WELP. That just happened…

They were most likely related.

Christ…

So what now?

Escape. Arigold is probably on his way here, if he finds us he’ll either kill or capture us.

Oh right… Yeah, good point, I’m not giving up on my Isekai Adventures just because this Jackass has a Job!

Let’s find an area with lots of Food, I got an idea. Arigold didn’t kill the Children, just Mother, He was definitely more than capable of killing them all before they even knew what happened, but he didn’t. He’s probably going to bring them here, not sure what he’ll do with them, but I know he’ll bring them. Once we develop our Telepathy Skill, we can contact Lex and figure out what’s going on with his side. Then we can create a Plan to get him and everyone else out, we could be with our Siblings.

That does sound nice, but we only knew them for a Day. We COULD use that Food Storage to speed up our evolution and become stronger, increasing our chances of getting out, while also giving us a more concrete foundation to live off of.

Or we could just Run the moment we saw an opening, but no. I want to save our Siblings, I want to get to know them, and grow as someone New with them, I want to go on adventures with them, I want to see this Whole New World with them.

Then it has been decided, we’ve first gotta’ get to that Food Storage Area, and create our own Personal Stockpile we can feed off of until we develop the Skill. And I doubt we can eat food faster than IDM drains us, so it’ll have to be slow.

That’s a good point Chamber, but I should at least be able to develop you guys a Skill with it every now and then, provided you eat a ton when I do.

Alright then. So our first order of business is to find Food…

I look around, we’re still in Gradabor’s Room, it seems he’s already left to tell Valigold about my existence. Not good. I should have kept an eye on what was happening around me.

Aribelle is gone, it’s just Me, Norala, Miraha, and Gabdin. Miraha picks me up, and says. “Hey, uh, Demitallis?” It seems she’s still getting used to my Name. “Beep” I beep in acknowledgement of my Name. “Are you okay? You kind of went silent for a moment, Gradabor got worried and ran off to get Food, he thought you were dying of Starvation.”

Wait, for real? Now I feel bad for thinking he was going to rat me out. “Beep” Miraha tilts her head. “We need to get you more word options…”

“Beep”

After a while, Gradabor returns with multiple plates of Food for everyone. “BEEP!” I make an excited Beep, and Gradabor places some food in me. I break it down and consume it. “You know, I’ve actually seen Pond Kings crush Human Children and digest their Mangled Bodies.” And at that moment everyone completely stopped eating their Food. “Dude what the hell?” Norala asks, holding a Fork with a bit of meat on it. “Oh, sorry, I was just reminiscing on all of the Friends I lost to Pond Kings and Great Lake Elders. It really is amazing to see one like Demitallis here.” Oh yeah, I guess He must have been around when that was all happening. “So, how long ago was it, before Prince Arigold wiped them out.” Gradabor places his hand on his Chin, and lowers his Head, deep in thought. “Why, I would have to say that was around 2,000 Years ago, I was really thinking I had seen the end of these things…”

Damn, he’s Ancient. “Wow, you’re ancient Mr. Gradabor.” Miraha says, as everyone finally regained their appetite. Gradabor just gives her a death glare. “Say that again, and you’ll be coughing that food back up…” Miraha steps back, and takes another bite of his Food, a drop of sweat leaking from her forehead.

I guess Humans can live for thousands of years here.

I guess it makes sense? Since Magic exists, you can expand your Life Expectancy.

Still though, He’s been around for longer than 2000 Years, what the hell has He been doing for 2000 Years?

What the hell has Arigold been doing for 2000 Years?

Once everyone had finished their Food, Gabador decided he should get back to what he was doing, and told us that we should get going too. And so that’s what we did, well it’s what My Friends did, I actually did something super clever, I used the Mana I got from that Food, and I created a Watery Doppelganger, then I made an opening in the bottom of the Bowl, and escaped through that. The most clever part however, was how I resealed it. I used a super sticky Viscous Mana to hold it together. So now my Friends think I’m in the Bowl, and I am currently exploring the Castle.

I’ve gotten really good at holding My Body together, and I’m even trying to work that Limb Skill I came up with. It’s kind of working.

How much time do we have?

I’d say, about an Hour, the food has really helped.

Oof, not good.

We’re growing a lot stronger at least.

