Chapter 17: Chapter 13: Socializing…?

Socializing…?

The water in the lake looks a beautiful shade of solid blue… except for a spot that glows golden… deep below

“There is treasure in the water!” I need it “The fishes aren’t going to keep it from me!”

Crows like shiny stuff right?

“Must get the shiny!” I jump into the water

It is deep, the glow is way below me. I shake my body from one side to the other trying to go deeper… I must go deeper but-

“Get out of the way fish!” its a big fish… covered in metallic scales, big googly eyes and scissor like teeth “Graaaa!!!” I punch it in the face and one of its eyes falls off!

It swims around… makes a loop… gets behind me…

“Don’t bite my-!!!”

-----

‘NECK!!!’ behind me there is no fish… just the earthen roof of the shelter I’m using… the hole made by the roots of a tree… ‘Ow…’

My neck hurts… but I don’t see anything that- wait!

‘Did I hiss?!’ I move to- ‘Ow! Ugh… cold…’ outside looks illuminated… but I feel really cold… I move to the entrance… ‘Ow… oh… cloudy… no boar today’ that is good, but… the temperature is lower… by a lot ‘Ow…’

I drag myself out of the hole and lay down looking at the water nearby… void… nearly full…

‘Ia… Come with me, you are needed! Bubble! Ugh!’ my spell pulls a small water bubble above the river ‘One… two…’ I cancel the spell dropping water back in the river ‘About… twenty percent…? I think…’

I relax for a moment, doing magic like that was a bit stressful… my scales feel… itchy

‘Ia! Imbue Eyes! Come with me, you are needed! Bubble!’ I make the same bubble as before ‘One… Two…’ and drop it ‘Ia Stop… Five to ten percent…? That… is massive…’

The temperature is not rising yet… the sky is almost completely covered… raining soon? Need to remember to go up a tree if that happens

‘Now… Ia Imbue Eyes! Take, hold, contain, carry! Vessel!’ more or less the same bubble rises from the water… unlike before, the water is not moving much ‘One… Two…’ drop… ‘Now that one feels like a five percent… Status, Spells?’

‘Ia Stop… ok… a spell needs. One: a focus, either my arms or eyes. Two: good words that make the “Body” of the spell. Three: a good name for the spell… and I need to not forget to stop with the imbue after doing the magic…’

The glowing ring that my teacher had… probably was her focus… harvested from some creature like me… and I’ll have to redo all my spells at some point… or narrow the list… narrow…

‘Yeah, some of these spells are too… narrow, so I can combine them to narrow the narrow… what… is…’

UGH!!!

-This is getting annoying… IDIOT!-

Narrow! Narrow! Narrow! Narrow! Narrow! Narrow! Narrow! Narrow-!

‘IA! Gather! Aim! Motion! Speed! NARROW! Venom Dart!

Splash!

Hiss!

‘AAAHHH!!!’ I rest in the ground… milking my broken fang my like that hurt… ‘Ow… what the fuck did Absorb- ow…! Did this time?’ my broken fang is not the only thing that is hurting right now…

-Calculating, give the system a moment Miriam…-

…

‘Ok… at least I think… I get it… by making it narrow it may pierce skin or-’

Ding

Shivering again…

…

‘No Nail?’

-This was included with the previous one-

‘Oh… alright… Status?’

‘Practice, talk with other people and reading books…? Wait, Knowledge?! Do I get twelve EP per level now?!’

-Not going to tell you-

‘Fine…’ I need to get food anyways… ‘Better to try and get some by going south…’ I still feel cold, but who knows when the boar is going to come here… ‘Was the fish magical? Is that what made the fish rare…? Or is the whole species like that…?’ no answers… ‘Ah, the tree. I want to give it some magic before going away… bleh… that Dart left me with less than half in the tank…’

I lift my head from the ground… I don’t see any shadow in the water and after firing a needle to the river, I definitively scared them out of the menu… drinking some water… some of the scales on the left side of my face got broken…

‘Thankfully didn’t hit my eye… I hope it doesn’t leaves a mark…’ I move north for now, passing the “Soft” bushes again…

-Planing on eating more poison Miriam?-

‘Ugh… please don’t joke like that… I’m pretty sure that I need different ones every time anyways…’

-I just can’t understand THE HOW?! Now I believe that if I get upgraded you WILL DIE!-

‘What?’

