"Were you not invited?" He frowns thoughtfully. "They would have burned your badge when you paid the fee. Otherwise that price is very favorable for a walk on."

I needed an invitation? Welp... Wait, 20 stones is favorable? Wow. Big town prices for this here country bug. Golden Rivers was a tourist trap and still cheaper. Or maybe different economies? I am in a new kingdom... Oh! It's the price to pay for the chance at tasty spirit beast flesh! Like these things are super common, not in this area, and it's an insane markup. Wait. Is hunting like the lottery? Pay for a chance? I'm gambling on the --.

I get bored with my introspection. I tune back in to see my new bud -- who still doesn't have a nickname, and I'm not calling him Running river. Makes me think of mud butt. -- putting salve on his stump. But it wasn't bleeding. I thought he treated it already? No, wait. It was a quick wrap up. That still didn't bleed much. Huh. Miasma or martial magic? Or medicine. The Silent Howl in my memories keeps getting pissed that I keep not thinking in alchemy, and then getting more annoyed that I keep calling it alchemy instead of medicine crafting. 'Cause poisons have numerous health benefits.

Bleeding? There are poisons that restrict blood flow that can be applied locally. Broken limb? Once it's set there are poisons that can help increase blood flow to the area. Poisons for scarring, callus formation, even reducing the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, temporarily, can all be used to help people. Just because they're usually abused doesn't make poisons bad. The difference between a poison and a medicine isn't it's abilities so much as its most common associated use. It's not the poisons, it's people.

I knew there was a reason I liked Silent Howl. I like the way he thinks.

I'm riding a cloud of good vibes, Hunter -- is that his name now? Real creative, me. Disappointed. --. I'm riding a cloud of good vibes as hunter gives me another quick physical, checking to make sure I haven't missed any shed on my wings, checks my silk, prods at my bald spot, all while rubbing a tingling cream over my exposed scales. I'm shedding a lot less and I think he's literally saying I just need to put lotion on my scales to stop them from just falling off, but my scales are elemental essence I release and mix together into a ball of mutating death on my enemies and prey alike.

What was I thinking about? I start to nod off as he gently sets me back on the top of the boulder, just soaking in the sunlight and drifting. I nod off, fight it long enough to open my eyes when I remember that I was talking to someone, see that I'm alone, then nod off. I don't remember what I was doing, so it must not have been too important. I flinch when something touches me, then drift off again when I see Nature Boy. Thinking of him as Nature Boy tries to draw my attention to something, but the thought doesn't step out of the background, so I go back to sleep.

Until someone sprays me in the face with shiver thorn like it's a refreshing way to stay moisturized. Then I'm awake. I sit up, eyes wide, focused, -- how the fuck do I keep closing my eyes when they're just eyeballs. Oh, ew, I have mini-eyelids on ever facet of my buggy eyes! Wait. No. Can't see them unless I focus on them, otherwise my eyes are just changing colors. Which they do anyway... -- then refocus when I remember that I woke up and saw a group around me before I hyperfocused on being an anthropomorphized nightmare bug. I imagine a buggy me going around with a hunan mouth, talking and smiling to reveal hunan teeth, hard nope, give myself a little shake, then turn back to Zoolander --. Nope. Wrong kinda joke. Zoo Keeper? No.

"I put healing cream on it earlier and it passed out like I'd used a tranquilizer," the guy who won't stop playing with dangerous animals because he can tells the others gathered around him. There's a woman with a hack job haircut, -- looks like she just grabbed chunks of hair and sawed them off until the back of her head where she has a poorly maintained ponytail --, a man who looks average -- like he's the background character in the background levels of Joe Everyman, -- except for the weird bushcraft ghillie suit he's got on, and some fresh faced kid with a spattering of freckles across his nose looking stunned as hell. "Figured shiver thorn might wake it up."

Nat Geo? No... I go to groom and end up rapid-fire combing myself like I'm punching a speed bag. Nature Boy -- no, he's a grown ass man. Why can't I think of a name for him? -- bursts out into raucous laughter, the others recoiling lightly. From me, not him. How bad off am I?

"Okay, so it reacts strongly to medication," Nate -- that'll do -- chuckles.

Fucking how? I can, and do, eat anything. What was in that salve?! I glare at Nate for a good minute straight before I realize that I'm posted up, dodging left and right, just hackles up, head down, looking like I want to fight. I'm not trying to start stuff! He already started it!

