The shapeshifter started the day with some amount of confusion, as he walked out of the cave to see Giuseppe and Zilch animatedly engage in conversations about many different subjects. He hadn’t seen them get along together in the past, but it seemed like Theo was wrong.

He waved with his ant leg at them while approaching, “Hey guys. I see you’re having fun over there,”

Giuseppe was the first to reply, “Hi. Zilch was telling me how to create a Soul ability and other cool things. I don’t really like the idea of having destructive powers that can hurt others, but since abilities can be about anything, I got curious,”

Theo nodded, “That’s right, I don’t think there’s a limit on what you can make your Soul ability about. One human girl I saw could heal wounds, and another one had the ability to sense creatures. But before you make one of your own, you should tier up to tier three,”

Zilch nodded, “Our instructors told us that it’s better that way. Anyway, Theo, I needed to tell you something,”

The shapeshifter perked up in curiosity, tilting his ant antennas in anticipation and waving at the deathworm to continue.

“I think… I think I saw, or felt, scouts closing in on us an hour ago. I was patrolling the surroundings, and I felt the faint presence of someone watching us. As soon as I noticed, it disappeared, so I can’t be totally sure, but my instincts tell me that it’s nothing good. What do we do about it?”

Shit. We have too many enemies on too many fronts. Theo said while walking in circles. The Emperor and the Army are likely after me, as they probably don’t know that Arthur is dead. The Kingdom seemed angry at me, and in retrospect, I can’t exactly blame them. The elves lost someone important to them, so I doubt I won’t feel the consequences of it. SHIT!

The golden ant punched the ground multiple times, swearing all the while. Sayuri fell from the ground above into the ravine, joining the group with a confused expression.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

“Alright, so here’s the thing,” Theo began while including every one of his friends in the mental connection, “We’re absolutely fucked, to put it short. The Monster Army, the Kingdom, and the elves are looking for us, or me, specifically. I can’t imagine being able to fight them off at the same time, especially thinking of those high-tier humans,” Theo shuddered at the memory of the Defenders and how easily they had toyed with him. “I don’t know what we can do about it, to be honest,”

Zilch looked at Sayuri for a moment and back to him before saying, “Is everything alright? It’s not like you to be this…realistic and cautious.”

“What?” Theo said, eyes and mandibles wide open in shock.

“I just think that you sound a lot different now than back then, after we met. I remember how you barged into the bandit base without caring about the dangers of it. It’s just something I’ve noticed about it, I don’t want to offend you or anything!” The deathworm quickly added.

He turned his head to Sayuri, “Is that true? Have you also seen that in me?”

She hummed and nodded, “You’ve become less ‘colorful’, we can say. Not that I dislike the change, I think it’s an improvement,”

He then turned his head at Giuseppe, “Don’t look at me, I haven’t been here long enough to see any change,”

“Saul, are they telling the truth?” Theo asked to his Soul. Saul hummed and seemed to think for a moment.

“You were definitely more rash and careless, sure, but I wouldn’t say you ‘changed’ that much. I think you just became more mature, and maybe the extra processing power you’ve gotten along the way helped with that, who knows? Is this even something worth thinking about? You could be attacked by your enemies anytime, you know.”

“Hm, maybe you’re right,” Theo replied.

“Well, whatever, it doesn’t matter that much. We should focus more on our next plan of action and what to do. Does anyone have any idea?”

Giuseppe was the first to talk, “Um, all this stuff about Souls and Skills seems similar to video games and books I’ve read at home. Can’t we grind to be strong so others won’t bother us?”

“The idea behind that is great, but here’s the thing. I don’t think any amount of grinding can help us against what we’re going to face. It’s a great short-term solution, but we need to think of something safer. Zilch? Sayuri?”

“I agree with Giuseppe. Rigorous training is the only way to succeed in life,” Sayuri said.

“What if… we contacted the other country? There are three main ones on the continent, right? Since two of them don’t like you, we could try and talk to the last one?”

Theo nodded and thought about it, “That’s not a bad idea, I thought of that too. I have one issue with it, and that’s the fact that they’re in an alliance with the other two, so I don’t know how we could safely approach them. There’s also a bounty on my head, so that makes it even harder,”

“We don’t have other choices, though, do we?” The deathworm asked Theo and the others. No one seemed to have an answer, so they agreed to try to secretly and safely scout out potential allies in the Zason Confederacy, the country on the west of the continent. He had even tried asking the Zero-One collective, but they seemed strangely reluctant to help him on that matter. The basics of the plan began to form, and the day after, the four of them began walking west, hoping to find what they were looking for.

- - -

Interestingly, the yellow vegetation didn’t change much as they continued traveling, with the only difference being the slight color variation going from a vibrant yellow to a muted green, resembling mundane vegetation on Earth. Multiple mammals resembling monkeys and rodents immediately retreated when they noticed the group, but Theo managed to snatch most of them and take a sample of their DNA, which deeply satisfied his Soul. Giuseppe decided to walk on his own, which was decently faster after the others had convinced him to tier up to tier three. Theo was in his golden cheetah form, just for the sake of it, and Sayuri was walking by his side. Zilch was underground.

