‘You’ll need to be careful with that,’ said Kleos. ‘If you are slightly too harsh, the Symbiote inside will die. Even if you do everything perfectly, it’s still likely to die.’
‘Is it a hibernating Symbiote?’ asked Maric, seeming curious.
‘That’s right,’ said Kleos shortly. ‘I am advising him on this matter.’
Nicolai cracked a smile at Kleos’ possessiveness. ‘Tell me what I need to do, then.’
After Kleos had explained the process, he began. First he poured out one bottle’s worth of Slow Water into a collapsible bowl he’d purchased from the Trade Link, then took the hibernating Symbiote rock and placed it within. There was no reaction, but that was to be expected.
He retrieved the food he believed would fit this Symbiote, the Blue Leaves from the tree in the forest, and placed the bundles of leaves by the bowl. Next he drew a knife and began to whittle away at the edges of the stone in the bowl, keeping it submerged as much as possible as he carved chips from it. While he chipped away his Soul Sense layered the rock, pressing within, finding the barrier that protected the Symbiote and beginning to play a tune against it, whispering of food and safety.
With his closely pressing Soul Sense he was able to gain a full understanding of the shape of the rock and the movements of his hand and his knife, to the extent he could have closed his eyes yet still worked with complete accuracy.
He performed the task slowly, minutes dripping by and grouping into tens. Gradually, the rock shrunk. As it did the barrier around the Symbiote dissolved, and at last, he felt it. His movements grew even slower and more careful as he removed the last of the rock, which were stuck to a little frozen being, curled up in the centre. His Soul Sense was a warm blanket around it, far different to when he’d broken in his previous Symbiotes. There was nothing of attack or domination, instead he was cradling it like a babe.
Now it was uncased, the Slow Water began to have an effect, and he felt how the movements of the Symbiote were slowed. Already it was dying, but that death was slowed by the water around it.
Nicolai pulled away, watching carefully. The Symbiote was still. His awareness of it via Soul Sense was fading, weakening, dying. He took one of the leaves and fed it through the water, to the Symbiote, and there was faint movement from it. Just a hint. He held the leaf against it, waiting, hoping.
Another tiny movement and he saw a minuscule mouth nibble at the leaf. Nicolai held the leaf to it, waiting patiently as the Symbiote consumed it, tiny-bite by tiny-bite.
Once the leaf was gone, he fed it another, then another. Gradually, the Symbiote was stabilising.
Half-an-hour later, and it was crawling around within the slow water, consuming the leaves he’d placed within.
‘What do you think?’ he asked Kleos.
‘Good, very good. You got lucky, it’s doing better than I’d expect. Must not have been hibernating all that long.’
‘Is it a Heavenly type?’ Nicolai asked, pressing.
Maric let out a little noise. ‘Doesn’t look like it,’ said the skull. ‘Then it would be golden in colour, most likely, not pale.’
‘What does it feel like, to your Soul Sense?’ added Kleos.
‘Quiet, cool… a little like a Soul or Soul Seed.’
‘It is probably a Spirit type, then,’ said the head, looking disappointed, something which Nicolai appreciated. Good and bad come and go. I am a rock in a river. His mood was stabilised. He hadn’t truly expected this Symbiote would be the answer to his ails; that would have been extraordinarily lucky.
‘Think I can try to break it in now?’
‘I would, before it grows too strong. This is the ideal moment. It’s weak and should be easy to break-in. Give it much longer and that will change.’
‘Perfect.’ Nicolai smiled, and his Soul Sense around the Symbiote turned on a dime, morphing from protective and nurturing into a vicious surprise assault.
The Symbiote stilled and grew tense as he attacked it, and Nicolai raised his arms, threads of Oma emerging and winding around the Symbiote, lifting it from the bowl and holding it before him.
It looked like some kind of ant, but formed of a pale substance similar to his Seed. He moved slowly as he took it away from the table then settled into a cross-legged pose, making his body symmetrical. The Symbiote floated before his chest and he held one hand above it, one below, his Soul pressuring it from both directions as he prepared himself.
Already, the Symbiote had recovered enough that it was surprisingly strong. Not as much as his Blue Hornet had been, but still a challenge.
Nicolai drew his hands slowly away from the Symbiote and prepared to strike with his Soul, but then, something strange happened.
The Symbiote gave up. Just like that. Its walls collapsed and his Soul, his will, poured into, binding it to him.
Before it could dissolve into his body he reached for it and tapped it with a finger, examining it.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Small Silver Ant Symbiote
This Symbiote can be used to assist the Cultivator when forming fresh Nodes, as well as being capable of autonomously tending to their internal system.
‘It just gave up,’ he said to the heads.
The pair exchanged knowing glances.
‘Sometimes they do,’ said Kleos.
‘If they like you, or simply don’t have the will to resist.’
Nicolai nodded, filing that fact away. ‘It’s called Small Silver Ant,’ he added, and heard a sharp intake of breath from Kleos, saw a flicker in Maric’s blue eyes.
‘Those are valuable. Perhaps the best you’ve gotten so far,’ said Kleos, and he saw it looking at the Symbiote with a kind of yearning. ‘Very handy in the Foundation stage. It’ll be able to aid you with your Node building, and from there it can also speed the finalisation process up.’
‘Oh? Good timing,’ murmured Nicolai, sitting down at the table and placing all of his collected Oma crystals before him, then placing a couple of Rejuvenating Orbs beside them—just in case. Briefly, his Soul Sense slipped out and checked on the others, finding that all the others were now in their rooms, mostly sleeping. His door was locked. Everything was fine.
