“If the necrotic zombie responsible for this mess isn’t on their knees in a second, begging for my forgiveness-” I swaggered onto the mud beach, all righteous indignation. My energy sonar pinged back and forth, searching for the object of my ire as the downpour settled down into a light drizzle.

Despite the urgent missive from the spiderlings, no cackling villains revealed themselves by monologuing about their plot to discredit Chimera Cores.

Several zombie toads pivoted toward me, their eyes leaking the disgusting black fluid that seemed to have replaced blood (and brain matter) in their forms. I released an explosive sigh; my threats appeared to have been wasted on them. Besides, such an activity was not at all leisurely.

I took a deep breath. I released it. For the first time, I wondered if I needed sleep as a Chimera Core, even to just act as an emotional palette cleanser. “Okay, okay, so which one of you-”

Your Skill (Earned) Short-Term Prediction has grown to Level 6

Your Skill (Earned) Unnatural Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 25

My muscles twisted painfully to avoid a mutated tongue with claw-esque growths that whipped past. I blinked in surprise as the massive tongue flipped and lashed the nearby ground, erupting out of the relatively normal-looking body of one of the reanimated bloat toads like it was a resident evil extra.

I flexed my squirrel hands and released a wave of healing secretions. “Heh, you are trying to show off body improvements before a Chimera Core? You are a hundred years too early to- wait, no stop!”

After my first ungainly hop, I had been poised to avoid the reanimated toad’s next attack… which wasn’t aimed at me at all. Instead, that massive, fleshy (also somehow prehensile?) tongue whipped sideways. The end, which sudden sported a half dozen rotten teeth, widened and took a massive bite out of one of its fellow reanimated Bloat Toads.

The other toad opened its mouth and sighed out its displeasure at its attack. Then it countered with a tongue-strike of its own. However, the destructive power of the tongues couldn’t be compared. The mutant’s tongue had become muscular, almost three times as thick as the original form. While the mutated one had one of its eyes popped, the other was slurped down like a milkshake placed in front of a surly teenager.

I took a step forward and then hesitated; honestly, wouldn’t it easier to fight if there were fewer of them?

But then I paled. Damnit, Tallum, don’t apply your previous life experience! This is a fantasy world. So when one monster devours another-

A ripple ran through the flesh of the mutant zombie. It took an experimental hop, but then its jaw tore as another long tongue forced its way out of the opening.

Its head flapped backward, a chunk of cartilage held onto the base of a reanimated bloat toad by a layer of slimy skin. Two of those prehensile, toothy tongues flailed around in the sky above the toad. The other reanimated monsters watched with bemusement. They felt not the slightest bit of antagonism, watching their fellows be consumed by another to become stronger. And even more gallingly, the reanimated bloat toads soon pivoted and focused their attention on me.

They hopped forward, their eyes glazed with the zombie version of bloodlust.

“This is why your people have an instinctual craving for brains, even if you can’t remember why it’s important.” I scowled at the toads. Just as I prepared to rush forward, I noticed a shift; the label over the cannibal toad shifted.

Mutated Bloat Toad Reanimant Lvl 22

“It gets a couple of Levels in the process?” I charged forward before it could continue its feeding. I ignored the hypocrisy, being a Chimera Core that absorbs body parts to develop. Instead, I focused on the threat. My energy sonar hummed, taking in its every inch. Definitely, this thing is the closest I’ve come to discovering a clue about the sudden emergence of a zombie menace. But I felt hesitant to call it the original culprit.

If anything, this was just an ominous warning about what would happen if we didn’t address the issue quickly.

Sensing my antagonism, the Reanimant brought one of its thick and taloned tongues slamming down. I hopped to the side, stumbling slightly when the powerful impact smacked my side with a wave of mud. My squirrel fingers flashed out and rubbed healing secretion against its body. The surrounding tongue withered, but much less than the others.