Yeah. That’s good.

I continue to walk around, trying to stay out of everyone’s sight, I scare a Guard every now and then. I was even chased at one point, they really seem to not like this creepy form of mine.

After about 40 minutes of stumbling around, I finally found the Food Storage Room.

Yes! Alright, now we just need to find somewhere safe we can put all of this!

Good job Charlotte, check the Floor, can we Dig? We could use Water Jets to burrow under one of the Counters and build ourselves a Skill Creation Nest.

Right, let’s see…

I check the Floor, it’s just Iron Panels with Nails embedded in them to keep them stuck to the Floor.

Alright, good, we can make Dummy Nails and use one of the Panels as an Entrance.

Good idea, I’ll get started on that!

Man, you’re really good at coming up with Plans, Chamber. What would we do without you?

Ha, it’s not all me Mr. Fear. We would probably be stuck with Stupid Arigold or even possibly dead if it wasn’t for you.

Thanks, Chamber.

It took a while, but here’s what I did: I used My Body to pull out multiple Nails and then I crushed them into flats, they’re the same exact Nail, but instead it’s the Head, and a small bit that allows it to sit in the Nail Holes in the Metal Panel. As for the Metal Panel, I’ve so far been able to use some of the Food to dig out a Hot bundle of Dirt, and then I used Water Jets to make a Pool. As for that, I make sure to flow my Mana into the entire Pond, and purify every 1 Hour so nothing takes my Food.

Now all I have to do is move all of the Food into my new Pond. As I move Food into my Pond the Room starts to seem a lot more empty than it was. Oh well, this is a Big Kingdom, they’ll survive.

Now that everything is ready, let’s take a full look at the Road Map. Mr. Fear!

Alright. Here’s Step 1 of the Road Map: Mana Field, Mind Sense, Brainwave Detection, and Mana Linking.

Step 2: Mind Magic, Thought Relay Magic, Thought Decryption Magic, And Mind Linking Magic.

And now, for Step 3: Passive Mana Storage, At least Lesser Mana Regen, Mana Efficiency, Lesser Enhanced Focusing, Lesser Speed Speech- at the least, and finally:

Telepathy.

Fuck that’s a lot. Don’t we have to activate all of those at once to just use Telepathy?

Oh god no…

Don’t worry, I’ll be doing the brunt of the Skill Activation, and you’ll be doing the Speaking and Legwork.

THANK YOU SO MUCH I COULD CRY

Please, we share our experiences between each other, we’re only capable of doing what each other would do if we were capable of it.

Now. let’s get started.

Good luck Charlotte.

Let’s do this!

First is Mana Field, funny enough, since I could spread my Essence and Mana across the whole Pond, it was a great starting place for learning Mana Field.

Mind Sense was a bit tough, but I was able to test it on myself, and a few Guards that passed by every now and then.

I focused on my Mind Sense, and I found their Thought Waves, it was a cocoughany of Signals Codes and Actions all keeping The Soldier Working.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

And Finally, Mana Linking. This one was a little tough, I analyzed my Essence and I made a Mana Essence. Using this Mana Essence I linked myself to one of the Guards, sadly, when it disconnected due to distance, my Body freaked thinking it had disconnected from it’s Essence. This happened for about 5 Minutes until I managed to replace it with a perfect copy and disconnect it again.

Alright, I’ve finished the first set. How long was that?

8 Hours.

Shit, is that good?

Maybe? I’m not sure how long it takes People to make Skills. Anyways, no time to waste, get moving!

Time for Step 2!

And with that, I continue forwards with Skill Creation.

I create Mind Magic using Mind Sense, I now have Full Mind Magic.

I created Thought Relay thanks to Mind Magic, Mana Linking, and Mana Field.

Thought Decryption was tough, but I used a lesser form of IDM to create it.

Now for Mind Linking. I used Mind Linking on one of the Guard, I could read his Mind. I had developed a Mind Reading Skill.

Yo, guys, I just developed a Mind Reading Skill!

Good job, Chamber and me were discussing what Skills should go into what, so now Mana Manipulation has become Mana Control.

Yes, Mr. Fear was the one who came up with it.

Oh, I see, how about Mind Reading?

