Sam stared at the Technogog Arcana figurine and reached out to her core again. The same message denying her access to its core popped up, but Sam ignored it, grabbing the figurine off the table instead. It didn't resist and grinned broadly at Sam, who returned the expression.
Sam understood what was happening. She was in her soulscape, and according to the System messages, she was in control here. Her body wasn't physically here in this room; instead, it was a metaphysical representation of her mind. She was postulating her physical body was just an avatar her soul used to interact with reality and had taken the shape her soul deemed most fitting. “The System must control the power of my avatar or body to keep my magical power from ripping my soul apart before it ages and becomes stronger through experience. Thus, able to handle a greater strain. If that's the case, the opposite must also be true. Sam stared at the figure in her hand; she felt its need to meld with her and become whole. "Man, this is going be crazy dumb, but if it works..."
Sam mused that all she had to do was fix in her mind how she wanted her soul to change her body with a thought to make it happen. “I can see how this is extremely dangerous. I could literally ‘will’ my soul out of existence if I wanted—which I don’t.” She added to herself quickly. Sam could instinctively sense the real danger in soul diving wasn't the alteration to the soul but the fact that once she began an alteration, it could not be stopped until completed. If she was slightly off or had a random thought during a change to her soulscape, it could lead to devastating consequences in her reality. “Like if I think about having a tail but not specifically where it will be on my body, the size, color, properties, veins, arteries, mana channels, and how it will interact with the rest of my body among a bazillion other things then I could wind up with at tail growing out of my brain. Essentially killing myself because of vanity.”
Sam pulled the small figurine to her chest in a tight embrace, pushing her misgivings aside before she lost her nerve. Except the figure never touched her chest, Sam's chest opened up the same as the figure’s was, and she mashed their cores together in the most unceremonious display of recklessness she had likely ever made.
It worked.
***
The Defeated dodged a basketball-sized ball of toxic acid an instant after Nara loosed her second exploding arrow at the Matriarch at point-blank range. The damn monster was fast! It was taking every trick The Defeated had to stay out of range of the insanely powerful evolved creature's attacks.
“Three more explosive shots,” Nara thought, watching the Matriarch shrug off the arrow exploding in her face like it was nothing more than an annoyance. “At least it slowed her down a little bit,” She thought, then tried to find Sam in the chaos of ash and flame kicked up by their running battle. About to focus back on her situation, Nara caught a glimpse of purple light coming from where she thought Sam should be right before bolts of violet lighting created a dome over what she now knew was Sam's location.
The Defeated abruptly angled her run back around toward the dome of energy. The sudden change in direction caused Nara to nearly drop her bow from the whiplash.
As they drew closer, the lit dome vanished as quickly as it had appeared, revealing a lone figure standing in a small crater.
“What is she wearing? And where did she get a coat?” Nara thought, looking at the strange outfit Sam was wearing.
***
Sam was reeling from the process of turning into a Technogog Arcana. Her first thought was, “It wouldn’t have been that bad if I was used to having every single molecule of my body torn apart, except for my brain and cores, before being magically stitched back together in less time than it takes to blink.” She pushed the thought out of her mind and pulled up her status menu. Or at least she tried to.
Unlocking…[S]…
Phase one unlocked…[S.] Samantha; Technogog Arcana…
Calculating power levels…warning…power levels incompatible.
Attempting to isolate and lock nodes…
Nodes locked…
Attempting to isolate and lock attributes…
Failed…
Error…
‘Bing’ Congratulations! You have upgraded your physical form to that of a Technogog Arcana. Your current soul level is insufficient to maintain this form. You will experience soul destruction in 300 seconds…299…298…297…
Sam noted the rude System interruption with annoyance and checked her stats.
Name: Samantha [S.]
Race: Evolved Human [Level…error]
Class: Technogog Arcana [Epic] [Level…error]
Health: 2682
Stamina: 2047
Mana: 30684
[Locked]
Resistance(s):
Arcane Magic 100%
Void Magic 5%
"What the fuck, System? How will I use all that mana with all my abilities locked? Argh!" Sam was talking to herself, not realizing it was going through party chat.
“What are you?” Nara’s panting voice broke Sam from her grumblings. “And how did you—”
"I'll explain it later, but right now, I only have a few minutes before I die. I have to go back into my soul. Are you ladies, okay?"
“WHAT!?!” Nara shouted out loud and through their chat.
"I believe we can survive for the next few minutes," The Defeated's voice was calm and relaxed, and she immediately shot a blood spike at the charging Matriarch, diverting its attention from Sam. She then dug all her blood tentacles on one side into the cave floor using them as an anchor to swing herself ninety degrees to dash off in a completely different direction, with Nara screaming from her back.
