My ears must have developed because I started to hear things! There was still a massive disconnect between my undeveloped body and my well-aged soul. The two simply refused to acknowledge each other, plus millions of neurons were still being built inside my organic brain that would let me take full control of my body.
I had passed all of the sound that my body was receiving through my Infoscope so that I could filter out the random white noise coming from my mom’s organs. I kept the sound of her heartbeat there, because it kept me relaxed, acting like a soothing background metronome.
I recalled that the Soviet ministry of culture sold vinyl recordings with the sound of a beating heart. According to the note on the cover it was an easy way to relax cranky newborns and even to de-stress adults - a carryover from hearing the mother’s heartbeat in the womb. I wasn’t particularly stressed living inside the womb, but I had to admit to myself that I was definitely starting to feel a little bit lonely. Having nobody to talk to for nearly nine months was wearing on my psyche, no matter how much I convinced myself that I was fine.
When I had fully tuned out the white noise for the first time ever I heard my parents' voices! The [Soul-Song] had translated the words for me instantly, but I had recorded their words regardless using the power of the NeuroVista so that I could manually learn their language later on.
“...to Millizens farm to deal with some pests,” this was definitely my mother, judging by the volume and proximity of the voice.
“Well, take it easy,” the male voice responded, sounding a bit muffled. It was likely my father. "Stay inside the wards and be extra careful... the blood Elks are hunting this month. They nearly drained Joahim Mavison last week!"
"Oh, is he okay?" Mom inquired with a twinge of annoyance and worry in her voice.
"He went too far out alone to hunt and got cornered by the herd. He completely ran out of mana, so he had to sacrifice his water-summoning skill!" Dad replied. "He nearly lost an arm chasing them off - the bastards are tough. Thankfully, Tamara was able to sew his wounds shut."
"Right," mom sighed. "Don't worry, I know to stay on the paths. I'm not a careless fool like Joahim."
“Our little girl certainly got a good role model!” Dad laughed. “Love you, bundle.”
“I love you too, my bundle.” Mom responded.
I found their pet names rather cute.
Did my parents use some kind of magic to identify my sister earlier while I didn't have an infoscope pointed outside of mom's body or was this future-prediction magic? I knew that future-prediction magic existed because I’ve seen my mom use a very basic [future - seeing - weather] spell to tell the weather. It was her job to take care of the fields and gardens so basic Meteomancy was one of her skills.
My parents will certainly be surprised when my sister will be born with LV3 and I with level 6 or 7, considering that I finally had enough experience to level up to seven. What was experience anyway? How was it stored? I had to look into that.
What if they are able to see a person’s level? That could be a big problem for me.
Considering that I was going to be born in two weeks from now, I had to start working on a mechanism to hide my and my sister's levels asap.
I switched all of my attention to create a [Conceal Level] spell.
. . .
I was identifying various things within the forest next to a field of grains in which my mom was working when I noticed something odd moving in the trees nearby.
A bewildering monstrosity stepped from between the trees and moss-covered boulders.
It was a four meter-tall combination between an elk and a walking tree. It was nothing like the elks of earth. It didn't have a head. Yellow-brown bone-like roots simply emerged out of its neck. Blood-like fluid was suspended within crystal-like tree-leaves and flowers, glittering in the sunlight above the beast.
Mom yelped and retreated away. The elk wasn't alone. An entire herd of them appeared from the forest, facing the ward of the farm that my mom was working on.
[Blood Elk LV 20]
my Infoscope defined the nearest beast.
By itself it would be a challenge for my mom, but there were hundreds of these creatures. They pressed as one against the ward and it flickered, warped, lit up looking like a colorful soap bubble. The blood elks pushed harder and then the ward suddenly shattered.
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Mom didn't waste time. She rushed behind a massive mossy stone outcropping and curled down below the overhang, her fingers digging into the ground. She fired a [growth] spell and thick tree roots blossomed all around her, engulfing her figure like a protective cage.
The elks silently moved through the farm. One of them spotted the sphere of roots my mom was hiding in, walked up to it and began to claw at the bark, tearing pieces off.
While the creature was fascinating from a biological point of view as a merger of blood, bone threads and crystal, it was also terrifying and exceptionally determined to get to us. My mom chanted the root growing spell as the elk kept tearing the roots apart.
