[Quest completed!]

* Congratulations, you have completed your first quest! 7.35 XP earned. 15 SP awarded.

* Congratulations, through proper use of Mythic Connection, you have decreased the cost of the skill Create Servant by 10%. 5 XP earned.

* Congratulations, by being overambitious unequivocally brilliant, you have gone above and beyond the requirements of the quest! 1 XP earned by creating a superior brain system, 2.1 XP earned by creating a superior chitin exoskeleton, 2.1 XP earned by exerting incredible focus. 5 SP awarded for superior efforts and results.

[Level up!]

Power burrowed into her, invasive and cold. It pushed into her aura, as if someone had slid a smooth tentacle under her skin. Painless, at least—even pleasurable, in its own horrifying way. She shivered deeply.

Kepler snarled at the system, [HOW.] He launched himself at it, all teeth and fury, [DARE YOU.]

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There was an energetic scuffle, ending when the power retracted. Clare slumped, dizzy and mentally fuzzy.

Kepler listened to the system explaining, hackles raised.

[No.] He growled. [I’ll do it.]

Hemming and hawing from the system. She was unable to pick up its exact meaning unless Kepler translated.

[Explain it, then.]

Annoyance.

[I don’t care.]

A condescending suggestion.

[SHE IS MINE.] Kepler seemed ready to attack again.

The system paused. Chatted within itself. Responded to him firmly.

Kepler glared suspiciously before lowering his hackles. [I may have overreacted some. My apologies, that was rude.]

Clare could tell he wasn’t sincere, but the system seemed fine with it.

They started a longer exchange, with the system lecturing as Kepler took notes and asked the occasional question.

Disoriented and exhausted, Clare fell into a dreamless slumber.

In the midst of it, comforting power wrapped itself around her. Slipped in through the cracks, warm and expansive. It filled her, and her world expanded.