“I didn’t have a choice, okay?” I huff in annoyance. “Where was I supposed to hide you if not in the ground?”

Betton just glares at me, silently fuming. He’s really hung up on this whole thing. I don’t get why, I left an air hole for him. He was perfectly safe.

“Forget it, where are we?” the dark-haired boy snaps.

I shrug with three arms. “I dunno, I’ve just been focusing on not being eaten by giant bugs.”

As I watch, the anger leaks from the kid’s form. “Fair,” he mutters. “I’m sure you had enough to worry about with just that.”

I nod the lumpy mass that’s currently my head. “Right, I have been walking in a straight line, so we should have made some progress.”

He shrugs. “I dunno, and with a teleport spell as strong as that, we could be anywhere on Einmar.” He rubs his face, smearing the dirt around. “I really wish you could shape yourself into a warm house or something.”

I ignore his whining. “So, what’s our plan?” All seven of my eyes focus on him.

He looks at me with disgust. “Aren’t you supposed to decide that? I thought I was your pet?” Invisible lasers fly from his pupils, drilling into my pride.

“Ugh.” He’s right, why am I asking him? …I guess because he’s been useful? Whatever, I’m too sober to think about this deeply. “I’m being kind, and letting you have some autonomy.”

The guy’s face tells me he’s not buying it. “Right… Well, we should probably head for the nearest town, before we get killed.”

“Pfft,” I laugh. “What could kill me?”

Betton looks at me as one would look at a stupid child, so how I probably look at him normally. “Alex, just because all the monsters we’ve run into have been muscle heads, doesn’t mean there aren’t magical ones.”

“Oh.” I deflate a little. “You could just cancel their magic, right?”

He shakes his head. “Sure, if there was one of them. What if it's a group of magical creatures? Even a pack of weak ones would overwhelm my abilities.”

Dammit, he’s right again.

He frowns intensely for a few minutes before making eye contact with me. “Do you think you could make wings?”

────────────

After about four hours of attempts at flight, I can keep airborne for about ten seconds. After my eighty-fifth crash, I scream to the heavens.

Betton walks over to me, crouching to my eye level. “So, you improved again.”

I huff. “What does that matter if it's only a few seconds each time? It’ll take longer for me to be able to fly than walking to the next town would be!” My voice vibrates with barely contained anger. I can’t let myself vent it either, not with Betton so close at least.

The kid nods. “True.” I flash a smoldering glare at him, but he continues, “So why not just learn?”

With all the gentleness I can muster, I pick up the scrawny teen and throw him a good thirty feet. He lands into the thick grass with a loud fwoof.

For a moment I worry I killed him, but he starts groaning after not too long. “Alex, why?”

I scuttle over to the kid, looking down at him. “Why what?”

“Uggggh.” He slowly sits up, somehow unharmed. At least externally. “I mean why not use an upgrade to learn how to fly?”

My eyes all narrow, anger rising in my chest. “How do you know about that? I’ve never mentioned it to you.”

His expression becomes panicked. “W-Wait! You haven’t, but you have!” I stare, waiting for him to continue. “When you use your system, you mumble to yourself out loud. So I heard about some of it!”

Heat rushes to my face as I reel back in horror. “I do not!”

He nods violently. “You do! You mumbled about upgrades when we were going back to the inn, after the ghost hunt.”

My gaze drifts to the floor as my mind is overwhelmed with embarrassment. “Oh…”

“So, why not try to get an upgrade for flight?” He looks at me with a nervous smile.

I nod slowly. “Yeah, that’ll prolly work.” I collapse to the ground, my mental energy exhausted by the horrifying revelation that I talk to myself.

I guess I’ll start browsing, then.

────────────

The snot was right, there were quite a few upgrades to help with flying. After deliberating over my options for a while, I decided I didn’t want a permanent set of wings, so I took a mind upgrade instead of a body one.

Flight Instincts:

Mental adaptation that lets the user fly without conscious thought.

Now I just hope that it includes how to make suitable wings, because the ones I’ve been making haven’t fared too well. I buy the skill, and feel a warm buzzing fill my mind immediately.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Flight Instincts purchased. 200mp > 50mp.

After a few seconds, the irritating buzzing fades away. Why is that so much easier than the body upgrades? Whatever, time to see if the stupid skill is worth it.

I imagine taking to the air, and without having to focus at all two huge pink wings shoot out on either side of my lumpy body. Unlike the batlike wings I’d been making up until now, this pair looks very insectile. The transparent membranes shine in the noon sun.

Betton looks up from his spot on the ground, a smirk plastered on his face. “So, I was right?” His tone is unbearable.

I just make a grumbling noise, not willing to inflate his ego any further. Then I turn attention to the portion of my body that isn’t the giant wings. Currently I’m in the shape of a chewed-up wad of gum, like when I first woke up. Eyes are scattered throughout the vibrantly pink human flesh like disgusting sprinkles. I make eye contact with myself and almost pass out from the pure surreality.

One thing's for sure, Betton will not be able to ride on me like this. My unstructured body would fold under his weight and then he’d be as much a splat as me. Which means I need a makeover. A new body shape that won’t get in the way of flying, but that can hold a malnourished, homeless child airborne.

“Hey, Betton, what flies and is intimidating?” I prod. If I’m gonna be making a whole new form, I might as well make it badass.

He looks up from… whatever he’s doing in the dirt, and looks me in the many eyes. “Well there’s dragons, but you’d never pass as one of those with the wings you have.” He motions at my awesome wings dismissively. Brat. “Besides dragons, there’s no flying races that could carry someone else.”

I deflate a little, letting my wings droop to the ground. Only dragons? Are there that few non-humanoid races? I mean things here do seem generically fantasy so far, but c’mon. Not even one like… flying snake people? I guess that’s just dragons again. Fuck.