-What do you think that Uninterested actually means?-

…

‘Wow… I have an item that gets worse with upgrades…’

-I don’t get worse-

‘Then why would you… talk less? If now you are talking a lot… it is to avoid making me dependent on you?’ the windows closes

…

‘So if I’m about to do something that will kill me instantly, with the upgrade you won’t be stopping me, like with the roar before… you also won’t comment about a dangerous item like absorb?’

-Tree-

‘What?’ I look around ‘Oh… I slithered pass it…’ I nearly crossed the whole crater

-Sometimes, I fear for your life, Miriam…-

‘Hush!’ I move to the broken tree ‘But thanks for saying my name so often… it makes me unreasonably happier… Ia Imbue arms… is that why my status looks like that? Because I feel happy when I see that I am a girl?’

-You are welcome-

‘Thanks, it really helps’ I place my hand in the tree ‘Ia Imbue-!’

/////

She collapsed the moment nearly all of her energy got drained by the tree, the only hint about what had happened was a small burst of light coming from the contact point

Her flexible body adapted to the shape of the roots and ground below her as she flopped and went still

And the trees around her shook their branches, summoning wind to send a message

The one that had asked for it was the broken tree. In the instant connection, it had understood her intent to help and wanted to avoid her getting hurt

It also agreed with the Watcher that authorized the message: her magic was tasty

Minutes passed together with the roar that always happened in the forest, an annoying delay to the one they sent the message, the long range attack wasn’t a threat to her, but trees might get destroyed if she moved

That delay gave enough time for two others to detect the snake and reach her location once it was over, one was a two tailed fox, that looked with interest at the sleeping snake. The other was a Pest that started to snarl to the fox while trying to get closer to Miriam

Both monster and creature tried to intimidate the other away from their target. Ever since the fox was aware of the snake, thanks to obtaining a new evolution, the few times it was nearby Miriam it always struggled with the idea of eating her or not. Now that it got her scent, after losing it a few days ago, and before letting her get eaten by a monster, it was about to do it. The Pest suddenly moved towards the snake while opening its mouth

Crackle!

Dying to lightning in the process

A young looking woman with long black hair entered the crater area, her icy blue eyes were locked on the fox as she walked barefooted towards the broken tree, her knee length black dress and leather pouch tied to her belt were clean and intact, even after she came running for the deepest part of the forest

The wooden circle, hanging from her thin necklace stopped glowing as she stood next to the tree, still looking at the unusual creatures

The fox was stunned, the attack was so fast that it couldn’t move in response and the appearance of the human was another reason for concern in the fox mind, it had not detected her at all

It was clear what was going to happen if it tried to eat the snake

So, slowly, the fox moved towards the charred remains of the monster, grabbed it and ran away

“Good girl” the fox didn’t understood the noise the human made, as it was more focused in getting away, so their growing curiosity didn’t dwelt on it

The woman touched the tree after glancing at the snake laying in front of it and both, her hand and symbol glowed white for a moment

“Hahahaha!” she started laughing at what had happened “How silly! Hey… keep her hidden understood?” she talked to the trees around her “She must be part of the pair that I got warned about” the trees rustled as if answering her and soon, more wind went through the forest. The woman sat on one of the roots of the broken tree and took hold of the unconscious snake, before petting her head and neck

She started to hum as her hand glowed blue and petted the unusual looking girl on her lap, deciding to ask about her wounds later

/////

‘Ugh…’ up, up, down, down… waffle… rock… ‘Eh…?’

