I swallowed, basking in the wonderful sensation as a bad-things corpse shifted into warm mana, absorbed and repurposed by the Great Core. The flickering of the thought-light, expected as it was, hardly even drew my attention.
Level 13 Stoneskin LeechConsud.
Transferred to Core.
Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 4/5.
The voices beside , however, were a little more interesting. I turned in the direction of the noise, catching the scent-taste of more corpse-flesh on my tongue. Two Coreless jabbered at one another; one mine and one not. They were easy to tell apart, even with how similar most Coreless looked.
After all, one of them was wearing a [Little Guardians Totem].
That was sothing new; sothing that had changed almost overnight. For so reason, many of the warriors of the Coreless - the ones that covered themselves in dull skins of ore-flesh, though without the mana-light that my original Coreless had - saw the light of the Great Core all at once.
I wasnt entirely sure what caused it, though I had my suspicions. I wasnt surprised by it either. The Great Cores victory was inevitable. It just...happened a little more suddenly than I expected.
Im telling you, its good luck to present an offering to the Little Guardian when you get a chance. Keeps trouble away, one Coreless said to the other, surely offering his praises to the Great Core.
The second Coreless furrowed his brows before responding. Morgan...you said that last ti, and we still nearly got pinned by those damn Needlers.
Yes, we nearly did. Youre welco, by the way.
The second Coreless remained silent, and I caught a faint hint of amusent when I sunk my fangs into the nearest Totem link. Unlike most, this ones [Little Guardians Totem] made him extrely easy to read; rather than keep it on the outside of his ore-flesh, presented to the world, it was hidden underneath - touching his skin at all tis.
I wasnt sure which I preferred. Was it better for my Coreless to announce and advertise their faith in the Great Core, potentially inviting the curiosity of the Coreless around them who had not seen the light? Or was it better to keep the Totems close, so that I was always connected to them?
Regardless, I appreciated how much easier it made understanding him be. The morning after I had saved my trapped Coreless, she had brought another to - a proto-totem in hand. As always, it had been hard to read the Coreless emotions from what I could see alone, but the mont he received a [Little Guardians Totem]...things changed. I understood.
I could see the desperation, the hope for sothing to cling to. I could see the fear. I could see the need.
And when, later that day, I saw terror instead?
I took that away from him, guiding my other Coreless to rescue him from the bad-things. Like before, I wasnt able to consu the bad-things that we saved my Coreless from. The Coreless of the many-nest needed their flesh to survive. I tried to temper my disappointnt with mories of hunger and need flashing through the Totem links to my tiny Coreless.
It worked. Mostly. The excitent of leveling up again and reaching level 29 helped to keep distracted. If the requirents for the choices that the thought-light presented were consistent, I would receive a powerful blessing once I hit 30.
I was more than a little excited to see what I was offered, with my recent successes in mind.
These two Coreless had beco regular visitors over the following few days, and the amused one had quickly beco one of my favorite new Coreless. As much as I enjoyed the visits of my tiny Coreless and believed in their potential in the future, this Coreless was sothing special.
He liked to bring offerings. The Stoneskin Leeches that he provided were small; they wouldnt do much to solve the many-nests hunger. I could have taken offense at the implication - that the needs of the many-nest ca before my desire for more Traits.
The ever-present [hunger] of my tiny Coreless, so much harder to solve than [fear] or [loneliness], held that thought back.
The Coreless were mine; I could go without a few Traits if it ant more lived to see another day. They would rember, just as I would.
I flicked out my tongue, catching the scent-taste of the air. It only took a mont of concentration before I found what I was looking for. The two Coreless hardly broke their conversation as I slithered closer, winding my way up my Coreless leg until I reached the large skin-mouth at his side. I flicked my tongue out again, confirming my targets location.
Your Little Guardian isnt going to be so little anymore if you keep feeding him like that. Seriously, those things are almost as big as he is.
Relax. I saw him eat things a dozen tis his size, when the refugees were crossing into Orken. You know that the way monsters work doesnt make complete sense, especially Ascended ones like our Little Guardian here. He wont get fat, my Coreless responded.
They exchanged a few more words and I caught another flash of amusent as the skin-mouth nearly swallowed whole. And yes, I had recently realized that the stomachs of the skin-mouths were fairly safe - beyond the one ti where a skin-mouth had sealed itself shut and I had briefly panicked.
It had reopened at about the sa ti that I noticed its stomach couldnt digest anything . Like, at all. It was weird.
This skin-mouth, though, had sothing that I wanted. I took it, pinning it between my jaws and swallowing it down. The final Stoneskin Leech that I needed to consu.
Level 8 Stoneskin LeechConsud.
Transferred to Core.
Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 5/5.
Analyzing Blooded Trait
Acquiring Blooded Trait: [Anticoagulant I]
The Great Cores blessing washed through , changing once more. It was a subtler change than many of the Great Cores blessings; it did not change any part of that was visible, but it did change . My mouth-flesh ran moist, far more than before, coated with a new form of saliva that I knew served one purpose: making my enemies bleed - and then making sure that it didnt stop.
I hissed, slithering back out of the skin-mouth and offering my Coreless a look of gratitude. After a mont of thought, I decided to go further. This particular Coreless had proven himself of worth to the Great Core; I gave him a na.
Leech. It was fitting, naming him after the offerings that he had provided. I flickered an illusion of his nasake, drawing from my light reserves. A flash of surprise, followed by amusent, flickered through his Totem link. He seed to like his new na. Maybe. Even with the Totem links, I didnt always understand the Coreless - just as they didnt always understand .
It was a work in progress, but we were progressing.
Leech spoke with the other Coreless for a while, jabbering back and forth with him while I debated whether or not I should increase [Anticoagulant] with so of my Trait Points. Before I could co to a decision, a flicker of sothing - satisfaction, smugness, victory? - from Leech caught my attention.
I turned just in ti to see him pass sothing to the other Coreless: another proto-totem.
Had Leech brought him under the Great Cores light?
I slithered forward, touching my scale-flesh to the carving. Mana ripped itself from my mana core, forming the complicated pattern of [Little Guardians Totem]. Still, it was easier now. I could have made far more.
The Totem began to glow within the Coreless grasp.
I sunk my fangs into the connection, curious at what I would find.
[doubt]
[concern]
[worry]
I was disappointed, but not surprised. The Coreless did not see the Great Cores light so easily. Even Leech had been the sa, only a few days ago.
Still, he shared sothing else with the Leech of that ti. Underneath it all, buried so deep that I could barely sense it. So deep that even the Coreless might not have seen it.
[hope]
I hissed with satisfaction.
That would be enough.
Reviews
All reviews (0)