The Great Cores likeness on my head-scales began to warm with an ever-increasing intensity, until it dwarfed the searing fire-pain of my mana overuse. It destroyed all semblance of thought, leaving nothing but the flas behind. Nothing but the pain.
It pulsed, sending those flas outward. They traveled across my scale-flesh, lighting a path down my body before returning from where they ca. It pulsed again, and those sa flas walked across my length before returning to their origin. Finally, it pulsed a third ti. This ti, the flas didnt co back.
This ti, the inferno collected at a single spot, forming a pinprick of overwhelming heat and energy. It was like the boiling mana-water from before, inflad by the fire-gaze bad-thing, all over again - except ten tis worse, feeling as if it threatened to pierce a hole within my scale-flesh, to erupt in a fiery blaze and lt the network of threads above.
I almost imagined the mana-water boiling around , overheated by the fla that I carried inside. Maybe it really was.
I couldnt see, and so I didnt know.
I latched onto my faith, praying to the Great Core. Praying that the fla would go away. Praying that the fla would stay, and make stronger. Praying that the Great Core would allow to live.
Just behind my venom sacs, perched in a hollow above my fangs, the gathered fla shifted. It burned my flesh, hollowing out a new space within. Then, it was gone.
Sothing took its place, filling the hollow that had been created. I could feel what it was; I could control it with the sa ease and instinct that I controlled the venom sacs that I had been created with. I didnt need the thought-light to tell what had changed.
Still, the thought-light flickered.
Blooded Trait: [Paralyzing Venom I] Acquired.
The Great Core had blessed in my ti of need. It had faith in , just as I did in it. I knew that, now.
What else could explain it? Pure chance?
No.
The Great Core had provided, giving the ans to survive.
I accepted it gladly, hissing with glee as I floated on the mana-waters surface. Though the change had felt as if it took an eternity, most of the Aridae were still descending down the stone-spikes; a few, however, had nearly made it halfway to the mana-water.
I knew that I needed to use what the Great Core had given .
I called to the thought-light, telling it what I wanted.
Available Trait Points: 3
Use Trait Points To Upgrade A Trait?
Without hesitation, I confird my desire.
3 Trait Points Required For Upgrade Of [Paralyzing Venom I] To [Paralyzing Venom III].
Upgrade Successful.
As I acceded to the thought-lights question, I felt myself change even further. The new venom sacs, nestled behind the old, shifted in response. They changed shape slightly, forming a greater hollow within my flesh and enlarging to fill that new space. More important was the effect it had on the slow-venom collected within. The fluid morphed, becoming both more viscous and more powerful.
I could have used the Trait Points to upgrade from [Venomous II] to [Venomous III] instead, but I realized that it would be better to increase the strength of my slow-venom twice, rather than my old death-venom once. More than that, I hadnt been sure whether increasing to [Venomous III] would cause my death-venom to be restored. If it hadnt, I would have made venom that I had already depleted more powerful. I would have had to wait for it to co back on its own.
I didnt have that kind of ti, even with the Great Cores blessings. The Aridae were almost upon .
I pulled away, whipping my tail around and plunging into the depths of the mana-water. The fluid stread by far faster than before, the slow-venom that had infested my system burned away by the process of creating the Blooded Trait. I felt free, despite being surrounded. I felt joyful, despite being endangered.
That joy depleted slightly when I realized what I needed to do, but I managed to hold onto it sowhat. I stroked with my tail, rising to the surface again. Just before I touched open air, I opened my mouth wide, guzzling down mana-water as if I were dying of thirst.
The fluids filled my stomach, pushing to bursting, before shifting to travel to my waiting mana core. The already-strained core protested even further, sending a spike of fire-pain through my skull, making question my resolve.
Still, I kept going.
I tad the mana when it raged. I brought it to life when it fell still. All the while, the fire-pain continued.
[Mana Manipulation IV] made the process far faster than it had been originally, causing the forrly unruly mana to feel closer to a familiar friend. I greeted it, and we slipped into the customs that had beco routine.
With one difference.
This ti, when the mana flowed from the mana core where it had been stored, rushing through the channels that had been created, it deviated in its path. It found a new destination, rushing inside and filling it to the brim.
Imbuing my slow-venom with its touch.
Before, when I had created Mana Venom, I had still possessed [Mana Venom I]. It had greatly increased the strength of my death-venom, causing my venom to grow enough in potency to instantly kill the weaker of the Aridae, if I did not ration the use of my venom. Yet, much of that effect had been due to the sheer amount of mana that I had stuffed into my venom, to the point that I suffered from the pain even now. That wasnt a feat that I could repeat; especially not with the Aridae coming closer by the second.
I didnt think that I would really need to. In the course of the fight, the Skill had increased, leveling from [Mana Venom I] all the way to [Mana Venom IV]. That, too, had been caused by the overwhelming amount of mana that I had shoved into my venom sacs. Now, I hoped that the increase in strength would be enough, despite the reduced mana I had on hand.
[Mana Venom], I instinctively knew, was not a venom by itself. Instead, it was the combination of mana with a venom that already existed - causing it to beco increasingly potent in the way it functioned. While the venom that I had been created with beca more deadly, the slow-venom would change in a different way.
Combined with the increased potency that ca with [Paralyzing Venom III], it might be enough to survive.
It would have to be enough.
I took one last gulp of the mana-water, shunting the energy towards my slow-venom sacs, just when I heard splashing behind . My body felt slowed, the fire in my muscles dimd by the fatigue of [Mana Manipulation], but I still turned faster than I had for the majority of the battle.
The father Aridae, quicker than the others with his larger limbs, stared at balefully. Hatefully. His missing eye still leaked a clear fluid from within, matting the hairs around it an even darker shade. His fangs rustled dangerously, slow-venom leaking from their tips, causing the blue of the mana-water below him to cloud slightly at the droplets touch.
He pushed himself across the water, paddling furiously as he floated atop it. I didnt et his charge. Instead, I dove down into the depths again, welcoming the brilliant blue that filled my vision. In just a short ti, it had beco my ally in the fight against the Aridae - almost as if it, too, were a creation of the Great Core, tasked to seek vengeance against the bad-things.
I ca back up again, aiming for the bad-things darkened abdon. With such a dangerous enemy, I couldnt risk breaching the surface before I struck, providing enough ti for him to react.
I would just have to suffer the pain of the mana-water again.
I ca up underneath him, baring my fangs. The mana-water rushed in, filling to the brim. I struck, sinking in deep.
Slow-venom dripped through my fangs.
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