I opened a new tab on the scratch pad and got to work on listing prioroties.
Self power:
Eat people
Eat Mithril ore
EXP
Skill levels
Cultivation?
Unlock Hellfire Affinity
Sacred Treasures
Evolutions
Kids power:
EXP
Skill levels
Cultivation
Unlock Hellfire Affinity
Cores
Powered Amour and Weapon
Slime familiar
Sacred Treasures
Alchemy
Classes
Training potential
Cure what ever it is thats clearly killing him
I found myself still hovering in the air, my 2 wings beating rythmically by my sides, face-to-face with the delicate child, mulling over my peculiar circumstances. A swell of thankfulness enveloped me, this limited sight of mine, for reflecting on the plight of an unwell child could certainly tug at the heartstrings; I had witnessed far grimmer scenes in past experiences. Hell, I had done far worse to people before. But this was a tiny child, in a barest of rags, already knocking on heavens door.
My priorities remained straightforward: first, gather essential resources; next, ensure safety; and finally, locate a slime for the kid to bond to.
"Are you okay?" I huffed, mirroring the bark of a dog.
"I okay," he answered, his eyes alight with trust and hope, despite horrendus circumstances.
"Can I ask, how old are you my son?"
"Dunno."
I was about to ask him where we are but decided agasint it. He was clearly very young and neive about his surrondings.
Without any mapping or distance addons within reach, and the inability to see more than a meter in front of me, information and context would have to wait. I wasn’t surveying the territory just yet—my focus was on foraging. Employing a classic spiral search method, I commenced an analysis of my surroundings and the limits of my miniature form. I soon realized that my speed was rather disappointing. The idea of being simply a centimeter tall yet capable of matching a normal human’s pace would have been delightful in another context.
After what felt like an eternity—ten minutes, my frustration unrelieved by the absence of my clock addon—my keen sense of smell caught the alluring whiff of five-petal clover. Within the span of thirty seconds, I found myself perched on the ground, gazing up at the towering, 3cm tall plant. Thoughts drifted to herbalism, especially the crucial techniques for harvesting the plant without exhausting its magical essence. Luckily, this task was deemed elementary; all I had to do was gather it under sunlight with a swift cut beneath the petals.
With both front paws, I deftly seized the plant as it fell, relishing the dexterity of my thumbs. I zipped back towards the child, eager to aid him.
"Here, eat this. It’s good for you," I proclaimed, offering him the clover, specifically talking slowly and with small words.
He reached out, fingers eagerly snatching the herb, tossing it into his mouth without hesitation. Children typically require minimal persuasion, unless concerning matters they wish to evade, and it seemed this young lad was quite ready for culinary adventure.
As the herb settled in his throat, tracking its passage through my olfactory senses became a challenge—but not an insurmountable one. After all, I was a Canine Gargoyle, a designation defined by three fundamental traits: the ability to soar, hellfire, and the extraordinary knack for perceiving mana. Even starting at level 0, I could trace the mana flow within a living being’s body. It was a captivating experience, and I savored that reality. By level 500, I would perceive mana traces over vast distances, and at level 1000, I would nearly attain omniscience regarding all magical essences on this planet. Ahhh power. The font of freedom and joy.
In the midst of congratulating myself for the shrewd choice made centuries prior, I noticed something odd: the herb simply... vanished. It did not disappear in the conventional manner—its essence hadn’t been extracted and dispersed to nourish the child’s body. There were no remnants left as if it had never existed.
"Curious," I muttered to myself, "how do you feel?"
"Okay," he responded.
I anticipated more detail, but silence filled the void. "Well then, let’s see what else I can discover," I announced, with a soft shake of my head.
Once more, I inhaled deeply to confirm that no predators lurked nearby and resumed my exploration, retracing my steps(wing flaps?) back to the five-petal clover’s location. It became evident that the area had recently been foraged, limiting my options to just four other minor herbs I could safely extract for sustenance.
Given my limited carrying capacity, I resolved to return with each herb before embarking on another venture. As I plunged through the leaves, I felt my disappointment bare down on me. Where the herbs had flourished, only remnants remained, a witness to the recent harvest frenzy. We must be close to a town of some kind.