Betton decides to speak up again, and offers unwanted advice. “You could just lean into those wings, and make a huge insect form. People are scared of insect monsters because of how tough they usually are.” He flashes me a kind smile that makes my skin crawl, literally.

Bugs, huh? I guess that makes sense. If a beetle got big enough, I’m sure a spear or sword wouldn’t be able to get through its shell very well. As I think about threatening insects, my mind jumps to something deliciously appropriate.

I don’t even give Betton a warning before I start restructuring my body. But the kid doesn’t seem fazed by my twisting and pulsating mass of flesh like he used to. Tsk…

My plan to frighten a child at least five years younger than me failed, I turn my focus back to shaping my body correctly. First I start by making the general overall shape. Fat rear section, long thin middle part, and a triangular head. I’m sure the parts have proper names, but I was too busy hitting on girls to ever pay attention in class.

With the basic outline done, I add the limbs. Four long, segmented legs that support the entire frame, splayed out wide from the bottom of the middle section. Then, towards the top of the same part, I add two long arms that end with viciously sharp scythes.

The body now functionally complete. I move on to the aesthetics. While the exoskeleton is already vibrant pink by default, I add in huge swaths of pinkish white to it. Along with the addition of green accents, I slowly paint my form like a giant flower. Finally, I taper the edges of my shell, making it look like flower petals.

And, tada, one flower mantis! I saw one on TV as a kid, and thought they were neat. Probably why I can remember them at all. Also because of the badass scythe arms. And their husband beheading tendencies.

Anyways, I made myself into a giant flower mantis. It takes me a moment to get used to the compound eyes, but thanks to my monster biology I don’t vomit. Just get a bit dizzy. I glance down at Betton, and everywhere else, and see that he has a look between horror and amusement.

“That body is… very you,” he somehow manages to choke out.

I try to glare at him, but the lack of any moving facial parts makes it difficult.

────────────

Several hours of flying in a straight line over undifferentiated green foliage later and we finally spot something. Kinda… More like a lack of something, since the thing is a giant fucking hole.

We spot the hole from a ways away, but don’t realize quite how gargantuan it is until we draw nearer. The crater could fit the town we had stayed at inside it, easily. On Betton’s advice, we fly about an hour’s walk away from the hole before landing. It would be better that whatever is in it, if anything, doesn’t spot the giant pink bug and shoot it down with magic… or lasers.

Once we land, it takes me another hour to shift into my human form. By then, the sun is almost set, and we’re still an hour from the hole. We hurry and manage to make it to the lip of the pit just after nightfall. The two of us hesitantly peer over the edge of the cliff. Betton gasps at the sight.

The entire pit’s walls are covered in carved walkways and holes. Most of the holes are brightly lit, emitting a warm yellow glow. As we watch we see several dozen large creatures lumbering through the half tunnels, making their way around. It’s a cliff town…

And that isn’t even the end of it. In the center of the hole is a giant, dark green, glowing crystal. Similar to the one that the last town had been built around. This crystal is slightly different, however, as it doesn’t have extra levels of city built onto its sides. It’s also significantly smaller. But like a small skyscraper kind of smaller, compared to the absurdly huge crystal of the last town.

Around the base of the floating gem is a mess of wooden buildings, most of them also twinkling with light. But instead of the warm glow of firelight, these windows are filled with a glow similar to the gem. The oddest part of all of this, though, is that the two groups of buildings, the ones around the gem and the ones on the cliffs, look like completely separate towns. No roads connect the two, and there’s no one going between them. It’s like two different groups settled in the same spot.

“Wow…” Betton whispers. I look at the kid and make a face. Like this is cool, but it’s just as neat as the last town. Which he had absolutely no reaction to. He notices my staring, and quickly explains.

He points at the glowing lights nestled in the cliff faces. “That’s a stequillian town.” He doesn’t elaborate, like that word would mean anything to me.

“A what?” I ask, annoyed.

“They, uh… They’re like huge armored animal people. They make things and live near stone.” He looks at me strangely. “I’m not sure how to describe them.”

I shrug. “I guess I’ll just have to see one, then.” I point towards the gem in the center of the cylindrical hole. “What’s that, though?”

“Oh!” He thinks for a minute. “That’s a townheart, but it’s not the stequillians’. They don’t make townhearts, only humans do.” He glances at me, so I nod at him to continue. “I think it might be people who live here and trade with the stequillians.”

I nod, that makes sense. “But why do they need it if the stequillians live here, too?”

Betton shakes his head. “Stequillians don’t have any natural defenses against monsters like the other races, so I guess a bunch of humans decided to make a townheart so they could trade?” He sighs. “But I really have no idea, it could’ve been accidental. Humans don’t choose to make a townheart, they just form when there’s enough of us in one place.”

“Hmm,” I murmur. “Makes sense.” I think things over as I watch some of the very much bigger than human shadows move through the carved paths. “So how does one take down a tequila?” I ask.

Betton sighs. “Stequillian, and you don’t,” he says firmly. I look at him and raise an eyebrow. “Trust me, Alex, you can’t. They don’t have a natural monster repellent like the other races for a reason. They don’t need one.” His voice is sure, and he also sounds a bit pleading.

“Why don’t they?”

He shakes his head. “They’re almost unkillable.”

I snort dismissively. “Then why don’t they rule everything, then? Invincible warriors would wipe the humans easily.”

Betton sighs. “I don’t know… I’ve only heard stuff about them through gossip and the few stequillian traders that I’ve eavesdropped on.”

Alright, fair. I forget he’s been an orphan up until now. Not surprising he doesn’t know more. “So I shouldn’t attack them.”

“Right.” He nods.

I let out a long, drawn out sigh. “Fine…”

With that, the two of us look for a way down.