Sam grinned at the maneuver, thinking, "Hey, I taught her that. Good job, girl!" Then, closing her eyes, she dove back into her soul.
***
“What are you doing? We have to help her!” Nara shouted at The Defeated.
"We are helping her," The Defeated replied calmly, barely dodging a stream of green acidic toxin as it chased them up the cave wall.
The Defeated was moving so fast she could use the curved walls of the circular cavern to run on. In fact, it was easier for her because there weren't piles of destroyed mushrooms and boulders to contend with.
Nara was mollified by the answer and twisted in the saddle to fire another arrow at the Matriarch, that was flying in like a missile, using her air affinity to propel her at impossible speeds. The arrow missed, and the Matriarch closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
"Look out!" Nara screamed at her mount, ducking in the saddle and bracing for impact.
An instant before they were crushed, The Defeated glowed a faint orange as she activated Final Push. Nara's vision tunneled, and the world seemed to slow when the skill activated, giving them a burst of speed so fast that Nara, even with her high agility, had trouble following their trajectory.
Nara screamed again, but it was pure exhilaration; she had never felt so alive.
***
Sam rushed back to her soulscape, grumbling all the way. "I figure out how to upgrade my body in the most impossible way possible, and the freaking System locks all my freaking abilities! How completely fucked up is that? And why is it taking so long to get down this fucking tunnel?" She knew it wasn't taking longer, but she was frustrated.
Slamming down back in her old room, she didn't hesitate and went straight for the dragon figurine, but to her even greater annoyance, it shook its head no when she reached for it. "Fine! But your next!" Sam snapped and snatched the Duplicitous Lamia off the desk instead. It hissed and bared its fangs when she grabbed it, but Sam ignored that and slammed the statue into her chest.
***
Nara felt the power surge before she saw the lighting dome as they kited the beast. This dome was even more significant than previously and was composed of violet and black lighting. The Defeated, still using her skill, turned and ran up the cavern wall just as a cloud of toxic gas and two wind blades slammed into the wall right where they would have been had they not evaded.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
In response, Nara sent her second-to-last powered arrow at the Matriarch and got a lucky hit on its wing. The arrow did minor damage, but it did knock the pursuing creature to the ground for just a second, giving them time to complete their maneuver…whatever it was…
"What are you doing?" Nara shouted over the wind, whipping at her ears, forgetting she was also using the chat function. "We are going to fall—"
The Defeated, already running upside down on the ceiling, leaped off into nothing, turning Nara's statement into a scream and plummeting them toward the cave floor at a speed they would never survive the impact from.
“We’re going to dieeeeeee! Oof." Nara had the wind knocked out of her when their direction went from a death plummet to flying barely over the ground.
Just meters from the ground, The Defeated reformed its blood armor into giant gliders swooping up in time to skim over the tops of the broken stems of the mushroom forest.
"You are amazing," Nara shouted to her mount as they glided to Sam. She continued babbling, her emotions going haywire from not dying like she had been sure she would only a moment earlier. "I swear I will never doubt one of your decisions again. I—what the goink is that?!? Sam?!?"
"I told you, I'll explain later!" Sam said as she slapped the Matriarch out of the air with a giant tail from where it was flying in to intercept Nara and her mount. "I gotta go in one more time! Be back in a second!”
“Are you a freaking snake?!” Nara shouted as the figure of her friend attached to an enormous tail disappeared from view when she and The Defeated landed, starting to run again. Nara felt the giant animal beginning to slow down and thought, "Whatever you are going to do, Sam, do it fast."
***
Surprised at how strong of a hit she had produced, Sam checked her stat screen, but the System forced notifications on her just as before.
Unlocking…[M]…
Phase two unlocked…[M.] Moura; Duplicitous Lamia…
Calculating power levels…warning…power levels incompatible.
Attempting to isolate and lock nodes…
Nodes locked…
Attempting to isolate and lock attributes…
Failed…
Error…
‘Bing’ Congratulations! You have upgraded your physical form to that of a Duplicitous Lamia. Your current soul level is insufficient to maintain this form. You will experience soul destruction in 100 seconds…99…98…97…
When her stat screen pulled up, Sam was pissed.
Name: Moura [M.]
