[Null?]

I roll the name around in my head, feeling how it sounds.

"Yeah? What'd you think?"

[It's not... bad.]

The ground began rumbling.

[Joule? Are we having an earthquake?]

[The ground's not shaking - you are!]

I begin shivering before my carapace splits, a larger version of myself emerging from it, and then that one breaks, and it happens two more times before I'm finally done growing.

[What was that?! We grew more from that than that chicken earlier!]

[I don't know! We didn't even absorb energy, and it didn't look like it hurt. It was like a totally different process!]

Noah grinned. "I thought that would happen! My little singularities don't like being unidentified."

[Singularities? But I didn't detect any - ]

She paused in the middle of her sentence, and then continues in a stunned voice.

[You fed him a black hole?]

"Pretty much! But don't worry, he hasn't blown up yet and doesn't show any signs of doing it soon."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Blown up?! What does that have to do with growing?]

[Getting blown up is probably the best-case scenario! There is no way on this floating ball of rock that you should have survived what Noah did!]

King Kapoof barked in agreement, perhaps a little annoyed that I hadn't blown up. The ground shook slightly in response.

[Wait, so I'm going to explode?]

[No!]

"Of course not! Probably. Maybe. Okay, like a twenty percent chance. Twenty-five, tops."

I stare at Noah for a long time.

[I seem to remember something about the 'other ones' when I woke up the first time. What exactly were you talking about?]

Noah's grin freezes.

"WellIhopeyouhaveanicetimewithyournewnamegottagetKapoofbackseeyoulater!"

He vanishes along with the dog, leaving four deep pawprints pushed into the ground.

[He's really weird sometimes.]

Joule corrects me.

[No. He's really weird most of the time. Whenever he isn't terrifying or hungry, he's really, really freaking weird.]

[Huh.]

I sit there for a moment, contemplating the freakish dog and its even stranger owner.

[Did he say that thing was Izzy's dog? Who's Izzy?]

[...I'm probably not supposed to tell you yet. And anyway, don't you want to know about all your brand-new upgrades?]

[Definitely. What's the difference look like?]

[It's pretty huge. Whatever having a name does, it's pretty dramatic. Your size has increased to about six times your previous max, to say nothing of the improvements to your Void.]

I flex my mandibles, testing my muscles. I don't really feel any different aside from a distinct thick feeling on my carapace. It's an excellent upgrade since I can probably keep my old run-and-jump strategy going for a while.

[What were you saying about the Void?]

[You're actually generating void energy now. It's impossible to run out short of using a full Void Creation at full power.]

[Now that is good news. What about the mana, is that increasing?]

[...Not really, but we should be able to absorb ambient mana way faster. Trust me, this will be helpful in the long run.]

[I'll take your word on that. First, however, let's go eat something.]