"Starweed does that to bugs?" little lady hackjob points at me, grimacing and slightly turned away while pointing at me.

"No, I think it's something related to how I'm so good with animals," Nate says, kneeling down and petting my head while I'm ready to tear his hand off.

And I don't do shit. I don't even feel like doing shit. I'm just sitting there, ready to fight, while this dude is casually running his hand through the silk on my head. He makes a sound, just a little "oh?", and pulls back with another Denii string wrapped around his pinky. What the fuck... Gods, that's embarrassing... I groom and this stuff keeps popping out of me. I need to find that setting. I slap away Hackjob's hand as she tries to dip into my silk. She yelps, pulling her hand back and cradling it, frickin' Nate still running his hands through my silk, and I have no idea how he's not getting got.

-*Get off!*- I shout at him when I don't move or try to slap his hand away.

"Aye, she's grumpy now!" Nate crows, scooping me up. "Well, she's healed up, so we can try to hunt together," he grins, turning and looking down at me. "All you have to do is put on your little light show.

"All that essence concentrating in one area drew nearly everything down on you," he chuckles and I flinch hard. I had no idea. "We're going to start off with deer. They're not worth much individually, but they're speed targets and every part of them is a treasure. We get enough of those and we can call this trip worth it, short of journeying to the Shimmering Hills."

They all laugh, I don't know why, but I get to remember and learn -- soul suck! -- that Shimmering Hills is a place that looks like a spirit realm, but it's actually a bunch of metal essence influenced by the other essences in the area. Silvery stars, golden sun, bloody moon for copper, and more. It's a great spot for ores, if you can handle the well camouflaged, reinforced, heavenly spirit beasts. The fact that more than a handful of deer were caught is a testament to whatever group managed to capture and transport them. One deer is considered a treasure, so how much did they spend to go on this hunt that they need several to come out even? I'll know when I figure out where exactly I am in relation to the rich heart of the country or empire.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

So... I don't remember volunteering to be bait. Again. I don't remember agreeing to these team tactics. I don't remember us signing a contract saying that he's not just manipulating me, planning to dump me the second they get what they want. And while I'm glaring up at him he hands me some tasty jerky that I eat immediately. Now he's laughing again. Fack! How does he keep doing that?!

Ghillie Suit tells everyone -- even his voice just blends in with the background. Fack, dude! -- that the deer were on the cliffs taking advantage of the harder terrain and just knocking people off of the unsteady footing, sometimes aiming for the hands people were using for climbing. Nate suggests sending me -- just calls me "the moth", doesn't even try to come up with a good nickname. Rude. Thought we were friends. -- up, just flying around harassing them, and trying to bully them down or off the cliffs.

"Alright," Freckles frowns, eyes hard.

If he touches me he's going to get slapped, too. I glare at him as he walks away, turning back to face the group and lowering his head. He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and resting his hand over his heart. Is he about to sing to me? The Qi around him whips up, his hair and clothes dancing before a light forms in front of him. He breathes out, throws his head back, and what looks like a s silk moth with snowy coloring appears. It's medium dog sized, the wings nearly as large as the boy behind it, and it just hovers, wings beating slowly.

-*What is that?*- I swear I think I remember seeing one of those at the logging site I gave Jade Pearl uppies at.

"That's a Moth Queen. Not quite like you, though. Although, when she's stronger, she can lay eggs," Nate starts out speaking in his soothing voice then ends with a frown, arms loose to arms crossed.

So... Send the moth meant this moth, not me, and it's a baby queen. But she's not a void moth so... I swear I'm not jealous and I feel absolutely no urge to stomp this monochromatic baby bitch. Yeah, she's fluffy, but she's so bland. Which one of us is older? I swear I think she's trying to rip off my style.

I'm sitting on the ground, fuming, forelimbs crossed against my chest, silently fuming, and I don't really know why. This lady is clearly not a threat. She's only got one accent color, a frosty blue, can't lay eggs yet, and she doesn't even get to wander around outside. Wait, why did Freckles have to burp her up? Are there more?

-*She came out of the kid? Does he have an ability to store spirit beasts?*- I ask Nate, mentally moving away so I'm not just sitting at his feet, but physically I'm literally just sitting at his feet.

"She's a true spirit beast that formed in his core when he was a baby," Nate smiles lightly, the tension easing out of his profile. "She grows with him, protecting him. It's in her best interest after all.