Race: Unknown [Level…error]
Class: Duplicitous Lamia [Unique] [Level…error]
Health: 6142
Stamina: 12903
Mana: 7756
[Locked]
Resistance(s):
Arcane Magic 50%
Void Magic 50%
“Fuuuuuuuuuuk!” Sam yelled in frustration as she dove back into her soul, absently noting the glowing black and purple fractures splintering out from the hole in her soul core. She knew the last figurine had to be strength-based if they followed any logic. The first one had a massive mana pool, and the second had stamina in the five digits, so it stood to reason that the last one would have a strength upgrade. That's what she was hoping anyway. "I know I didn’t hurt the Matriarch and only deflected her when I hit her with my tail…which is surprisingly natural to use. It feels really cool, too, when it's all coiled up around—stop it! I need to focus! I need strength, and I know where to get it!”
Slamming into her soulscape yet again, Sam dove for the dragon girl figurine. It still shook its head and stepped back when Sam lunged for it, but it wasn't fast enough. Sam gripped the figure, and before she could think logically about what she was about to do, she smashed it into her chest and screamed!
***
Nara screamed as some of the toxic spray landed on her arm. They hadn't been hit by an attack but had run too close to the residue from a previous attack dripping from the wall. The Defeated slipped as it started up the wall again, causing it to slow just a fraction.
That was all the time the Matriarch needed, though, and a cloud of acidic gas propelled by wind magic rushed toward them from behind.
“Use your skill!” Nara shouted as the gas grew closer. She couldn’t see the Matriarch to get a shot off. They weren’t going to make it.
"You must run now." The Defeated said calmly. She wrapped Nara in her blood tentacles and, releasing her from the saddle, sent Nara flying far ahead of the encroaching cloud.
“Noooooo!" Nara screamed when she landed on her feet, only to see The Defeated's back half swallowed up in the green cloud of acid. The cloud dissipated only an instant later to reveal the Matriarch pinning the summoned to the wall with a clawed foot. The Defeated's entire back quarter and most of her blood armor were gone. Yet, still, she roared her defiance in the face of the much more powerful being that was a breath away from killing her. Not even thinking, Nara knocked and shot her final explosive arrow, yelling, "Over here, you stupid lizard!"
The Matriarch must have been tired of the annoying arrows because the instant it left Nara's bowstring, the beast dropped The Defeated's body and flashed toward Nara, slapping the arrow from the air and closing half the distance with a single flap of her wings.
Nara knew running was pointless, so instead, she screamed her own defiance while firing mana bolts from both hands. Useless as it was, she would go down fighting. Then Nara stopped. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest under the weight of... “What is this…suppression? How? I cannot…no…I must get up!” Standing up with a supreme effort of will under the unseen force that felt like it was crushing her soul, Nara saw the Matriarch had landed and was looking away from her toward, “Sam!”
Nara climbed up and stood atop a broken mushroom stalk to better understand Sam's location. Her eyes widened when she finally saw what the Matriarch was looking at. A giant black egg with just a faint streak of violet across it was sitting in the crater Sam's two lightning storms had made. The egg was four meters tall and at least half that across at the widest point. "What the fu—"
The egg cracked. It was just a tiny crack, then another and another. Black mist with traces of purple started pouring out of the cracks. Nara saw the Matriarch taking a few steps back, and she knew why. The oppressive power coming from that egg was overwhelmingly terrifying. A true apex predator was being birthed into this world, and every being for several kilometers felt its presence.
With a final crack, the egg shattered.
***
Sam had done it.
Unlocking…[A]…
Phase three unlocked…[A.] Alecto; Draconic Voidling…
Calculating power levels…warning…limit break in effect...
Attempting to isolate and lock nodes…
Error…nodes not found…error…
Attempting to isolate and lock…error…attributes…
Failed…
Error…
‘Bing’ Congratulations! You have upgraded your physical form to that of a Draconic Voidling. Your current soul level is insufficient to maintain this form. You will experience soul disintegration in 10 seconds…9…8…7…
Name: Alecto [A.]
Race: Dragonling Hybrid
Class: Draconic Voidling
Health: 28958
Stamina: 7577
Mana: 30684
Resistance(s):
Unknown
Sam looked at the retreating Matriarch and smiled, her fangs dripping with anticipation. She flashed forward with a leap and a beat of her wings, leaving an afterimage as she traveled.
Arriving instantly in front of The Defeated, who looked up at the draconic figure with awe. Sam didn't have much time, so she went straight to work. Slicing deep into her wrist with a claw, the Draconic Voidling drew a single drop of blood so dark red it was almost black. It hovered in the air for an instant before flying forward and splatting against The Defeated's chest. In a deep, raspy voice she didn't recognize, Sam said, "Here you go, girl. Thanks for the assist and keeping Nara safe."
"Sam?" Nara's voice came through their chat function, sounding timid and afraid.