Well let’s see, I would usually put it in Mind Magic, but I think I’ll leave it as a Stand Alone Skill. Also, this one took you 6 Hours this time, you’re getting faster at this.

Sorry, but we should get Telepathy done already, we’re so close!

No, no, you’re right, let’s get going.

Alright! It’s time for the Home Stretch! The Final Frontier! Let’s do this!!!

I begin to focus all of my Mana until I compress it into one area, and I consume 3/5ths of my food storage and enhance my Mana Pool. Now that I have this, I can develop this more Refined and Packaged Mana.

Next is Lesser Mana Regen. I developed this one at the same time as Mana Storage, as I overclocked my Mana Generator my Body upgraded it and now it’s even better.

Mana Efficiency was really tough, and took the longest, it was surprisingly tough. I used the Information I got from Mana Storage and Regen, and after 2 Grueling Hours of experimentation I found a much more Efficient way to use my Mana.

Enhanced Focusing was weird, but I got the hang of it, I mainly just created tons of Mind Games until I had enhanced my control over my Focus to a worthwhile degree.

At first I was wondering if I needed Speed Speech, but Mr. Fear said I needed it because using all of these Mana Skills would cost tons of Mana.

Finally, it’s time, I create Telepathy, and I use it to surprise a bunch of People.

“This is the voice of your God, cease your Evil Ways, kick Prince Arigold in the Nuts!”

The Guards that were within range of my Mana Control were all thoroughly surprised, and I completed the Quest.

An Item falls into my Pond, it’s a crystal, larger than the Ring I had gotten.

I finished the Quest Man!

Good job, you should Metamorphosize first though, I’ll take a look at the Crystal while you do so!

OH RIGHT!

I’m finally level 10, it’s time to Metamorphosize, I can’t wait!

I can feel it, I’m ready. I activate the Metamorphosis Function in my Body, and I can feel myself growing larger.

My Consciousness Fades, and I sleep.

This Crystal, it’s got Air Pressurization. If you placed it in a Sword, you could swing it and activate a Wind Blade. But what I’m interested in is it’s Wind Magic ability, we could use it as a Jet to float around.

Wow, we sure got lucky with this one huh? I’ll have our Body eat it.

Oh… That’s right, you can control our Body.

Yeah, even while we’re Metamorphosing

Done. What Skills did we get from it?

I wasn’t able to get all of them. But it has gotten us started. We’ve now got Air Manipulation, and Air Creation. We can turn Mana directly into Air, like Water.

That should be good, but I bet it would cost a lot of Mana to create enough Air Pressure to fly around, even more so since we’re getting larger.

Yeah, that’s true, I guess using it as a Vacuum or a Cannon would be pretty useful though. Let’s move onto the Plan.

Right, assuming our siblings gave Arigold trouble, and they had to take rests in the middle, and taking into account the Distance. They should be here by the end of Today.

Right, since we’ve been running around ragged we now have a pretty good idea of the Castle. So we can get around without being spotted too easily,

Right, we’ll be looking for Lex or Veloura.

Yeah, Lex was there to watch Arigold kill Mother, so he’ll have a special Grudge. He’ll be preferable, but I also wouldn’t be against Veloura, since She’s got really good Influence.

Alright, we’ll tell the first one we find, then we’ll have them tell the other.

It seems the Metamorphosis has finished.

But what are we?

We’re definitely not the size of a Pond, so… Greater Puddle Kid.

Well, it’s not much, but it’s progress.

Oh no, it’s a lot, actually, we should be capable of surviving 10 minutes of IDM.

That’s a tall Order.

You know it.

What are you guys talking about lol?

We were just discussing the Plan. Would you like to join while you regen our Stamina?

Sounds like a Plan, Stan!

You’re happy.

I just can’t wait to see how much more powerful I’ve gotten!

You’ve gotten about 10 times stronger than you were.

Wait, what?!

HOLY SHIT!

This is probably the greatest increase you’ll be getting. Tbh-

Lol.

Hey- Anyways, our previous stage was more like, an actual Baby, this stage is like a full Child. We can also take like, ACTUAL Damage, so now we’ve also got Endurance.

Wow, Evolution has really helped!

Yes, but Arigold should be here soon, we should get ready, explore the Castle a little more, come up with a Plan. We’re hoping to find Lex first, he’ll be the quietest and most willing to work with us.

