Spirit Veins For Breakfast was delighted at the news that Spots Food From A Mile Away had relayed to him. There was a newly awakened core nearby, and it looked odd. But odd was good in this world, especially for Ether Leeches like himself. He wanted to eat, and eat, and eat, and help his colony eat, and eat some more. Ether Leeches fed on... well... Ether, so dungeon cores were a gold mine. Especially since he wanted to kill the matriarch and become the first patriarch of the Cave Leeches colony.

This was the perfect spot for the advancement of the revolution. No one else had discovered the new core. And unlike the morons who followed the royal family line and the queen who was named Eater Of The World's Ether, he wasn't going to eat the core right away. No, he would let the core advance, feed off the queen's followers and enrich its Ether. Only then would Spirit Veins For Breakfast devour it. When he became a Core Eater, he would be able to challenge the queen to a duel of supremacy. He would eat her then and become the First Leech King. Ruling his own kind was the first step in beginning the Second Era of Leeches.

"Your majesty, I have found an Ether Vein nearby, and I wanted to gift it to your excelency!", Spirit Veins wiggled at the Eater Of The World's Ether. The crimson leech was three times bigger than he was. Soon, he told himself, he would catch up to her and go beyond.

"Oh? You have my permition to send the swarmtroups then, lieutenant.", she hissed. That's right, he was edging closer and closer to the ruling ranks.

"Gratitude, your majesty! Feast on the stars!", he saluted.

"Feast on a titan core!", she saluted, and he seethed internally. She wasn't talking about the cosmic creatures known as Titans, just the strongest dungeon cores on this world. The propper greeting was 'feast on a Titan's core'. That was an insult, but Spirit Veins could only take it for now. For now, she could insult him all she liked. But reckoning was coming to her. The Male Leech Kingdom was coming, and it would devour the world and the stars beyond.

Soon, thirty-six of the weakest leeches in the colony assembled and marched off to explore the new vein that was reported, and the lieutenant was trailing behind them, far enough to be unseen but close enough that he could sense what was happening with his Ether perception. They passed through tunnels and caverns a plenty, winding and wormlike, before seeing a point of blue-white light. They had their orders, which were to taste some of the food then immediately return to the colony and report. Those leeches weren't smart enough to know when they were being tricked.

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The source of the light was revealed in full, an oval of blue-white energy. This was the dungeon that had appeared. It wasn't one color, but two sides; one blue and one white. This was odd, and not even Spirit Veins For Breakfast knew what it meant. The thirty-six advanced, and stepped through the portal. The future leech king wasn't following.

Sean Nolan, now known as Collin the Leech, was sus about this spirit vein crap. Yes, he was isekaied into the body of an energy-draining leech, and decided to name himself Collin in honor of a certain cosmic horror leech. Who knew, maybe he would become like him one day. And with that extra isekai power, he might become stronger! But he had to figure out this crazy conspyracy about spirit veins first before becoming the leech lord.

He felt the royal command buzzing in his mind, and he had to step through or face death. He followed his dumb collony-mates into the half-blue half-white portal. It was a long, boring tunnel. It had nothing, and it could make anybody sleep from the monotony, especially when you had to crawl at the speed of a leech. But soon, red light leaked, and they arrived at the core. It was small. Sean Nolan Collin had seen a core before, and this was much smaller than it. He hang back and watched, as he didn't want to walk blindly into the fire. He was close to the exit, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

The light was low, but it revealed a creature that looked gigantic to his leechy perspective. It was a cat, and he judged that it was being slowly absorbed by the little core. Maybe it couldn't eat it all in one gulp, maybe it was lazy. Who knew what dungeon cores were all about.

He watched his non-kin leeches crawl closer and closer to the core. One of them touched it and...

Her eyes opened. Hunger, so much hunger. Danger. Her propperty threatened. She leeped. Pounce.

*Boundless Cat Hunger has activated. Mind decreased by 5.

*You have slayn a Lesser Ether Leech, level 1. 40 Killpoints earned.

*You have slayn a Lesser Ether Leech, level 2. 60 Killpoints earned.

Charge. Claw. Claw. Claw.

*You have slayn three Lesser Ether Leeches, levels 1 and 2. 110 Killpoints earned.

Dead prey. Eat.

*you have consumed five Ether Leeches. Template dungeon ability (Consume Ether) unlocked. You may imbue yourself as well as all dungeon defenders with this ability.

Energy grew above her core. She made it explode through her body, enveloping her muscles.

*You are berserking. Mind decreased by 1.

Leep. Claw. Claw. Leep. Claw. Leep. Claw.

*You have slayn multiple Ether Leeches. 200 Killpoints earned.

Sean Collin ran away, using the Ether in his core and making himself smaller and weaker in the long term. But that didn't matter. That cat was insane. It had woken up, growled, and began squashing leeches one after another, and then she ate some of them. Sean had no love for his collony, he was still human on the inside, trapped inside a body that wasn't his. He needed to revert back to being human and go home. If it took becoming a fantastical force of disaster, then so be it. But now Sean needed to run the heck out of dodge before the crazy cat lady ate him.

*A cave goblin has attacked you. Health 73%

She hissed, drawing Ether from her core and sending it blasting through all of her body. She retaliated at the enemy. Swipe swipe swipe swipe!

*You have slayn a Cave Goblin, level 5. 240 Killpoints earned.

More enemies came. She raged, she swiped, she slew. The enemies were gone, and she ate.

*You have imbued yourself with the dungeon ability (Consume Ether)