6…
Sam flew to her friend so fast it looked like teleportation. With a fang-filled smile, the three-meter-tall Dragonling reached down. It rested a massive, clawed hand on her friend's shoulder, staring deep into her dark blue eyes, and answered her question in the Dragonling's deep, raspy voice, "Well, yeah, it's me, duh." She then sent twenty-five thousand mana units into Nara simultaneously, eliciting the best mana orgasm she had seen yet.
5…
With her companions taken care of, Sam turned her blazing violet eyes to the E-Grade monster. The Whitling Matriarch shrank back under the gaze of the Dragonling but still roared its defiance and—
4…
The Dragonling was upon the Matriarch, slamming the monster’s head into the ground before it had time to finish its roar. The rock cracked underneath the force of its head striking it. The Dragonling didn't let up; grabbing an errant wing and bracing her foot against the monster's back, she pulled.
3…
The Dragonling ripped the wing from the monster's back like she was pulling the wing off a fly. The Matriarch reacted by biting the Dragonling's torso, her fangs barely penetrating enough to inject her toxin. The Dragonling roared and grabbed the Whitling's upper and lower jaws, prying them open until she felt the lower jaw snap under the strain.
2…
The E-Grade beast released a screech and buffeted the Dragonling with air blades from its remaining wing. Still, the attacks didn't even displace a single scale on the Dragonling's skin. The Whitling's screech was cut off when the Dragonling bit deep into its throat and stabbed her tail deep into the Matriarch's chest, penetrating her heart with her obsidian tail spike.
1…
She ripped the Matriarch's throat out with a yank of her head and tore her tail from the dying creature slinging chinks of meat across the cavern. But the powerful E-Grade wasn't dead yet and blasted a cloud of toxic acid out from every pore in her body, enveloping them. The Dragonling was out of time, and she knew it. Summoning the last of her draconic strength, she braced her clawed feet against the Whitling's scaly chest and grabbed it behind its head. She pulled with a mighty roar that shook the cavern walls.
0…
***
Nara had to cover her ears when the thing her friend had turned into roared. Even through the loud roar, she heard a popping sound, and the chime of a notification sounded in her mind.
'Bing' Whitling Matriarch; Level 101 has been defeated by your party. Bonus experience is awarded for defeating an enemy 75 or more levels above your own. Additional experience had been awarded for defeating an enemy one grade above your own. Experience distribution has been split equally between party members.
Nara ignored the Level Up notifications and ran as fast as she could to her friend.
The Defeated, now fully healed and sporting menacing black blood armor, beat Nara to Sam. Forming blood wings, she fanned the lingering toxic gas from the area. She hovered over the now human body of her summoner.
Nara got to Sam seconds later. She gasped, tears welling in her eyes when she saw the state of Sam's body. Empty eye sockets faced up, staring at nothing; all her skin was dissolved along with most of the muscle tissue, leaving almost nothing but bone and organs behind. Nara could see all of Sam's organs. Many were black and rotting from the necrotic acid of the Matriarch. Nara began weeping at her friend's state, uncontrolled sobs rocking her body. Not knowing what else to do, she pulled out several health potions and began slowly pouring them over the mostly dissolved body of her friend. Staring into her friend's empty eye sockets, Nara could only hope Sam's mind was still intact. Most people, or even beasts, could not recover from this kind of trauma.
The Defeated surprised Nara when she lowered a tentacle above Sam's skeletal form and began dripping the tiniest drops of black blood onto each of her exposed organs. Each organ the blood touched slowly started reverting to its natural color, healing enough to stay ahead of the necrotic toxin.
Once Sam was healed enough to be out of immediate danger, Nara had them store the Matriarch's body and head before moving to a campsite halfway back to the cave entrance. They gathered as many monster cores as possible before retreating to the safer area.
Over many hours, Sam's friends healed her body. After nearly a day of constant and careful healing stretching their dwindling resources thin, Nara and The Defeated had fully healed Sam's physical form, but Nara knew it wasn't just her body that needed to be healed. She knew from overhearing other's accounts that using power outside of one's ability to control without assistance from a being of greater strength would almost always destroy the user's mind and soul.
Nara stared at Sam's peaceful expression, cradling her head in her lap. She was leaning back against The Defeated, who she had begun calling Lupie to shorten the long name. Brushing Sam's now shoulder-length violet hair, Nara watched as shadows flickered across her face from the small fire she had built. Sam's cheeks felt cold and clammy, so Nara pulled the blade tail hide up higher to just under Sam's chin. A single tear dripped on Sam's pallid cheek, and brushing it off with a finger, Nara whispered to her friend, "Please, Sam, come back to us…come back to me."