He got started by allowing the Small Silver Ant to dissolve into his Soul, then took two Oma crystals into his grip and pulled on them. The Oma poured into him but to his surprise, it didn’t go to his mostly-empty lung Nodes. Instead it went straight to his heart Node, where it entered the black twist and became his Oma, as normal. From there his heart’s Node was overfilled, the excess Oma being pushed out where it then streamed to his lung Node’s.
After consuming a few crystals, his lung Nodes were filled. Nicolai took a few more Oma crystals to hold in each hand, then his focus moved inwards, checking inside of his heart’s Node again.
The Blue Hornet floated in the dense cloud of Oma in the centre. The Grasping Finger crawled on the walls. The Small Silver Ant was spinning airy circles around the black twist.
Nicolai took control of the Small Silver Ant, feeling at its functions, then gave it a simple order, Help me, and charged it with Oma. Once charged he felt it take on a new life, and it began to pull on his Oma by itself, taking streams of it towards itself without his direction.
That done he started sucking in more Oma from the crystals he held, and turned his attention to his right kidney.
The process of Node building began. Nicolai pulled his Oma into dense strings and layered them one after the other, forming the scaffolding of a new Node in the place of potential. As he worked, the Small Silver Ant helped him by supporting everything he did. It would hold the strings of Oma steady for him, allowing him to lay them faster. It filled in any gaps or flaws he left, which would spare him the need to do so himself. As a result, upon completion of the Node he realised he’d broken a kind of personal record, having completed this one notably faster than either of his lung Nodes.
He started work on the next. Hours passed. Nicolai’s mass of hoarded Oma crystals disappeared in chunks as he completed Node after Node. After his first time, he knew what he was doing and managed easily, though he continued to learn as he went and each Node he made was slightly better than the last, and completed increasingly quickly as he grew used to the support of the Silver Ant.
Hours later, he completed the final Node, feeling it take shape and grow firm halfway down his throat, a strange sensation that made him flex his throat.
His mind moved inside. He looked over the three new, unfinalised Nodes within him. One in each of his kidneys. One halfway down his windpipe. Seeing his body full of new structures, he felt a deep satisfaction. That same satisfaction emanated from his heart’s Major Node, and he knew that once these three were finalised, his Heart Node would be working at its peak, supported by the others. Three small rivers of Oma crept forth from his heart’s Node, heading to the three new Nodes. The finalisation was in progress.
User Interface 376 | User #53,217
- Cultivation
Total Nodes: 1 Major, 2 Minor
- Available unconstructed Nodes: 0 Major, 3 Minor
Nodes in progress;
Right Kidney (1%)
Left Kidney (1%)
Windpipe (1%)
- Completed Nodes;
Heart (Flawless) (43/100)
Right Lung (B) (9/24)
Left Lung (B) (8/25)
His mind moved on, spotting the Small Silver Ant. It was still active even though he’d finished the Nodes, and without his direction it continued to pull a tithe of Oma from his reserves. As he watched, it moved amongst his three newly created, unfinished Nodes, and as it went it did something to them. He wasn’t sure what. Some kind of infusion and blanketing of energy that made the Nodes sparkle. Speeding the finalisation process.
Looking over the pouches of Oma crystals on his desk, some of them now entirely empty, Nicolai took count. He’d used almost half of his total in the past few hours, which meant once again he had to be careful and ration his crystals, as there were barely enough to complete the finalisation if he failed to find more in the coming days. In that regard, he wasn’t sure he could afford the activities of the Small Silver Ant.
It used quite a bit of Oma, continuously. His three new Nodes already passively drained a significant amount to keep themselves powered and finalising. The Small Silver Ant was taking a third as much as those three did combined, giving him a constant cost comparable to if he’d built four new Nodes, not three.
Nicolai’s impression was that it was certainly speeding his progress, but it was also likely using more Oma overall than he would need if he let the finalisation complete naturally.
At the moment, he was losing Oma passively. Even with his two new lung Nodes increasing his rate of Oma generation, his rate of replenishment didn’t match up to the combined passive cost of three finalising Nodes and the Small Silver Ant.
But it did mean his rate of loss wasn’t too bad, overall. He was actually losing slightly less than he had when his two lung Nodes had been finalising. If he de-activated the Small Silver Ant, his passive loss would turn into a small upkeep.
Nicolai found himself very glad he had chosen to grow his Lung Nodes first. The decision was paying dividends now, as it had put him in a much safer position with the creation of these three new Nodes. He wouldn’t need to keep such a careful eye in case he ran out without noticing. If he did, he could simply deactivate the Small Silver Ant. As he considered that thought he felt his paranoia, merged with Threat Analysis, swelling within him, and he knew that this actually changed nothing. He would keep a close eye regardless, because details mattered.
There were still hours of night left. Perhaps he ought to sleep, but Nicolai wasn’t sleepy. His eyes turned to the Memory Tomes laid out before him and he leaned forwards in his seat, taking one and setting it before him.
‘Steady your mind,’ said Kleos. ‘The tomes will seize you, make you read. They will carve the information they hold into your mind, until you can take no more.’
‘What then?’ asked Nicolai.
‘Then, you take a break, and come back when you’re ready. The more disciplined you are, the better your ability to take in information, the stronger your Soul, and the more closely your mind matches the creator of the book, the smoother the process will be.’
Nicolai opened the Symbiote Memory Tome to the first page. As before, the words there seized and drew his eyes, something similar to Soul Sense reaching out from the book and into him, but these were not simple sensory tendrils. They were rivers of information, and they began to pour into his mind.