With all that was happening, I had to sit and mope a bit. Collect my thoughts. I was sitting at a crossroads and I had no idea what path to take.
What should I do about the rmaid war gas? The slow death march of the two groups that ground each other and themselves to nothingness. Should I act? Should I sit and wait? Should I go murder hobo again? What about the major stakeholders in this ga? The sons of heia, Goddess of the Ocean, Sailors and Storms, a cruel and cold mistress that hides in her depths the bounty of the sea but also a hundred different deaths? Leviathan the sea dragon and Kraken the monstrous squid were two kids playing with toy soldiers made of flesh. Their toys were breaking. Starving.
I had no idea what sparked this conflict. The few people that deigned to talk to gave conflicting stories. About food, about territory, about a bloody vendetta. I trusted none of these explanations. The reef had more than enough space for the handful thousand rmaids to live and prosper in their own side of the current convergence without ever seeing one another.
But the raids and skirmishes continued. The net loss was greater than the profits. For every five bushels of kelp stolen, for every three lobsters or fish taken from the mouths of the other group, two were lost because the combatants had to heal and waste energy fighting. With both sides conducting raids of opportunity and the amount of food gained and lost coming converging to zero over a large enough amount of ti, it was stupid.
They would be starving less if they just stayed on their side and ate their food. But the first to stop the punitive raids will suffer a montary loss. The fear of suffering that one loss was what kept the fight going.
Such was my reasoning. The rmaids would fight, either for food or to avenge their sisters. With the number of deaths on each side, every rmaid on each side lost so family mbers to the spears of the other tribe. A fight for food was a hit-and-run raid. They traded so blows but the side that started to lose gave up quickly before the wounds beca fatal, most of the ti. Well-fed rmaids would still go to war, not to raid but to kill. So I didn't solve the food problem.
Nenandil gave each rmaid a full al only once every week. She was accosted daily by hopeful, begging rmaids clamoring for more. But the fairy and I had an agreent to not do it. One al a week was not enough to solve the problem but alleviated it. If we fed and nursed the dolphin-rmaids to a healthy state, they would wipe out the fish-rmaids. And I had a hunch that despite the unproven accusations of cannibalism, they were just like us.
Sowhere in the warm side of the reef, there was a sunken ship full of barnacles with a squid avatar inside its cargo hold. The squid was eating more than its fill and doing nothing but ushering the rmaids to attack the other side. I hadn't heard it but the rhetoric and argunts were the sa.
So I didn't give out the food. I have tons of it. After all, I spent two years traveling Auvanini from north to south, looting money from the slavers, and dumping it at the local market. While I kept so currency from each raid, I also stored a king's bounty worth of food, tools, furniture, trade goods, the local specialty whichever that was, and other knick-knacks.
And denying food wasn't the only way I wasn't helping my tribe. Lakerta was a Crystal Lamia with the Light subtype. She could stretch her tail to impressive six ters of length, and make every inch of it glow as bright as daylight. For no cost at all. I could illuminate four or six gardens easily to grow kelp in at no effort than standing still. I had Plant magic, elven magic, and light magic to boot. Even with my MP pool being less than a hundredth of what it once was, I could still feed fifteen hundred rmaids on my own. But what would they do if they had enough food? Vengeance.
I hid my abilities. I let fifteen hundred rmaids starve. I didn't do anything. Because I was a coward and didn't want to be found out. Because I knew that if I revealed myself, the Herald would do sothing and I would lose my everyday life with my mother.
And my reasoning went in circles, trapped in an eternal what-if chain of questions. What if I reveal myself? What if I grew food? What if I murdered the herald? What if I went there and killed the other side by myself? What if I killed the other herald? I didn't know the answer to any of these.
We settled for only scraps every week. To the starving rmaids, it was a bounty. A feast. So said that if we had more than three hours of sunlight each day, things would be better. I handed Wyxnos the God-heart core, but Galbarar didn't increase the sunlight hours. I don't know if the core made its way to the Sun god. I can't even be sure Wyxnos actually talked to him. Maybe he took the bloody thing to himself.