I couldn’t help but click my tongue. Seems like this bastard also has more Health than its fellows…

But in response to the ‘attack’, the flesh of the toad body began to wriggle and writhe. My first thought was disgust, my second was self-concern (isn’t that what I do as I rearrange my musculature? Do I hate my monstrous new form in this life?)

I didn’t have time for introspection, however. The body began to bulge-- but just as quickly as I worried that it would go through a secondary transformation, the wriggling flesh resolved itself into… more weeping sores on the reanimant’s sides.

Apparently satisfied with its transformation, the former toad zombie hopped forward. It brought the other thick tongue slamming down, even as the one it originally used to attack slithered sideways and began to devour another of the other bloat toads. I groaned and activated Minor Realm Step. I needed to close the distance as quickly as possible.

My focus narrowed. I did my best to recall Sage’s words, the way she talked about dancing with the entire world. My heavy feet pressed into the ground as I mobilized every scrap of the Poise and Agility I had gathered. I acknowledged I was very far from Sage. Rather than the whole world, I could only dance with a realm. A minor realm, at that. But I tried to recall the sensation of connection I had felt, dancing with my otter partner. The sensation from my cannonball practice hovered at the forefront of my mind.

Weirdly, as my foot dug into the mud, I saw something else, as well. My vision expanded. …we exist in a setting where everything is connected. Kami’s sow us into the land, empowering our energy and reaping a portion of the surplus, returning to the land.

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When I step… I don’t just press physically. But the energy itself-

Your Skill (Earned) Minor Realm Step has grown to Level 8.

Your Skill (Earned) Mana Sensitivity has grown to Level 25(+24)

Your Skill (Earned) Minor Realm Step has grown to Level 9.

My whole being thrummed with the step. My Mana prodded the energy of the land, gently. The land shuddered in response. I hurtled forward. The tongue slammed behind me, into the location I had just vacated.

Unleashing another wave of secretions, my squirrel fingers flashed forward and pressed against the Mutated Bloat Toad Reanimant’s side. My legs did a surprisingly competent job of dispersing my momentum. Upon contact with my hands, I gladly began to rub them back and forth, touching the icky, slimy skin of the monster as much as possible.

For a second, I felt triumph, but even I realized something was wrong when none of its flesh appeared to be withering under the healing effect. I frowned. Did its necrotic nature change somewhat, because of the transformation? If I need to actually wound this bastard-

Suddenly, I wished my siblings were here.

I brandished my Stained Fang in preparation for a stab, but the reanimant moved faster. A toad leg covered in weeping sores flashed out, kicking in my chest and knocking off ten Health in a single blow. Gasping, I stumbled back. Even worse than the damage was the grey, oily gunk left on my skin from the kick.

“Not only are you tanky, but disgusting to touch-” I froze, a realization hitting me. I looked at its body again, connecting the dots. “You made those boils on purpose.”

The reanimant’s eyes, one partially popped and the other dangling off its hanging skull, swiveled to me, but my attention was fixed on the fleshy growths it had created. They were constantly oozing out the grey gunk now, covering its body in a constant layer of film. So when I had slapped my healing hands against its side earlier, I hadn’t even been able to actually apply the secretion to its body.

Before I could begin considering a countermeasure, it swept its long tongue sideways and sent me tumbling. My awareness spun like I had been tossed in the dryer for a quick cycle, but rather than coming out clean, I cartwheeled my way through mud.

Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 25(+20).

I had barely managed to right myself when my instincts pinged. My gaze snapped up in time to see the toothy end of a newly grown tongue shooting toward my face. Without any subtlety, I yanked up my fang and stabbed it into the opening.

The attack skittered along the interior of the tongue (the tongue’s throat?) but quickly the point caught and ripped its way out of the side. Simultaneously, because the fang went so deep down into the tongue, the teeth at the end began to gnaw at my Interstitial Body Structure. For the first time in this fight, my Health began to drop more precipitously than I would like.

Please Note: Dangerous substances are present in the saliva of the Mutated Bloat Toad Reanimant! The foreign elements have attempted to inflict the Status: Rage. The foreign elements have attempted to inflict the Status: Madness.

