Mike stared inward at the dense cloud of gas he had formed over the past several days.
When I have the time, I need to develop cosmic energy dense potatoes. he thought, his stomach squirming at the thought of the copious amount of meat he had eaten over the past week in order to build up the energy stores.
If I don't spruce up my diet soon, meat will certainly be ruined for me… He continued internally, until the thought of a garlic seared pot roast came to mind and he was forced to amend his statement. Or at the very least wurm jerky, which would be a shame since that is the only source of food I currently have. The cyclical logic becoming too much, he refocused on the task at hand.
When Energy Sense Leveled Up, the energy flooded into my body, before coating the entirety of the skill’s formation. I have spent a week memorizing my skills, so I should at least be able to do that much. He figured that after the skill was properly coated in energy, he would be able to mumble forward until he figured out the next steps. That basically summarizes all of my interactions with the System to date.
He had gone back and forth on which skill he should attempt to transform first, on the one hand, Unflinching Meteor had saved him probably more than any other skill, and it would be nice to have that be stronger. On the other hand, Fortune's Folly was never going to be used, and if something went wrong and a skill was ruined in his first attempt, he would prefer it was something worthless. However, he was unsure what side effects upgrading the skill would have on his life. Pulling up the skill, he found the original summary given by the System:
[Skill: Fortune's Folly
Once per day, you can influence a situation directly by channeling your Luck into it]
The worst case scenario would be that the skill started applying to actions whenever some invisible criteria was met, changing from an active skill to a passive skill that he had little control over like Damage Premonition. He felt a headache coming on at the thought of Damage Premonition warning him of an attack, only to have Fortune’s Folly make him somehow trip into the attack when he attempted to dodge.
“It just isn’t economical,” he said, causing the pups’ ears to perk up at his voice, “the risks are too great and there really isn’t any reward.”
He had already been through all of this logic multiple times, so after a moment’s pause, he looked inward, condensing his cloud of energy as much as he could before guiding it through his channels until it reached a rune located behind his sternum. Foraging had been a tough skill to identify, but he had finally managed it after planting his potatoes in the sand and then digging them back out numerous times… as far as he could tell, this was the only skill fractal that remotely pulled in energy during the activity, so he was around 70% sure it was in fact Foraging. If he succeeded and the skill upgraded, maybe it would help him better find food in the wilderness. If it failed… Well, he still had way more meat on hand than he wanted to eat presently.
Using all of the mental energy he could muster, he guided the densely packed energy into the skill fractal, and began coating each surface, doing his best to overlay it evenly. It took almost an hour to complete the task, and by the time he finished, sweat was dripping off of him and he felt the beginning signs of a migraine–something that had plagued him before the System, but had been remarkably absent ever since.
When at last the skill was coating to his satisfaction, he willed the energy to be absorbed, but nothing happened. His next attempt was to force the energy into the channel's walls, seeking to crack the sigil and force his energy into the opening. A tear fell from his eye and made its way down his cheek and into his mouth. Rather than the salty water he anticipated, he tasted the sharp metallic tang of blood.
Bleeding out of my eyes is a bad sign, so that probably isn’t the correct method.
Finally he simply willed the energy to become solid, seaking to coat the already existing skill with a permanent new layer of energy that he provided. The channel glowed brightly, and it seemed it was going to work, but then the bottommost area coated cracked, the inaudible action sounding like thunder in his consciousness, and the energy he had meticulously collected over multiple days was sucked out of his body in an instant.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“AAAAAaaaghh!” he screamed against the pain, rage, and frustration.
The fox cubs jumped at the sudden noise, cowering in the corner and causing him to feel instant remorse.
“Anger always does more harm than good.” he heard his mother’s voice say, and he bent down, approaching his charges as gently as he could before scooping them up into an embrace.
“Caaaaaw! Caaaaw!” The distant peel of a carrion bird alerted to their position caused his embarrassment at his outburst to mount.
⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫
Every occupant of the vessel lined the hallways leading from the port doors and into the ship proper, their tentacles rigidly positioned into a salute. System Leader eyed them with pride.
“Honor to the Queen above all!” System Leader proclaimed, causing a few newer cadets to straighten their posture. Their words hadn’t even fully died out before the hissing gas of the ships pistons was released and the port door opened, revealing the interior of the ship which had attached to their own.
A hundred yards into the other ship, System Leader could just make out the face of Sector Assimilator walking forward with what System Leader assumed the much younger spawn thought was a confident swagger, though they recognized it for what it truly was: the uppity, gaudy walk of a being that thought themselves above all others, and had never been proven otherwise. It was the same with nobless of the younger generation. Those that had never seen unsimulated combat or felt true fear assumed that they were untouchable, because that had been shown to them their entire lives. Their combat training never had any real danger. They never faced starvation or wondering where the next meal would come from. They certainly never had anyone talk back to them. It was a true stroke of misfortune that System Leader had so many of this type accompanying what was supposed to be their final mission. Probably even more unfortunate than the anomaly, they thought.
Still, it wasn’t up to them to change things, and System Leader dipped into a bow, which rolled like dominoes down the stationed troop as Sector Assimilator crossed the threshold into the ship.
“Laud, The Queen!” the chorus rang out from every throat, pounding the air with the gusto that every member of the crew felt for Her Spawnliness. It was a triumphant cry, and one that still caused squidbumps to appear on System Leader’s neck and tentacles, just as it always did.
“May her spawn creep forth forever.” Sector Assimilator said formerly, though System Leader felt with more haughtiness than one of such low cultivation should feel.
System Leader fell in line behind Sector Assimilator as the procession made its way up from the port to the central chamber. No sooner had they arrived, than the interrogation began.
“Has the anomaly managed true cultivation yet?”
“No. He has managed to trace all of his pathways and has even learned to crudely gather the cosmic energy from meat, but he has yet to figure out how to integrate it.” It was an accurate and complete accounting, and hopefully the straightforward nature would make the whole situation more cordial. System Leader was not one to make excuses, that was for the younger generation.
“Understood. And so far he is following the prescribed course of learning to cultivate from his Skill Tree, is that correct?”
“As far as we can tell, yes… alth…”
“Excellent, well then the matter should fix itself without further need to implement Phase 4.”
“We think it prudent to remind Sector Assimilator that this anomaly in particular has a way of never conforming to what is expected. They have repeatedly circumnavigated our attempts at stunting their growth. It may be wise to think of secondary…” System Leader was rudely cut off again.
“If they manage to cultivate, it will be with energy that we provided, which means we can continue to strengthen the skills, methods, and core structure that the Hive has provided. This means that they will be at our complete mercy whenever we decide to cut off the cosmic energy, it also means that the built in safeguards will continue to be strengthened. Tell us, why is it that you are so dumb that you don’t even know these basic tenants? How many missions have you led again? How did you make it to the rank of System Leader?”
A low hum filled the chamber as the crew heard their leader addressed in such a manner, but that was subdued, as the innate fear of those from more central regions of the hivelands was well ingrained in them. More audible were the slight chuckles coming from the posy who surrounded Sector Assimilator, the ones they had raised up to be officers and leaders over the entire integration of the sector.
A flush of red crept through System Leader’s neck and they sucked in air as they tried to stay calm, unfortunately, the sound sounded more like they were puzzled than that they were just trying not to explode in anger.
“Hah, can’t even answer that question, huh? Don’t worry, it was rhetorical, which means you weren’t actually supposed to answer. Show us the way to Junior Administrator so we can get off of this farce of a ship.”
Thoughts of retirement and not being boiled alive and fed to young spawn enabled System Leader to remain calm, as they nodded and began leading the retinue to where Junior Administrator was being held.
All assembled were so shocked or entertained by the conversation that no one saw on the screen as the anomaly stepped from his makeshift shelter and walked towards the approaching monsters with way more confidence than anyone of his Level should have a right to feel.