Yet, the moment the herb reached the presumed ‘stomach’ of the child, it ceased to exist. I registered this oddity for future examination. After retrieving my fifth and final herb, I decided to pause my harvesting efforts. I needed to focus on acquiring a slime—after all, the boy might bear an obscure curse rendering food toxic. Unlikely, but I preferred to err on the side of caution and observe for any symptoms before proceeding further.
Fifteen minutes later, as I broadened my search radius into familiar territory, a towering wall caught my eye. Soaring higher to assess its height and what lay beyond would prove pointless. "Oh, look! A blurred gray-brown patch… informative," I muttered sarcastically under my breath. Yet, my nose remained a more reliable instrument, as the rich aroma of human magic drifted over the wall toward me. This had to be the child’s hometown. I estimated him to be approximately a kilometer away from the barrier.
The local magical creatures likely avoided this alluring scent. Humans meant hunters, and hunters signaled danger. For a level 0 child to venture beyond the protective walls of his town was nearly tantamount to suicide. I discerned it was time to retreat.
As I navigated back through the dense foliage, I pondered the mysteries surrounding not only the child but also the peculiar characteristics of the herbs I had harvested. The pieces of this puzzle lingered at the fringes of my thoughts, urging me to delve deeper. Might they uncover the child’s condition or reveal more profound truths about the enigmatic world I had re-entered?
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Upon my return, I espied the boy nestled snugly against the gnarled trunk of an ancient tree, his weary eyelids fluttering like moths drawn to a flickering flame as fatigue claimed him, stealing away his vigor like a thief in the night. Energy seemed but an elusive phantasm for one so utterly drained. I lingered close by, my heart torn between the primal urge to rouse him and the instinctual inclination to allow him respite. A fierce protectiveness gnawed at the edges of my instincts—what if danger lingered just beyond, poised to strike like a coiled serpent waiting for its moment?
The sun would be hidden soon, casting an eerie pallor over the desolate landscape, and I realized that this was a risk I was unwilling to entertain. The most nefarious predators always emerged cloaked in the cover of darkness, waiting for the unwary. My senses sharpened, acute and alert; I could feel the palpable trepidation in the air, thick as a winter fog. Or I was being paranoid, either way, better to be safe.
I managed to stir him from his slumber after a few gentle nudges, and together we ventured toward the town, following a sparse, uneven path that twisted through the underbrush. I kept my mana signature minimal, a survival instinct honed over countless trials; I chose to hide beneath the frayed collar of the child’s shirt as we drew near to the town gate, where two hulking figures kept watch.
"Scum. Cutting it late this evening, aren’t we? Hurry up. Get inside," snarled the guard on the left, his voice dripping with disdain as he glared down at us with eyes like ice.
So, they truly did call him such. The boy mumbled a quiet "Thank you, sir," his gaze fixed upon the ground, a profound weight of reality clinging to him as we edged past the guards, my heart heavy with the grim truth of his existence.
Traversing the ramshackle town was an agonizing exercise in disgust—each breath tainted with the stench of decay, a noxious blend of death, suffering, disease, and crime. Once again, I found solace in the fact that my senses were limited to level 0. I only needed to be acutely aware of the cruelty within a mere dozen meters around me. I dreaded that if I could sense the full extent of this blighted town, I would lose control, overwhelmed with the burning desire to purge this realm of its filth.
As we passed a dilapidated husk of a house, I felt the chilling pulse of violence—someone was committing murder within its crumbling walls. I forced the sensation down, repressing the instinct to intervene, as the child’s tiny steps carried us closer to where he called home.
We arrived at a dead-end alley nestled between two crumbling hovels, just as the sun dipped low on the horizon, painting the sky in hues of crimson and indigo. I noted the chill that had settled in the air; autumn had indeed made its entrance, evident in the tattered coats worn by the townsfolk we passed, each bracing against the encroaching cold. We reached the end of the alley, where my nose detected the presence of three others already gathered, their silhouettes framed against the dim light.
"We were just warming up your spot, Scum," the smallest of the trio laughed, a smug grin plastered across his face. His companions joined in the mirth, their laughter echoing in the narrow confines.
Had I possessed any natural scent or taste, I would undoubtedly have registered the unmistakable odor of urine. From this distance, I could see the ground in one corner was wet, a telltale sign of their vile activities.
"Thank you," Scum replied, curling into a tight ball on the tainted ground, resignation etched into his features—a small testament to the weight of his reality.
"Ohhh, special treat, Scum! I've got a little left in the barrel!" The tallest boy exclaimed, delight coloring his tone like the vivid shades of vermilion.