A screen appears in front of me but is blurry…

‘Oh~ that feels good~’ something is touching my head and is filling the void at the same time?

-Wake up! IDIOT!!!-

‘Oh that is what it-! GAH!!!’ SOMEONE IS HOLDING ME!!!

I turn around-!

‘…’

She smiles…

‘Oh…’ I look back down ‘I’M NOT READY TO TALK WITH A PRETTY GIRL!!!’

I am on her soft looking lap

‘THAT’S EVEN WORSE!!!’

Poke! Poke!

‘GYAH!!! Don’t do that!’ I wave her hand away from my ribs ‘It feels ticklish!’ she laughs… ‘…’

That is what they meant by a bell like laugh…?

‘It suits her’ her blue eyes look impressive too, she has a very soft floral perfume on her, her hair looks so silky-! She… says something… ‘Uh…’ I lean my head to the side ‘I hope she understand what I mean by this’ she just blinks at me, I move my head horizontal again

She says something, but sounds uncertain

I lean my head to the side again

She laughs…

‘Her laugh is very distracting…’ I extend my right hand to her ‘I’m Miriam, nice to meet you’ she laughs again, but gives me a handshake after she calms down…

But I have no idea of what is coming out of her mouth…

She looks around for a few moments. Sadly, she stopped petting me. I am mostly on her l-lap, but part of me and my tail are around her left forearm. I’m not gripping hard, but I can’t help but think that her arm is tougher than it looks…

…

‘Yeah… my instinct just told me that she can kill me, but I am not worried. She could have done it already, so I actually feel safe…?’ I have no idea of how normal is that, now that I think about it…

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Mystery Girl looks back at me and shows me the palm of her other hand looking up-!

‘Oh!’

From her palm two blue clouds appear… one takes the shape of a tree… and the other looks like…

‘Me?’ at least it looks like a snake with arms, she looks at me rising an eyebrow ‘Ok, I get it’ I give a big nod at her ‘I really hope that, that gesture means the same here!’ I point to the shape and then to me, just in case

She smiles and nods to the shapes… coming from “me” a small ball of light appears… and from the tree… a way bigger ball of light comes out…?

‘Uh… what is that…?’ “me” touches the tree and the ball above, shrinks and almost goes away… I face palm with both hands

She is not laughing out loud, but I can feel her body shaking with mirth

‘Did I just try to connect a “battery” to a “nuclear reactor?” Gyah!’ she pets me again… I look forwards to see the message that I know is going to mock me

-More or less, yes. I thought you were going to give magic to the EARTH! NOT DIRECTLY AT THE TREE!-

‘Aaahhh!!!’ How embarrassing! ‘Wait, how almost getting magically fried, makes a cute girl appear?’

Poke! Poke!

‘GYAH!!! Stoooop!!! Why do you keep poking me?!’ she… looks concerned now? ‘What…? Oh’ she is touching the broken scales of my face… ‘Don’t worry! I’m fine!’ I lift my arms a few times, she is looking for something in her pouch… ‘Ok, forget about paper. Dresses with pockets. First priority. Survival second… Singer is in a tie for the first place, since she will like those too. Survival definitively the- fruit?

She is holding an oval, smooth, orange colored fruit… it smells sweet-

‘Why are you offering it to me?’ she moves it close to my mouth ‘Thanks, but I am carnivorous, see-?!’

Hey! Stop shoving it!

Hiss!

‘Ow!’ I pull back holding my head ‘Ow! My fang…’ she looks guilty now that she sees my broken weapon… but is still offering me the fruit… ‘Fine, just don’t make that face… ow… no taste…’ fruit in, hoping I don’t get an indigestion… ‘Who I’m kidding? Absorb probably already made me omnivorous and I have no idea about it…’ she is giving me a tentative smile ‘Uh…’

I raise my arms and move from one side to the other

‘I really hope I don’t have permanent resting bitch face when I become humanoid…’ she giggles ‘Ok the message got delivered!’ she points to the ground ‘What-? Map?!’