I felt powerless, and it wasn't because of my nerfed Attribute values. Powerless because I couldn't see a path to a good resolution that didn't cause a bloodbath. Powerless because I was still a child and wasn't even supposed to have a System yet. Powerless because I felt as if my mother was a hostage. I still gave her my food. She was the strongest rmaid in the whole tribe. And they envied her. It was a matter of ti before another ambush happened. I swam next to her, always wary of nearby sentients.
That paranoia and the fear of losing my mother was another reason I was reticent in allowing unrestricted access to the cornucopia of my {Infinite Item Box}. There were more. I didn't feel welco in my own ho reef.
There was the way I was treated. Once again I was a pariah. My condition ant I couldn't play as rough as the few other rmaid children, which avoided . And the more physical gas were a problem when I could get bruised just from swimming too fast. I regenerated health at an astonishing rate even though it was reduced by a factor of ten but I still got hurt. I bled too easily. The blisters were painful even with my {Pain Resistance} Skill topped off.
I was also an outcast because of my appearance. I wasn't any movie rmaid princess. No. My skin had a dry and cracked appearance even underwater. I didn't have functional fingers. My hair was sparse and coarse. The {Fox-Kin Disguise Kit} stayed only over my tail, leaving my real hair exposed. I couldn't sprout a healthy mane from one day to another. Not yet. If I had the age to have System access, I could fake it and say I got a Perk for that. rmaids had tons of costic perks to enhance their chances of attracting a male. Lamias did too but I ignored them back then. Lakerta didn't need any boosts. I was gorgeous.
During this ti I also pondered about my identity. Was I the sa person, or soone else with the mories of dead people? I had no idea. What I knew was that souls were real, at least in this world. My soul returned to a new body. So that aspect was the sa. But if I were to put all my incarnations side-by-side, could I tell they were the sa people?
Apricot was cunning and objective. She wouldn't hesitate for weeks to think of a solution to my problems. She would already have figured it out and would probably barge in and murder soone. Probably the Herald. If that didn't solve anything, she would murder soone else. Alloralla was easygoing and silly. I still cringe when I think she turned Sariandi's coronation into a broadway musical.
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Lily was timid and careful. She was an introspective person that liked to spend ti alone. She didn't live long enough to fully mature, though. Rosewise was an airhead but also nurturing and sensible. She would try to diate between both tribes.
Lakerta... Lakerta was a superhero. I rode a power high like I was on cocaine. Terrible analogy. Silverstreak... I don't know what Silverstreak would do. She had the second shortest life and that was because the shortest was the amoeba when I spent all my life trying to read a hundred-word note. Amidst all these lives and others like back on Earth or the Great White One, I was lost.
Who was Arista? What special things could she bring to the table? I didn't know. I didn't even decide on my Perks. And not because I forgot like the absent-minded Rosewise didn't bother to pick a Class. Because I couldn't decide. The indecision paralyzed and the world kept spinning. I was too afraid of making the wrong choice that I chose sothing clearly not good. Stagnation. Mom told she always knew I was tailing her. After Nenandil was revealed, she didn't want to leave alone, fearing what the rmaids would do if she wasn't around. We swam together now as we went around the farms checking for trouble.
I set {Erode Curse} to grind down the {Random Disability} curse but it progressed at a snail's pace. Not even 0.1% progress per month. I had my wellspring in stealth mode and that nerfed the absorption too much Add two other factors, the starving rmaids weren't good MP factories and, the nerf in my Attributes also ant a big nerf in my Wellspring radius. It was no longer asured in kiloters. The easy mode had ended. Welco to nightmare mode, act one. The lowered Attributes also affected everything, including my detection range. It's important later on.
I was confused, sad, and gloomy, and did little to hide my feelings. The people next to could tell it easily. Both Nenandil and mom were very concerned about .