I could do absolutely nothing, except identify that it had the blood of at least sixty different creatures inside the crystalline leaves. Unfortunately, I had no weapons, nor the ability to stop or chase away this beast. Modifying one of my existing spells into a weapon would take me weeks if not months. I had gotten careless, relying on the safety of the womb.
The fight between my mother and the blood elk continued, a terrifying dance of nature versus magic. The animal's monstrous strength kept tearing through the mossy barricade my mother had conjured. Each time the barricade gave, my mother cast another spell, forcing new growth to replace what had been shredded away by the claws of the elk that wished to suck us dry to add to its collection of blood-flowers.
As the stand-off drew on, I could see that my mother's strength was waning. Her spells, initially robust, were becoming weaker, the newly made roots thinner and less resistant. I could sense her fear, a sharp tang that filled the womb, making my own tiny heart pound quickly. The dread was like a living beast itself, gnawing at the edges of my consciousness, making me wish I could do something, anything, to help her. Unfortunately, [Sectus-anima] only worked against low level souls or small, active spells and the Blood Elk was a massive, crystalline-organic creature that seemed to be powered by the mana-enfised blood of its victims, like some kind of a god-damned vampire.
In the field of Soviet prenatal psychology, researchers noted that even a mere thought of indulgence in a cigarette or a swig of alcohol by the expectant mother was enough to unsettle the baby's heart rate in the womb. Now I was experiencing firsthand that there was indeed a biochemical and deep neuro-hormonal connection between the mother and the fetus.
I felt a surge of awe for my mother, a woman I had yet to meet in person and sent my mental support to her through the umbilical cord. I was also somehow certain that my sister was doing something similar, aware of our impending doom on some level.
Cassandra's focus was as fierce as the blood elk's assault. I could sense her love, akin to a protective pulse that wrapped itself around me like a cocoon, as tangible as the womb that cradled me.
As the seconds stretched on, I knew we were running out of time. My mother's magic was nearing its limit, and the elk showed no signs of giving up. I could only hope that help would arrive in time, while I remained trapped within my mother as a silent, helpless observer.
Tears sparkled down my mother's cheeks. Her voice became one of a desperate plea, instead of another spell.
"Ishira, All-Mother of Skyisle, I beg you," she cried out. "I offer you my skill - the art of [Parasitic Alleviation] as an Unbreakable Vow. Grant me your protection and power, enough help me save my unborn child!"
A silence followed, a pause so profound that even the heartbeat that had been my constant companion seemed to still. Then, a soft whisper of something rustled through the air, like a sigh of the wind through the trees, except different... wrong somehow.
The air around us seemed to shudder, and I felt an overwhelming surge of energy, observed shimmering, gold threads wrapping around Cassandra's body with my Infoscope. It was as if a vast reservoir of mana had been opened, its force suddenly flooding into my mother.
"Grow!" Cassandra cried out, pushing her mud-covered hands against the ground.
The roots around us surged, becoming denser and stronger, forming a thick shield of roots against the relentless beast.
The blood elk roared in frustration, its claws scrabbling against the reinforced barrier. For ten more minutes it attacked the root-barrier, refusing to give up.
Just when I thought that mom would run out of mana and would have to sacrifice another skill to the goddess, a new sound ripped through the air - the heavy thud of running footsteps. My heart leapt as I recognized the voice that accompanied them.
"Get away from my wife!" Georgi roared, his voice echoing through the clearing. There was a powerful crack, the sound of wood striking against bone, and the blood elk was sent flying back, crashing into the trees, the red leaves popping and spraying the forest with blood.
My father had arrived, wielding a massive log in his hands like a club. His muscular form was silhouetted against the sunlight, and he looked like a fierce bogatyr, a knight-errant from the medieval Slavic legends. He charged the startled elk, his face a mask of fury.
One of his skills in woodworking must have given him the ability to lift wood that was thrice greater than his weight. With a mighty swing, he smashed the wooden log against the beast's body again, sending it sprawling across the field. The blood elk struggled to rise, but my father was relentless, raining down hits with the log until the creature fled, limping away and vanishing into the forest.
Mom parted the root barricade with her magic and crawled out from within, panting and trembling.
"What got the elks so agitated?" She asked. "I've never seen them push through a barrier like that!"
A roar resounded through the forest and then a rumble of a detonation that made the ground shake. A pulse of visible magic flickered across the remnants of the ward of the farm.
"Dragon," Georgi replied, his face growing pale.