Due to your Wisdom, you have resisted the Status: Rage.

Due to your Wisdom, you have barely resisted the Status: Madness.

A Mundane Achievement: For resisting exposure to a malignant Status you have previously been affected by, +3 Max Health.

Due to Exalted’s Due, +3 Mana.

Your Skill (Earned) Exalted’s Due has grown to Level 3.

“Damn, this System is always so snide…!” I muttered. Emotions rushed through my body: rage, fear, panic, exasperation, desperation.

Yet I had survived and grown in the fantasy setting. So, despite the fact that a zombie tongue gnawed on my shoulder and attempted to inflict horrible statuses on me, I didn’t lose my cool. My leisurely MO remained intact, proven by the fact that I executed hand seals as I secreted more healing substances.

It’s a dark day when I grasp at these hand seals as proof I’m thriving.

Your Skill (Temp) Weak Secretions has grown to Level 24.

Your Skill (Temp) Weak Secretions has grown to Level 25.

Although its outer skin was covered in thick, oozing boils, the inside of the tongue’s mouth was not. So, while trying to avoid having my squirrel fingers bitten off, I rubbed the secretions around its mouth. This time, the effect occurred instantly. The mouth flinched back. Its gums began to recede, the bulk vanishing.

The reanimant released an anguished cry. All the muscles of its body flexed. I felt a thrill of triumph-

It ripped its tongue back, but not only had the damage already been done, but my fang was still drilled through its throat. So I released a surprise yelp and then was rushing through the air. At the apex of the tongue’s retreat, the angle changed. The fang came loose and I twisted around, managing just barely to slap another squirrel hand against the tongue before I was flung away. This time, the familiar golden flames sparked.

Your Stat Malignance has activated.

Again, my joy was short-lived; I became a projectile, somewhat like my fun experiments as a reed bowling ball earlier.

Except this time, I was hurtling through the air, much farther across the river than I would have managed on my own. My Detection pinged crazily as I scrambled to get a grasp of the area around me, but the river just kept rushing past-

“Fuck, I’m going all the way across, aren’t I?”

Your Skill (Earned) Monster’s Wisdom has grown to Level 25(+29).

I hit the shallows and skipped several times. My roll onto the shore… well.

Poise seemed like an excellent stat for situations like this, but it appeared 13 was insufficient to help me avoid feeling like a fool. I skidded across the mud and eventually arrived, fang first, at the back of an unsuspecting crayfish. I first felt a spike of dislike and then a spike of panic as my momentum and fang arm pierced through the back of the monster's head and ended its life.

I opened my mouth to apologize to the unfortunate victim but then noticed the notification.

You have slayed a Reanimated Crayfish Mucker Level 6.

“My uncontrolled tumble… was a well-crafted ruse?” I said hesitantly, but even to me, it started to feel like a stretch.

Something that a delusional monster like Nightshade would tell himself. My resolve firmed as I planted a foot against the back of the crayfish zombie shell and ripped my fang out of it; I would be better than Nightshade. I might have had an unfortunate accident, but Malignance had activated against the zombie across the water.

Soon the golden flames will consume the reanimant, and- I paused as I looked around.

“Ah,” I said in a monotone. “That’s right. The spiderlings said… it’s even much worse over on this side of the river.”

A score of zombified crayfish raised their claws and clicked them at me.

In the next moment, a cataclysmic force of destruction arrived on the scene.

“Do not bar my path!” The massive, fleshy body of Mookt slithered forward, almost more serpent than catfish. At first, I felt a bit of hope I could communicate and defeat these zombies together, but then I noticed the familiar redness around the catfish's eyes.

Is he affected by Madness… or Rage?

I observed as Mookt gobbled down two more crayfish, scooping up big clumps of mud into its gullet in the process. The giant catfish swallowed without difficulty and smacked its lips together. “All will become feed! Even you, Blight spawn”

Hum? Actually… wasn’t Mookt an asshole all along?