“So, are there a lot of magic spells in this world?” Giuseppe asked in an unusual display of curiosity. The young man had looked healthier and generally happier since Theo had first met him.

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“Tons. Other than what you’ve seen from us, I saw a giant snake that could breathe fire and control hundreds of fire golems. The tree monster that you saw some time ago also had an ability to conjure up a titanic tree. There’s really no limit to what you can make with Influence, I don’t think. Except for practice and how much Influence you have, of course,”

“So, how do I make a Soul ability?” Giuseppe asked.

“I would teach you, but we might not be the best instructors for that, and you might accidentally do something wrong in the procedure. We were helped by high-tier monsters, but we don’t have that privilege now,” Theo explained with reluctance.

“Ah, I understand,” He said while looking at the ground.

The group spent the next few days marching west for any indication of the Zason Confederacy, but they didn’t see anything except nature and the occasional monster. One time they almost intercepted a group of humans, ‘Adventurers’, but they weren’t spotted so Theo and the others simply went around them. After an additional couple of days of endless vegetation, the land began clearing and fewer trees occupied the ground, which showed promise. A river being present also increased the chances of civilization existing nearby in some capacity.

Theo was the first to spot the watchtower with a person in it, so he told the others to immediately stop. He sent a mental communication to the others, “We need to decide how to approach them. Do we barge in, guns blazing? Or do we sneak in and find someone specific, maybe like a mayor?”

Sayuri sat down, cross-legged, and answered, “We aren’t snakes that need to hide. We will meet them head-on,”

“I think we should sneak in and find some kind of leader, like a city lord or whatever,” Giuseppe added.

“If this is the confederacy, it means that they’re made of a bunch of humanoid races. They won’t be as distrusting as the Kingdom, but I bet they’ll be just as cautious towards monsters,” Zilch said.

“Mhm, alright. I like Giuseppe’s idea the most. If we just casually walk up to them they might start a fight before we can do anything. I think me and Zilch should be the ones to move inside, we both have ways to be stealthy,”

Both Sayuri and Giuseppe nodded without further comments, and Zilch asked, “You can now transform into elements, right? Can’t you transform into air and fly inside the city?”

Theo shook his head, “I’ve noticed that when I shapeshift into elements, especially ones that aren’t solid matter, my Soul gets exhausted incredibly quickly. Even if I could last long enough, my Core cannot transform. It would reveal me in an instant.”

Zilch sulked slightly but nodded otherwise.

Prometheus continued, “But I do have something better. When I came back from my last quest, I found a tree creature that was invisible and didn’t even use Influence for it. I should be able to replicate it,”

Theo then took out the data regarding the tree’s genome and studied it closely. Apparently, the cells used were structured in such a way that light ‘glided’ off of them and shot out from the opposite side of the skin, essentially creating an invisibility effect. He couldn’t understand how it worked in its entirety, but he guessed it had to do with the peculiar molecule present as the cell’s external membrane. It was something he had never seen before, and its composition should have been impossible, as it was too unstable to exist. After some minutes of experimenting with his exoskeleton, he was able to get it working well enough. It wasn’t complete invisibility, as it looked more akin to the transparency Zilch possessed when his power was activated, but he had to work with it.

“Perfect. Zilch, move underground and don’t forget to use [Soul Cloaking]. I’ll be right behind you. We can’t have anyone discover us through our Souls,” He suggested before his friend nodded from below the ground. The shapeshifter burrowed underground, right behind the deathworm and they began burrowing themselves toward the watchtower. Theo lowered his body temperature and reminded Zilch to do the same, as the Golemancer could do that with the genetic improvements Theo had given him.

The two continued onwards for another kilometer forward, and they decided to stop to let Prometheus scout out their surroundings. He shifted an incredibly thin tendril of skin with a vision sensor on top of it, studying their surroundings above ground. Farmland covered most of the surface he could see with only a handful of farmers working them. They were carrying massive plowing carts behind them. They’re each as strong as around… six oxen. Impressive. They’re all tier four too, the same as us.

He could also sense the farmers use some technique or ability that saturated the ground with Influence, probably boosting its fertility or some other quality. Turning his vision around, he was able to spot… a large meeting square. Wait. What exactly am I looking at? A square in the middle of farmland, unprotected by walls or anything else? What the fuck?

They burrowed closer and indeed saw a large open area with many tables holding food, drinks, and entertainment items such as throwing hoops or jumping ropes, as evidenced by a young girl grabbing one and jumping rope with some friends. The weirdest part was how some people would occasionally step out of thin air and move to either join the square or to the farmland. That happened quite frequently if Theo stopped to study it closely. Pure confusion arose in his mind.

