Robin considered his motes.

Dragonfire is my “premier” mote, I think. I should save it until I’m sure about an idea. The rest are interesting, but that one will probably be the most potent. I think… Maybe Purity and Intelligence. That seems like it might give me some kind of mental protection… Maybe Metal as well?

...Nah. I think Metal might be one of the other “premier” motes… I should try some of the “lesser” motes first. I have an extra Madness, and Acid seems like it doesn’t fit well with very many of them… Yeah, okay.

Robin decided to proceed, willing his Madness and Acid motes to combine. A notification appeared as the motes disappeared from his menu.

Urticating Hair Your hair may be infused with MANA, causing them to become coarse and irritating on contact. At will, the hairs may be projected from the body up to a range of one meter (1m). The hair cause pain, irritation, and mental distress to afflicted targets. The effect increases with more application of urticating hairs.

Robin stared at the notification in shock. I can shoot my hair out at enemies?

Does it grow back?

Robin closed the notification, his frustration visible in the grimace he was holding.

May looked at him, slight concern losing out to amusement on her face.

“What’s wrong, kid?”

He glared at her. “I told you to call me Robin.”

He sat back with a small huff. “My new class ability is weird, very situational, and it might make me go bald.”

May stared at him for a second before breaking into a laugh, her sharp, high voice ringing through the trees for a moment before she brought herself under control.

“Oh no! That’s unfortunate.”

She nodded to herself, still chuckling. “Cold be worse though.”

He looked away, rolling his eyes.

“How could it be worse?”

She looked at him for a moment, and then, without saying a word, moved her long hair off of her forehead, revealing a small bright blue eye just above her left eyebrow, staring at him. It looked human, and despite the placement, it looked… oddly natural.

“One of my class abilities does this. It has a chance to grow more every time I use it.”, she said, offering a rueful smile.

He stared for a moment too long before he felt her discomfort beginning to grow. Crap, that was rude. Think quick… um...

“Please. An extra eye? Oooh nooo, you can see better than other people. At least you still have hair!”

May stared at him in shock before a grin slowly spread across her face. “You’re alright, kid.”

“It’s Robin, hag.” He smiled at her to let her know he was joking. “Now let me finish combining my motes.” She raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing, setting back against the tree she was leaning on, watching.

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I think that Metal and Growth could be a useful ability. Maybe it would let me do something like Colossus from the X-Men. Robin pictured himself being made entirely out of metal, laughing at spiders trying to bite him. I don’t think I would want it to be like Solar Savior Silver… I wouldn’t want to be made of metal all the time.

Creation, Growth, and Metal together should result in a useful defensive ability, and the Creation and Growth aspects should ...maybe make it triggerable rather than permanently-on. Hopefully.

Robin willed the Creation, Growth, and Metal motes to combine. They disappeared from his menu, and a box popped up for Robin, who scanned it immediately.

Ironclad Elytra When you are in possession of raw materials, you may ingest these materials, adding their properties to the Lesser Armor of the Beetle. The properties acquired are dependent on materials ingested. The Lesser Armor of the Beetle will slowly process these materials, returning to the original state over a period of time.

Wow. So… This is a little less like Solar Savior Silver or Colossus and more like Crusher Creel. Interesting. I wonder what constitutes raw materials?

I wish I didn’t have to eat them, though. These new abilities are kind of ...meh. He pictured himself eating a bowl of Titanium-Bran (now with extra Fe™!) and sighed. Could be worse, I guess. Maybe “ingesting” won’t be as literal as it sounds.

I think Intelligence and Purity, and then I’ll save Dragonfire and Madness. Combine!

The expected notification appeared.

Programmed Instincts You may designate a small series of actions (one action per three points of AURA) to be taken after you fall unconscious, are affected by a Sleep effect, or are otherwise cut off from controlling your body, provided there is no other effect controlling it. The scope of what defines an “action” increases with your WILL attribute.

I like this one! I could set myself to take a potion, or maybe to slap myself?

Too bad I don’t know what very many of my potions do…

Robin focused on triggering Programmed Instincts. Slap yourself if you pass out from a spell! Slap yourself if you go unconscious from a spell!

Robin paused and mentally inspected himself. He didn’t feel any different than he had a moment before... He shrugged to himself. Guess I’ll find out if I get hit by a sleep spell.

Robin stood up, stretching his legs. May watched him, chewing on a protein bar.

“So... what is the plan?”

She took several seconds longer to finish chewing, not rushing in the slightest. When she finished, she took a sip of water from a canteen she pulled from her pack, and then sighed.

“I’m not sure. We should probably head to the coast, but it’s impossible to say how far that could be. We might be in for a long trek.”

Robin nodded. He had expected as much.

“Your pet is pretty handy. What’s her name?”

Robin realized with a start that Opal had materialized beside the woman, and was staring at him, her pale eyes glittering in light filtered through the trees.

“Her name is Opal. She is a Pink Moon Mantis. She was an Orchid Mantis, once…”, he said, looking at Opal.

May nodded. “It fits.” She stood up and moved to sit beside Robin, dragging her pack with her. After she made herself comfortable, she pulled a small notebook from the main pouch and flipped it open, immediately beginning to doodle.

“Okay… so, as near as I can tell, we are here.” She drew a small dot next to a straight, wide line labeled ‘Rift.’

“We want to be here”, she said, drawing a squiggly line and labeling it ‘coast.’

“Option A. We can go over the rift and through the woods to the West. The woods give us the most cover out of all the options, and the most places to hide. Still… I don’t think this is the best option, because if we go that way we’ll have to deal with…”

She studied Robin for a moment.

“...Things. We’ll have to deal with things that you are probably not prepared to handle.” She held up a hand, cutting off Robin’s indignation. “I don’t want to see them again, either.”

Robin chose to stay quiet, nodding for her to continue.

“Option B. We can follow the rift north or south. Again, not the best option. We don’t know how far it goes, and previously, north or south would have been the longest routes to the coast, at the farthest distance. However, the most likely threats are birds, Pirds, and Poachers - all known threats. Together, we could handle them easily.”

“Pirds?”

“Plant-controlled Poacher Birds. Option C. Also not a good option. Surprise! All the options suck!” She made a ‘ta-da’ motion with her hands, continuing to speak. “We can go east, through the wetlands, up the mountains, and through the scrubland to the beach. Assuming that’s still what’s there, of course. We don’t know what threats to expect there, though.”

As she spoke, she filled the page with small drawings of stick-animals and mountains, labeling each biome accordingly.

She looked up at Robin, already impatiently tapping the page with her pen.

“Which way do you think we should go?”

Robin stared at the map, his heart pounding.

I’m finally leaving.