Deep within a nest dug by its servants, the Cicada Queen’s legs fluttered over a pulsating mass of genetic fluid. She stood a solid ten feet tall when not squatting and working in her nest. Six spindly legs rose up to sharp joints before curving back toward her chitinous bulk. Her wings edges were sharp as steel. The queen’s heavy marbled black thorax waived back and forth as her excitement mounted.
That’s where the similarities to her kin stopped. Where her head should be sat a sleek humanoid torso that only mimicked the features of a mammalian female. Instead of smooth skin the torso was covered in rough jagged chitinous plates. Four arms jutted from the single shoulder socket. One facing in front of her while the other two pointed straight back. The same sharp edges that adorned her leg joints could be found on her elbows. Each hand was a pointed vicious four fingered claw. Her buzzed with small flexing proboscises all moving independently. Above that were her two multifaceted eyes set deep in her skull just below a crown of antennae.
“Awake my knight.” She said manipulating the sack with her front claws. “It is time to show the humans that this forest is ours and they are merely cattle.”
The fluid sack writhed and oozed with cloudy liquid. Within was the shadow of a mostly humanoid form. Her excitement was overflowing now. Soon she would unleash her newly designed brood. They would bring more food back to the hive. More meat for consumption and further enhancements to their form. The small woodland forest creatures yielded poor results in the past. The large bovine creatures gave her the genetic tools to increase their size. It was the humans, the sprayers and the stompers, that afforded such enormous potential. Their genome was so varied and malleable. They would eat them all to become this world’s new apex predators.
A tearing sound could now be heard from below the queen that brought her back from her deep reverie. The sack split as her newest creation pulled itself into this world. The hands were claws just like hers, but the carapace was tinted green. The wings uncurled from its back and stopped behind its knees. The eyes had grown smaller in size compared to its brethren.
She leaned in closer to inspect flicking the chest with one of her fingers. A dull thump came from it. The hollow resonance was deep telling her the outer armor was thicker than she imagined. It had a pair of antennae curved out from above its forehead. The skull itself sloped to a point just behind the jaw line making it easily turn its head left and right without scuttling around like its forebears. The legs were thick and multi-jointed.
“Why do you still hold that in your mouth? You’ve left your old form behind,” she asked gesturing to a folded piece of trash wedged into one of its mandibles.
Her improved servant rolled its shoulders and performed a few squats in place. It reached its right hand up to the side of its face before cupping its chin in thought. It worked its jaw for the first time before things inside its mouth started clicking in sequence. Then its mouth started buzzing.
“I want the brown human to know I’ve carried this shame all this time before I eat him.”
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CJ rolled twice before getting up to his feet. He gestured at the bikes receiving a nod in acknowledgement from Monty. The three men inside the smoke cloud continued to yell at each other and fire randomly.
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“Okay, I’ll shrink Elena and Jenn’s bikes,” CJ pointed as he continued, “You get Rubio’s.”
“What about your bike?” Monty whispered as shouts and running feet could be heard further south of their position.
“Just do it.”
CJ cast Spatial Compression in quick succession bringing his overall mana levels down to fifty two. After his right leg took that shotgun blast, he’d earned another sixty mana. That told him close range shotguns did at least thirty damage. For his plan to work he would have to switch his active title to Repair Man. He quickly stored away the two bikes before Monty hopped over with the third. After storing that away he pulled something else from his inventory just before someone emerged from the smoke cloud.
Thug Two finally managed to roll out of the smoke. He was bleeding from a bullet wound in his side but instead of looking around decided to lean up against the wall of the CVS to collect himself. The wound wasn’t gushing blood, but his makeshift body armor had a hole in it.
New Message from Rubio: You sure you don’t want backup? Elena is right by the door on standby.
New Message from Party Leader CJ: I’ve got an idea. No reason for another firefight. Remember, there aren’t many of us left.
CJ looked at the Boss Monster Concentrate in his hand before reading the prompt one more time.
Boss Monster Concentrate-This sphere represents the concentrated corrupted mana of a boss monster. Boss monsters are most often guardians of high quality items and gear. This can be used to upgrade a skill to the next level or evolve an existing ability. Once consumed the corrupted mana will be purified.
Would you like to use this now Y/N?
CJ chose yes. A list of abilities appeared in his vision, and he quickly found the one he was looking for, Harbingers Grasp. He applied the concentrate to Harbingers Grasp before straddling his bike.
Ability Evolution, Harbingers Grasp has evolved into Harbingers Proclamation.
Evolved Ability: Harbingers Proclamation- Cost 20 mana. You speak a verbal warning to anyone within the sound of your voice that will resonate with the target’s mana reforging their pathways and reconnecting their cracked slates. The effect of Harbingers Grasp are still available for zero mana cost.
“Holy fuck, that’s exactly what I needed,” CJ couldn’t believe his good luck. He turned the motorcycle over and revved the engine to draw as much attention to himself as possible. The other two goons stumbled out of the cloud in the direction of the sound. Shortly after one of the troop carriers pulled into the parking lot. Ten more people filed out, all in mismatched gear. Some were holding clubs or pipes, while others had handguns.
“Listen to me, the world is on the brink of collapse. Humans need to clear dungeons scattered around to purify the abundance of corrupted mana.”
CJ felt his internal mana swell with his words. The people that came out of the truck were no phones. The dark outlines around their heads made it very clear to him that their slates were malfunctioning. He applied the twenty mana cost to his words. The air vibrated around him as the blue light of mana lit up in the eyes of all those whose slates had just been repaired.
The sound of weapons clattering to the ground could be heard throughout the parking lot. They were all clutching at their heads or staring blankly into the distance. CJ knew this meant they were reading their messages for the first time. He w
Secret Quest Complete: Truest Repair Man- You have mended the slates of at least fifteen people without dying. Rewards; 5 attribute points.
“Abracadabra, mother fuckers.”
“What… what does this mean? What’s a Gunmen?” asked one of the HS goons.
“Is this why we couldn’t understand what people were saying? Goddess of what?” asked another.
Ten peoples confusion made him realize that it wasn’t enough to connect them, someone needed to tell them how to use them. Was this going to be his role? Did he have to baby step everyone he connected through this? It was a good thing he was no longer alone.
New Message from Party Leader CJ: Hey, everyone get out here. We have some new Slate users to integrate. Bring Liber with you.