Wouldn’t everyone be willing to though?

I mean yeah, but Lex is the most well equipped member of our soon to be Team.

I see. That makes sense…

We better get going then.

Right!

I jump out of my Underground Pond and I peak into Food Storage. It seems I am indeed a lot Stronger, I can cling to Walls, and I feel way more full of Energy.

There Are multiple Men in here, they’re restocking, how nice. I guess I won’t take it this time.

I lower back into my Pond, and I use the rest of my Food to drill through the Walls and into another Room. It’s empty, nice, and there’s a Window!

I use my Limb Ability and start climbing the Wall, I’ve created 8 Limbs, I’m like a Spider. I climb up the Wall, I’m so much more Dexterous, I’m so much more Energetic! It’s like I’m flying for the first time! I’m no longer trapped in a Bowl, or some dumb Va- OH FUCK!

SHIT I FORGOT VATY!

Oh, fuck, yeah…

Shit.

No, not now, I’ll return to My Birthplace later.

I look around. They were right, I see a Group of People off in the Distance, I’ll be sure to get ready for them.

I watch them enter the Kingdom through a secret entrance, I guess it would be pretty weird to see a bunch of Children enter the Kingdom, especially with a Festival going on.

Now that I look around, I can actually see the real Front Lines, Norala was close, but She was also a bit off. Well, I guess it would be pretty hard to tell, with limited info. I wonder how they tell who’s on what team.

Anyways, I climb back down, and wait for everyone to get to the Castle.

After about an Hour of searching I finally find Lex, he’s following Arigold with everyone else, I’ll wait until He has more free time, he’s also still covered in Blood. You should really get yourself cleaned up Lex.

It’s been a hot minute. Arigold and everyone has just met with King Valigold, they’re discussing something. Arigold turns around and speaks to all of my Siblings, there’s actually almost double of what I had noticed when I was first born.

All of the Children Nod, and Arigold walks away. The Room’s pretty large, maybe they’re all expected to share this Room, and they’ll get new Beds soon.

Anyways, Lex is actually within my Mana Field, so I connect to him. While everyone discusses between each other.

Demi - “Lex, stay quiet, it’s me, Demitallis!”

Lexi - “What, Demitallis?! Where are you, how are you talking to me?!”

Demi - “Telepathy, it took a while, but I developed this Skill so I could talk to you guys, I’m forming a Plan to break you guys out. You in?”

Lexi- “Wait, for real?! Of course I am, I’m so glad you’re alive!”

Demi - “Um, yeah, of course I’d survive.”

Lexi - “Mr. Arigold said you activated this HDR thing, he said it would have killed you.”

Demi - “Oh, that, yeah I got super lucky it turns out, before we were attacked, Flare lent me a shit ton of Mana, and when I entered the Kitchen I ate a ton of Food, and escaped through the Pipes.”

Lexi - “Man, I’m just, I have no idea what to say, I’ve been forming my own Plan too.”

Demi - “Oh, really? What is it?”

Lexi - “No, now that I know you’re alive, we can come up with a new one together with our Siblings later. But wait, isn’t this Skill kind of Complicated? How are you even talking to me? Weren’t you literally born yesterday?”

Shit, right, yeah…

Demi - “It’s kind of hard to explain, but yeah, I’ve always been this Smart. And yes, I’m still angry about the Food, and the Rude things you guys said.”

Lexi - “Oh my god, I am so sorry.”

Demi - “It’s fine, tell a select few this: I’m alive, I’m fully Conscious, and we’ll be making a Plan tomorrow. Also, tell Calvin I said he sucks.”

Lexi - “S-Sure, is there anything else?”

Demi - “Yes, but nothing important just yet, I’ll get back to you soon! Bye!”

Lexi - “Yeah, see ya’!”

I deactivated Telepathy, thanks to Speed Speech, I was able to keep the Mana Consumption to a minimum. I guess I should have realized Lex would think I was dead, how silly of me.

Anyways, I’ve been running around for about an Hour, I should get something to eat…

End of Chapter: 8 “Superpowers! Come with me, we've got this!”

Thanks for reading!

We cannot express how thankful we are.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Lexi - “Th-Thanks for reading? Who am I thanking?”

Thank you for reading.