I guess I was about to have an intervention. It was dayti and the ocean was alive. It was the best ti to farm so everyone involved in food production was at the kelp and crustacean farms. As we swam further away from our usual patrol path around the farms, it beca obvious. Neither my mom nor the fairy were talking. Finally, we stopped at the edge of the coral reef next to the open sea. The seabed did a sharp drop and I rembered a story about a colorful fish going out there on a dare only to be captured by a diving dentist.
"Arista, we need to talk," mom said. Behind her, Nenandil nodded.
"About what?" I asked sheepishly.
"Ever since that fight months ago you are acting in a strange way. You made a new friend, we got more food, why are you so down?"
"I've known Nenandil for centuries, mom. I need to tell you one big secret..." I wavered. I felt sothing was amiss but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"I'm listening. You can tell anything, daughter!" She cooed.
"I'm level twenty-nine after fighting these..." Distracted by my mopey feelings, I forgot to ping my detection abilities. Only when I had visual contact was that I sensed them. "Fishes!"
We were surrounded by more than thirty fish-rmaids. I fired a quick barrage of {Appraise} at them, all in the first rank, averaging fifty-sothing. A couple in the sixties and that's it.
I ntally sighed.
"Halt!" One of the lead fish-won shouted.
Her voice seed to grate on my ears. The dolphin-rmaids spoke on a very high pitch, almost inaudible for human ears. These rmaids' voices sounded like... primitive grunts. I might have one of the key pieces of the reasons for the rivalry. I bet they think our voices are annoying squeals.
The fish-rmaids had their caudal fins in the vertical position while we had ours horizontally. They also had two pelvic, two anal, and one dorsal fins. Their caudal mobility seed restricted in the front and back range of motion while being more nimble sideways. With that many delicate appendages and the shape of their tails, the image of a rmaid sitting on rocks was even less possible. Their tails had colorful patterns, so resembling actual fish. There was even one clownfish-tailed rmaid at the back. Another point of contention. They were too colorful and showy, while I could imagine them thinking our tails were too drab and monotone.
[Deep-Sea Raider]
Level 65 fish-rmaid female.
Strength ~40
Dexterity ~30
Endurance ~30
HP ~650,000
Afflicted with Severe Starvation: All resource pools halved. -10 to all Attributes.
WARNING: This creature is one rank above yours. It takes reduced damage from your attacks.
It seems that the "Loki Patch" also changed combat rules. Before I could decide whether to strike or not, Mom pulled closer to her, bruising my shoulder as she pulled. She didn't even pull that hard.
"My, my. How are you doing, sister Eathelin?" the [Deep-Sea Raider] mocked.
"What do you want, daya?" Mom asked.
"We are here on a peace mission. We want Lady Nenandil to co with us."
Another thing I suspected since the attack. The two sides have spies and communicate very often. How else would they coordinate a joint ambush or learn about Nenandil?
Mom was level fifty-nine. While I knew she could take daya in a one-on-one fight, I doubt she would have the chance. I tensed up to fight and Mom squeezed .
"Don't," she whispered. "I know you have a hidden strength, and we are going to talk about it later. They aren't here for a fight. Let talk to them."
I swallowed a sob. Every fiber of my being and the people I was in previous lives were screaming at to murder them, starting with this sassy daya [Raider]. I didn't. I was scared.
"I have no interest in anything to do with you," Nenandil replied. "You'd do well to go away."
daya clicked her tongue and shook her head, "We cannot do that. Our Lord Kraken has invited you and your companions for a visit. We cannot go back empty-handed."
I cast {Water Breathing} on mom, just to make sure she wouldn't need to surface and breathe soon. But visiting the Kraken's Herald? Were we supposed to co back from that? I knew I could shift my hands into a jaguar's paws and claw them if I needed it. I had the fighting expertise of a dozen lifetis. Why was I so scared?
Mom squeezed harder as she sensed trembling. It hurt as my skin blistered.
"Let my daughter go, and Lady Nenandil and I will go with you. She's a child. There's no need to involve her," Mom negotiated.
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