Things ██ alright on ██ end.
Hans nodded, flexing his limbs, removing any stiffness in his body. He was quite happy with the changes to his body because for one, he got hands now! Well, calling them hands was an overstatement.
Since they were nothing but spindly insect limbs with three fingers. It was frail and weak with how the carapace around his lower arms seemingly being thinner, unable to endure throwing a single punch, but on the other hands, it was far more dexterous than his claws. Not something he expected when he picked a path with goliath in its name.
Not that he was complaining, it was better than nothing after all.
Is ██ body change █ result of ██ choosing a path?
“Oh, you know about them?” Hans asked, before he squinted and noticed the changes that have occurred in Em. “I assume you picked one as well.”
That is correct.
Make sense, I mean, look at them. They have a neck now!
Asger, don’t be rude. They always have a neck, don’t act like it's something new.
But look at them! They’re literally turning their head to face us. They couldn’t do that before, you know!
That is just because they were a literal fetus trapped inside of a crystal. Now, they’re a child trapped inside of a crystal, so of course they could move their head. Their body is more developed than before.
Also, this is a weird hill to die on, Asger. If you were going to pick a hill to die on, I would have expected you to pick a better hill. Don’t steal my shtick.
Yeah, yeah.
It is ██ alright. The confusion █ understandable, not everyone has the perspective ████ to notice something so ███ to human anatomy.
What you are implying here…
Is my intent ██ coming ███ clearly ██ you? ██, forgive me, █ would seem my [Telepathy] is not █ high ███ level. You’ll have to come to ██ conclusion for yourself.
You little…
“Alright, both of you, knock it off,” Hans said. “Not when I have both of you inside of my head.”
Apologies.
Will do.
Sighing, he picked up a bloodied pebble with his hands, feeling the texture. The feeling he got from it was quite muted from what he could remember when he used to be in a human body with human hands.
He then tossed the pebble over his shoulder as he picked up the dead scuta with both hands, examining the corpse before he began scooping the flesh and bone out of its shell. As he was doing so, Asger and Em began to converse with each other over topics that he had no understanding of.
Like, what is the creation of life and combustion supposed to mean? And how does Asger even know anything about that, wasn’t he a voice that came from his head? Never mind, he’ll get an answer out of him at a later time.
When he was done with scooping out the shell, leaving behind the spine which was attached to the shell itself. Bringing the shell up to his eyesight, he turned the shell over, feeling the slight cracks and spine before placing one of his hands inside the shell, using it as a makeshift arm bracer..
“Hey, look at what I made!”
Did you just call scooping the inside of scuta out of its shell as making something? Can’t wait to see how you make a dagger. Probably just rip out the teeth of some rats.
It is █ good use of ███ resources. Although, ███ need more shells in ███ to protect your arms considering they seem ███ frail compared to ██ rest of your body.
“Well, that would be rather hard to do,” Hans said. “Cause it looks like that these turtles are rather rare around here, considering I only encountered two of them during my time here.”
Well, it’s not like he had to actively search for them. He trusted his defense after all, something that was only further enhanced by his transformation.
“Now that the intruders have all been killed. What do you want to talk about now?”
…█ wouldn’t mind ███ outside.
“Hmm? You mean going outside?”
Yes.
“Well, I can bring you outside if you want,” Hans suggested.
A pause of silence was his answer.
Heh. They want to go outside but they don’t suffer the indignity of being carried! Hey, Hans, maybe you should clean your hands for our dear royal here.
“Shut up, would you?” Hans furrowed his non-existent eyebrows at the voice’s remark, although he was now eying his hands which were coated in blood and gore. He proceeded to wipe them on the hides of some random monsters.
Yeah, yeah. Hey, Em, if you don’t want to be carried, you could just carry yourself with that telekinesis or whatever that you did to that muscle rat.
███ was ██ telekinesis.
“Uhhh… Did you say that was telekinesis or it’s not telekinesis?” Hans couldn’t help but ask. “Because well, you’re getting a little distorted there.”
Apology. █ meant was it ██ not telekinesis.
“Ah.”
Then what is it?
Another bout of silence.
… ██ remember ███ I talk about ██ memories before we ██ so rudely interrupted, ██? What you witnessed was ██ letting ██ them out for a moment.
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Hans paused, processing everything Em had just said, piecing. It took him a while to do so with Asger understanding it a second faster than he did becoming a spluttering mess, but when he did, it only served to make him even more confused.
“How can memories crush a rat to death?” Hans questioned. “They’re just memories, they don’t have a physical presence in the world.”
That’s what I’m saying!
They don’t? They’re always trying to break free and get themselves a body. That’s why they crushed the rodent, because they're blind.
Wait what?
“Are you sure they’re just memories? It sounds like they’re more like restless souls from how you describe them.” Hans said. “Because memories are just supposed to be how you remember things, not homicidal angry spirits.”
Not to mention ones that wanted to take over people’s bodies. Wait, from how Em describes them, these “memories” were still inside of them as it was stated that they were only left for a “moment.” Thus, they were writhing around in Em, waiting to break free.
“Em?”
Yes?
“Are you sure that you’re alright?” Hans asked. “Because having those “memories” doesn’t sound like a good time.” Especially when it was stated that they wanted a body of their own.