"While she's outside his core she relies on the energy she's saved up, energy he has to provide while she's developing inside of him. Eventually she'll be able to leave for longer periods of time, then, once he's strong enough, she'll be able to move on and live a natural life." Too weak to stay outside, bubble girl is a leech. Got it.

"Snow Jelly," Freckles says to bubble girl and I still don't know who the hell comes up with pet names. They deserve to be punched. "We need you to go up the cliff and scare the deer down, okay? Don't do anything dangerous. Stay safe, alright?"

-Of course!- she does a quick little back roll and I don't want to be impressed, but it was very tight. Bish did an aerial backflip.

-Do your best, but they'll probably send me up to take care of it,- I grumble, eyes narrowed, and I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me that I'm getting so pissy at this complete stranger. Maybe I'm lashing out because of Nate's creepy mind control?

-Completely unnecessary!- she fucking bell tinkle talks at me, sounding like a fairy before she spins in place and launches herself skywards.

When she gets on the level of the deer she flutters and then just stays in the air, her legs curled in like they're not developed enough to actually extend.

-Hello! Valiant Wind Knight wants you, so I have to take you down. Please don't blame me!- she finishes with a polite bow, eyes closed, -- in the air! -- then straightens and unleashes a head-sized beam of off-white light, just death beaming the side of the cliff.

She drags the lazer across down and across, just zig zagging real quick, deer leaping away from the cliffs into fear, which wouldn't be a problem if they weren't just jumping out into open air. The bodies come down --

[Piercing Shot x5 Successful]

[Successful Uses 84/100]

[Qi -30 x5]

[Karma -5 x5]

[Feeding x5 Successful]

[Current Condensed Qi: 1,831,384/23,764,793]

[Current Qi: 249,392/957,945,100]

[Current Karma: 95,059,172/107,275,977]

[Max Will: 9,579,451]

[Mortal Wallet: 10E,27K,180P,154R,179Da,155De,105k]

[Spirit Wallet: 0Dr,0Ph,0Th,1199Di,126Co,10506St]

-- and I take a nibble from each one before letting them continue on their trip to the ground. They don't all land well, and they don't all die from messy impacts. I'm not about to bank them knowing they'll be loose until I go in and bank them or kick them out. I don't know if I'll be able to catch them or how much damage they'll do, and them disappearing from the air to start sprinting into the distance for us to try to catch again? Nah, I'm good.

-No snacking!- Her fairy highness admonishes me in her grown woman playing a child in a cartoon high-pitched shriek.

I'm sure someone thinks it's cute, but she's a grown ass little woman hiding inside a child and feeding on his lifeforce. That's a "yikes" from me. It's the whole witch stealing youth from children for me.

"Snow Jelly says the void moth was stealing Qi from all of the deer!" Freckles shouts, racing over and helping the hunans finish off the survivors and check the bodies.

-*Weird how they didn't just sprint away...*- I tell Nate, completely deadpan.

"Very good!" Nate laughs, beaming at me. "Eclipsed Rainbow says that they're the reason the deer that survived didn't have the energy to sprint away."

-*Who in the hells is Eclipsed Rainbow?*- I narrow my eyes at him.

He did not just rename me without asking my name first. ... Still better than Kissy Kissy.

"You are," he comes over and boops me between the eyes. I can flail once he's safely out of the way, but I can't hurt him on purpose. "Rainbow During the Full Eclipse. Eclipsed Rainbow for short," he smirks, looking smug AF as he stands, hands on his hips.

I don't like that I know he means a spray of mystical spray of color while the suns and moons are eclipsed, that it is romantic and poetic, and maybe more than a little badass, but it's a bad omen. And way too accurate. I get a slideshow of catastrophes and cataclysms that take place during eclipses of any of the celestial bodies, nevermind the world ending events that occur during the full eclipse of all of the celestial bodies.

-*What do you know,*- I narrow my eyes and want to try to sync, but I don't trust it with Mr Untouchable here.

"Not much, Kisandera," he grins at me and a screen pops up with one of my earlier large forms, a quick blurb, and a fucking reward for dead or alive, but must be fully intact. What the fuck? "Thought you were some jumped up boogeyman for the backwoods cultivators in the Stunted Empire, but here you are, and as crazy as the stories say."

-*Come again?*- What the fuck is going on? Why's there a bounty on me?

"Guess you wandered off and got lost?" He frowns, attention elsewhere. "It's just a missing poster versus a bounty or arrest warrant, after all."

It's not a bounty poster? I check again and it really is just a "have you seen this ...?" notice.