The dirt in front of us changed and looks like drawings… there are three, separated, groups of houses behind walls to the north. From them, to where she is sitting, a lot of trees get draw and a deep crack appears to split the forest in two, a small north side and a bigger south side

This crack is not the brook, because she also draws the river coming from the north and it joining the ravine(?) moving to the east…

‘Going so far to the south… feels like a bad idea…’ she stands up and walk around the map still holding me. She points to the cities and shakes her head ‘Oh! Yes I know’ I nod and look to the map ‘Let me show you. Ia! Imbue Eyes!’ I look to the middle city, the one with the river on the east side ‘That must be my birth place, Ia ground, shape, mold, move! Earth Shape!’

I grab some of the dirt forming a few houses from the drawing, turn them into a snake and move them south

‘Not giving details like this, above the wall… south, then I went east to the river… got out, crossed the river… went back in… moved about… there, then got out again… ugh’ I just stopped the crude figure at some point after getting it back in… ‘It looks awful… and in this scale it looks like I haven’t move at all…’ she looks surprised?

She points to the ground and an egg gets draw on it… it “breaks” and “I” appear flowing from it… then a circle surrounds “me” and an arrow points to the city… she looks at me again…

‘Ugh… kinda… um…’ I reshape the egg into the form of a pregnant woman-!

“EEEHHH?!” ok, I understood that

‘It… is shocking, I know…’ I tap the tip of my claws together… she is talking to herself now… ‘You believe me?’

She rubs her forehead for a few moments, points to the ground… a wall grows between the forest and the cities, she points at it, then at me, now she is shaking her head

I nod

‘Humans are dangerous, one of them killed me already!’ Not wanting it to happen again

She places me in the ground, near where I stopped my earth shape, moves behind the “ravine” and in the middle of the south forest, a house gets drawn. She points at it then at herself

‘I’ll try to visit if I pass by’ I nod at her again… ‘Why is she shoe-less?’

She points further to the south and two mountains, one taller than the other appear, each of them flanking the forest, the tallest is to the east. In them two crowns take shape, a third crown also appears in the forest between them, not in the middle but closer to the north of the western mountain. She points to the eastern mountain-

“Roar!”

‘CUTE!’ be calm my cute loving heart…! She points to the crater ‘Oh…’ still, she is cute… ‘Maybe… Earth Shape!’ I make a wall between us, tall enough to cover me… ‘Ugh… Ia Stop’ I ran out…

I wait… she moves to my side, she looks curious, so I climb the wall, point to the mountain

Hiss!

And hide behind the wall, I look at her…

‘She didn’t got it…’ I point at her and then to the mountain

“Roar!”

‘Cute!’ she got it! I move on my side of the wall, she giggles and with a snap of her fingers my wall turns to dust ‘Oh… hiding from that guy must be hard then…’

She leans forwards and places a finger in my head-

‘Ah!’ the void starts to fill… ‘Oh…’ she stops around the mid point ‘Thanks!’ she points to the mountain again, then starts counting. When she is done is that I nod ‘Thanks for the advise too’

She grabs my “figurine” from the ground, stands upright, points at me then to the west-!

‘Nope! Ia! Imbue Eyes!’ I shake my head, look to the map and in front of my birthplace I draw a spider using magic ‘Ia Stop’ then I point at it

She laughs…

‘Not funny! Its BIG!’ I wave my hands

But she just smiles, waves her hand making the map disappear and looks at me…

‘Don’t go to the city, don’t move after the roar, her address… she has to go?’ well… that… I look down… ‘Do I have the points to buy the local language?’

-No-

‘Damn…’ I look at her and wave with my right arm ‘I hope to see you again soon!’ she smiles and waves… I see her walking, then starting to run towards the south… ‘She has no weapon… she must be a really strong mage-!’