…If that █ what you are ██ most concerned about, then no, I am not in any ██ of danger from the ████ memories. For they ██ ███ contained and ███.
“I see…” Deciding to change the subjects, Hans said, “...About wanting to go outside…I can still carry you outside if you want. If you don’t mind how dirty they are.”
I don’t mind. I’m ██ surprised ███ you were so ready ██ help me.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Hans looked at Em, confused. “You’re my friend are you not?”
…
…
…
Hans.
“What?”
You do know that you only know them for like a couple hours, right? Don’t you think that’s too short of a time to call someone your friend?
“I have known Em for more than a couple of hours and you know that. Also, time doesn’t matter when it comes to forging bonds! Otherwise, why would I even have tolerated you for this long?”
Because you can’t get rid of me?
“Unfortunately, that is part of the reason, yes,” Hans admitted without much shame. “But like I said, the forging of bonds is not impact by something as trivial as time!”
Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Clicking his mandibles, Hans decided to ignore Asger for the time being, and redirected his attention back toward Em. “Anyway, what’s your thought on the offer?”
This time, an answer came swiftly.
Yes. I accept your offer.
Oh, that’s nice. With Em’s acceptance, Hans reached out, brushing aside the shattered walls, and plucked them off the wall. He had to carry them with both of his hands, although internally, he was shuddering as the tentacles on the bottom of Em’s crystal.
They wrapped around his hands, securing Em in place.
Even with the sensation in his hands being quite muted, Hans could still feel the suckers on the tentacles on his carapaces and it felt weird. And uncomfortable, but mostly just weird, Nevertheless, he endured it and began making his way above.
Em, however, sensed his discomfort.
Apologies.
“No, it’s fine,” Hans said. “Although, I do have to wonder, how good are you with those things?” They most likely aren’t that good with them, considering the only thing he had seen them do was anchoring Em in places like walls and ceilings.
Not ██ well. They’re ██ heavy to ██ quickly ██ ██ now █ can barely feel anything ███ them.
“I see.” Hans nodded as they began to move upward, his claws digging a way for them. The tunnels that he had dug beforehand had collapsed during the monster attacks, leading to him having to dig new ones. Although even if they hadn’t collapsed, he still would have to dig a whole new tunnel considering his increased size.
Thankfully such a task were easy as fuck for someone for him.
[Mole’s Senses - Lv. 5] Leveled Up!
A small spot of light appeared in front of them, gradually growing larger and brighter until Hans burst out of the ground, Em in tow.
The harsh light of the sun greeted him like an angry chihuahua barking at a stranger. It splashed against his carapaces and face, heating them up as well as temporarily blinding him. His eyes soon adjusted to the lights and he took a look around.
It was… Calm, very calm to say the least. Not the chaotic mess that it was the last time he was up here. No monster stampede, no giant worm, none of that.
Which, thank God, because he was not about to deal with all of that shit right now. He was here to show off the surface to his friend, not to get into fights.
That can come later.
Temporary Skill: ████████ ████ has been removed
...
You have gained the skill [Mental Fortitude - Lv. 1]!
[Mental Fortitude - Lv. 1]
Increase mental strength and migrate mental attacks
Hmm? What was that? Did he just get a new skill? From where? And how?
“Asger, do you know what’s going on?” Hans’ head snapped in various directions, as he tried to see if there was someone else with them.
As far as he could tell there was no one near them. Just them. There were no alarms from his body, no shiver down his spine, none of that. There was also no vibration that had appeared during the entire time they had been up here to indicate someone had been near them.
Don’t know what happened nor do I think I want to know.
Well, Asger doesn’t know and there is only one other person he can ask…
No. If you ██ asking about ██ new skill. ██ no, I don’t know anything about ██.
How did they—Oh right, telepathy.
Lesser Telepathy.
Right, lesser telepathy.
“Did you receive it as well?” Hans asked.
Yes.
Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any adverse effect from the new skill so it was probably fine. Nothing to worry about. Besides, it was a new skill so he wasn’t complaining. Even if the circumstances around achieving it were a bit strange.
Turning his attention away from the new skill and toward Em, Hans asked, “So, how do you feel about the surface?”
It’s…Different.
“Different how?”
It’s different from how I remembered it. Then how they remembered it.
Hans paused. “The memories?”
Yes. From what I could remember—what they could remember—all of this used to be a lush forest that stretched from miles on end.
Oh, that… Was definitely different than how it is today. Extremely so, considering the fact that he could barely see any vegetation around as nearly everything around them was sand, piles upon piles of sand. He could imagine what happened here.
Em, however, wasn’t finished.
It was ██ peaceful in a way. There were monsters, yes, but there were few of them, ██ the people █ ████ lived without worries. Thus, all I ███ feel when I look at what it ██ becomes is… Sadness ██ regret because it doesn’t.
Wait.
There used to be people here? Wait a minute, Em have “memories” about the past, but they act more like spirits that want to be freed, and want a body of their own. What if they weren’t just spirits but instead…
Hans?
Buddy, where are we going with this?
“Em,” Hans began. “Do you have dead people inside of you?”
…
…
…
How the fuck did we get here?