Do not dare. I will soar down your throat whilst you sleep and consume you from the inside!
Yet the teen, oblivious to my mental vow, unleashed a torrent that struck Scum upon the head and arms as he sought to curl even tighter into himself. My blood boiled at the sight, the urge to fulfill my vow surging within me, yet I held back. The eldest among them seemed to boast level 11—a single strike could very well extinguish my summoner's life, sending me careening into the abyss of the next existence, should there be one at all. I doubted my current strength sufficed to bypass their innate vitality, so I resolved to tread a different path: poison.
Just as the alchemical flora could be deftly shaped to concoct remedies, capsules, potions, and enhancements, so too could they be manipulated toward a contrary outcome. I propelled myself forward, gliding northward along the very path we had traversed. My connection with the boy granted me the uncanny ability to perceive his location at all times, and I felt no anxiety about the prospect of getting lost. Indeed, I might have strayed without my navigation device, yet I could always find my summoner.
In less than an hour, my reliable sense had detected six toxic plants that could swiftly eliminate anyone below level 50. Had I been composed of flesh and blood rather than stone, I would have never dared to intentionally apply erroneous herbal practices to amplify the toxicity, as it would endanger the collector. At this juncture, I was consistently thankful for having relinquished my humanity. So many advantages, so little sacrificed.
Once again, due to my diminutive stature, I had to transport each one separately, so after gathering them, I paused to bind them together with a single blade of grass, then secured it to my hind legs, prepared for the journey back to town.
As I slipped back into the alley, unseen, I felt invigorated by purpose. The moonlight cast a silvery glow over the damp pavement, where shadows danced in rhythm with my movements. I spotted the trio I had been waiting for; they lay sprawled on the ground, laughter echoing off the walls like a ghostly reminder of their past transgressions against those weaker and smaller than themselves, especially against my companion Scum. Gripping my deadly bundle, I steeled myself, my resolve hardening as I envisioned the reckoning that awaited them.
With calculated precision, I approached the largest boy, my heart pounding with every silent wing fall. The air around us crackled, charged with my anticipation. I knew the toxic mixture would work swiftly—a reckoning for all the grief they had inflicted upon the innocent. As I deftly crushed the herbs with my paws, the vivid colors of purples, blacks, and greens merged into a single damp heap. My senses tingled with the potency of my creation; it would soon become the instrument of their demise.
Once I had a handful of the verdant chaos, I soared up and gently dropped it into the first boy’s waiting mouth, quickly repeating the process for the other two. The two smaller boys stilled, their bodies growing limp, not even a whimper escaping their lips as they breathed thier last. The eldest fought a little longer, managing to wake up for a few moments to desperately claw at his own throat, his panic palpable in the air, until he too succumbed to the inevitable.
EXP gained: 200
Level up x 4
New level: 4
The surge of power from my newly acquired experience resonated through me, sending ripples of adrenaline down my spine. I soared above their lifeless forms, utilizing my skill [Spawn Egg] to deposit the delicate eggs into the expiring mouths, the remnants of my vengeance ensuring a haunting legacy. In moments, the spell invoked a change, albeit minor compared to previous transformations; yet, I felt a familiar comfort in the pulsating magic surrounding me. I envisioned the army of ants that would soon arise, my first summons always there to serve, the lowly workers of The Hell Dimension.
Scum, god damn I hated that name, remained blissfully unaware as he twitched and shivered amongst the wet dirt he called home. I chose to sit beside the three lifeless bodies, quickly anticipating a feast for my new Spawn.
My thoughts drifted as I awaited the ants to begin their grisly banquet, contemplating what evolution awaited me after this act of primal necessity. Would I gain the same options as before? Would I ascend to a higher echelon of power than ever before? Those questions raced through my mind as I considered my future in this perilous yet thrilling realm.
Once the last morsel of grey matter had been consumed, I resolved to rouse the trembling boy beside me. Together, we would venture forth in search of a new patch of dirt, a sanctuary for our newfound alliance. But upon observing the remaining pile of poison, a wicked grin spread across my faux furry face, as my stone-like claws tapped together in delight, eager for the unfolding consequences of my actions. In this world of elemental power and moral ambiguity, I sensed that my journey had only just begun, and waking up to 10 or 20 levels was a lot better than waking up to 4.