“Zilch, you have to look at this. These people are stepping out of nothing and moving on with their day,” he told the deathworm. He then described in detail what they were doing, with most of the ones that appeared either looking like farmers or young children. Other times, artisans of any type and many other professions stepped through, but only to spend some time in the gathering area. Theo couldn’t distinguish any leader among them, as most adults were all tier four, with a minority being below that.

Theo told Zilch to go back and explain that the two would spend some time scouting around and that the plan was going decently well, although without many results. When the deathworm came back, the two sat down in a comfortable room, waiting for anything that might let them understand what was going on.

“You think it’s some kind of ability?” Zilch asked while shaping a small ball of dirt and playing with it.

“Could be, but since everyone can use it, maybe it’s an artifact? Maybe this is a single person that teleports everyone, like whoever controlled the portals for the Monster Army, and maybe this is just a farming settlement and they have their houses somewhere else.”

“That’s such a powerful ability,” Zilch hummed.

“Hmh? Why?”

“I mean, you could open a portal on top of a large city, like, very high up in the air, and push a massive boulder through the other end. Or open many portals around someone’s neck and stab them from where they can’t even see. There are infinite ways I can think of using portals and teleportation,” The deathworm continued.

Theo was only half listening as he was studying the Influence behind the teleportations. They weren’t portals, he was sure of it, but there was also a different detail that made him narrow his eyes. It felt like the teleportations were made using the ‘Anima’ from the world itself, rather than a living being’s Influence. He could tell because Anima was a lot less structured and chaotic, while Influence tended to be much more controlled and stable. What does this mean?

Halfway through the day, the farmers and the other people all began gathering in the square, one by one, as if expecting something. They reminded him of crowds gathering at a concert. When no new people teleported in, he counted that the ‘village’ had two hundred and fifty-four residents. That was until his Supernality sense began screaming at him, a large surge of anomalousness seeping into the air around him, on the stronger side of what he had experienced in his life. It’s nowhere near the Unsafe Hours, so what is this? I should also make some system to classify how anomalous these things are. I will put the strongest one, the fleshy anomaly, at ten and the weakest one, Zilch’s anomalousness from his power, at one, since that’s the weakest one that still triggers my Supernality sense. If the falling star was a Class 9, and the radio a Class 2, this feels like a Class 8 anomaly!

A humanoid figure teleported into the gathering area, this time much different than the others. First, he was completely hidden by long and luxurious clothes, and a large, golden crown adorned by brilliant gems rested atop his covered head. Not an inch of skin was exposed. A black fabric seemed to be the base of his clothes, covering his head and hands under the red clothes. They were intricately decorated with white lines depicting ancient battles and dozens of soldiers. He couldn’t feel his Soul, which could mean two things; Either he was hiding it with a technique like [Soul cloaking], or he simply didn’t have one, like other anomalies. Maybe he has an insanely strong power? Maybe that’s why he’s appearing so strongly to my anomalous sense. Actually, I don’t think that’s the case. My instincts are telling me that that’s not a human at all.

As Theo had listened more and more to the people throughout the day, he had translated their language, which sounded like a combination of Arabic and the language used in the Iulan Kingdom. For that reason, he could understand what the anomaly was saying to the people when it began speaking with an extremely deep but smooth voice, “Good evening, my loyal subjects. As you all know, today is the Third Harvesting Day, where I will personally hunt any foul beasts and bring you back the spoils, which I’m sure you all will appreciate, right?” he said with a hint of humor, Theo recognized. Light chuckles escaped the crowd, and the ‘king’ continued, “Before that, though, I wanted to ask you something. Did anyone of you Awaken a power?”

The people in the crowd looked at each other in confusion and shook their heads.

“I’m asking because I can feel a slight…disturbance in the crowd. I won’t force anyone to talk about it, so we will move on. After the Confederacy’s belligerent and incessant attempts to bring us under their thumb that have been going on for months, they seem to have finally recognized the value of keeping us as an independent entity. And, if things are how I suspect them to be, it is not because of their kindness. After all, who would trust when a monster tells them not to be afraid?” He then looked around the crowd, nodding at the smiles directed at him.

“I am confident that the war with the Monster Army has put a lot of pressure on the Civilized Races, and given our incredible defensive potential at the border between the Monster Army and the Confederacy, they have decided to give us independence with the hidden intent of using us as a buffer state, which is essentially cannon fodder. But rest assured that I will do anything in my power to prevent any harm from coming in contact with you all. With that said…” The anomaly then continued to explain his plans with transparency and enthusiasm to the people under him, who all seemed excited and reverent of their leader from how loud they were cheering and clapping.

When the meeting ended and the atmosphere became more casual, everyone began drinking and eating, while some talented singers sang in the square, allowing the dancers to flow with their moves to express their emotions and passion. The ‘king’ was drinking something while talking with a couple of men at his side, and Theo took the opportunity to move. He burrowed behind the leader and shifted a thin, invisible tendril with a vocal apparatus near the man’s ear. He felt the smell of cheese all over the man, and under the clothes, but ignored it and whispered, “We need to talk,”