissively in a gesture somewhat similar to one I had observed when a giantess had lost to a male and submitted to him.

It would be interesting to see if I could use said behaviour to my advantage and improve Naya some more, until she was strong enough to draw a few more giants into her orbit and then have her follow along with my plans and start migrating. Though even if the idea of having them migrate didn’t work, it would give me a superior specimen of giant to start other experiments, which made this almost worth the effort in and of itself.

Now, how to make Naya into the best giantess I could?