Boom!

‘AAAHHH!!!’

…

‘That… was a sonic boom?’

-Yes-

‘Cute and strong… did I just found my role model?’

Ding

‘Status?’

‘Eh…?’

-You lucky fucker…-

‘Eh?!’

/////

A few minutes later, Miriam was going south along the river, unsuccessfully trying to extract information from the Helper about the Legend she had meet before

‘Please! Just tell me why I’m lucky?! What part of this-?!’ the smell of rotten flesh reached her ‘Great… the main reason for going south…’

She moved away from the empty looking river and towards the trees, her body complaining with hunger as three Pest started to run towards her

HISS!!!

‘Who do I have to talk to get REAL food?! Ia! Imbue Eyes!’

Her warning caused one of the six eyed monsters to freeze and the others lowered their speed, but didn’t stop

One of them opened its maw, starting to go faster again, while the other stopped fully and prepared to jump

‘Gather, mix, aim, motion, speed, narrow! Venom Dart!’ she fired her spell to the one charging, having used both of her main kind of weapons in the projectile. It impacted in the soft tissue of the monster’s mouth, making a small bleeding wound and causing it to howl in pain. It changed direction crashing against a nearby rock ‘Ia! Ground! Crack! Mold! Form! Sharpen!’ she focused in the other now

Miriam had one idea, a really dumb idea. So, naturally, she tried it: she waited for the monster to jump

‘Earth Shape!’

In her mind she pictured impaling the monster mid-fly, in reality her pillar molded faster than expected

Crack!

And the monster impacted against it, cracking it without breaking it

Crunch!

‘Ow!’ The moment the monster fell to the ground Miriam moved to her left side, keeping the third Pest in her line of sight and bit the closest enemy without using her fangs. It still caused some pain to her, but her improved jaw killed her stunned prey in one hit

Hiss!

Seeing the blood covered mouth of the young, unofficial, priestess, there was only one thing to do. The last monsters ran away

‘Hey!’ and she chased it

Miriam had troubles to notice it, but she was already quicker than the second fastest snake in her previous world, something that would truly terrify her biology teacher

Mostly, because of how many more evolutions she had to go through in the future

She started to shorten the distance between her and her quarry… and yet she still had that idea in her mind

‘Earth Shape!’

The earthen pillar kicked the Pest up before becoming sharp and due to its momentum, the monster slammed against the ground a couple of meters forwards, death

/////

‘Uh… Ia stop…’ I stop between the pillar and the monster… ‘Is because… “sharpen” is the last word of the spell…? I’ll do some testing tomorrow, I don’t have much in the void…’

I need to make a focus in my mouth to lower magic consumption…

‘Magic tongue…?’

-Get your mind out of the gutter-

‘What?’

Ding

‘How bad is it, Status?’

‘Hehehe!’ that went well… ‘Alright… I’ll eat this one, we didn’t go too far away from the others, but I don’t want to drag the other two with me’ I start eating ‘The others… I’ll leave them in the root of one of the trees… can I ask them if that is good or-’

-Nuclear reactor-

‘So… I need to be stronger to talk with them…?’ no answers “food” inside, I get up ‘There were humans in the area of the previous Spawner…’ I move back to the other Pests ‘I didn’t smell them, but I saw the footprint. That probably means that there is going to be more monsters in the next one…’ I stop…

The… wind moves the branches…? A lot… but I don’t feel wind in my tongue…

‘Uh…’ there is nothing around me, just the trees, bushes, rocks, the… pillar I made… ‘You want me to lower it…?’ the branches still move… ‘Ia!’

I finish flattening the dirt and stop my magic… the trees around me stop… but in the direction I came there are some trees moving…

‘Ok! Ok! I’ll do it! Just wait a moment please!’ I hope I don’t regret completing that Deed…