\\Asterite Retchlord slain

  \\Due to slaying something with the accursed touch of Aster, massively increased experience was awarded.

  \\[MENTALIST DISCIPLE] is now level 10!

  \\Class mastered [MENTALIST DISCIPLE]. +1 ACUITY, PERCEPTION AND WILLPOWER

  \\49 Asterite acquired

  \\Quest completed

  \\Skill acquisition and upgrade tokens granted

  49? That thing was only worth forty-nine Asterite? I needed 300 to unlock the shop. So either I had to wait until I can take the fight to the Bonelord or I'd have to hunt down the other 11 skeletons before they were destroyed by their respective Godtouched or other powerful people. Neither of those two options sounded like something I could do right now without dying. What a scam! I mean I did not kill it myself but there was no possible way I could have done that.

  At least I had a new class to pick and there was a really damn good option right off the bat for me.

  \\LESSER HEMOTHEURGIST (0/30)

  You have walked the first steps of the Eternal Ziggurat and your eyes are set upon its first peak. You have bled more than your body could hold blood and you have bathed in the blood of superior foes. You have intentionally cast magic using your very life force as fuel. You have bled yourself only for the pursuit of mastery of blood. The Blood Spire recognizes you as her own and welcomes you to climb to her summit. As a HEMOTHEURGIST, you produce and store more blood in your body. You can use this blood to empower your spells and even cast when your mana runs dry. Beware though that the Blood Spire is not a forgiving path and you must regularly shed blood, be it through injury or casting lest you grow bloated and mad under the taint of your newfound power.

  At higher class levels, those that seek to climb the Blood Spire will find their magic infused blood entirely replaces the cost of mana as ATTUNEMENT and VITALITY become one and the same and much greater than the sum of both. Casting spells that drown cities under rains of blood will become a casual affair for you as the very blood of your enemies control them to serve your biddings. One day you may even join the venerable Vampire Elders and Blood Seraphs at the Zenith of the Blood Spire.

  MASTERY BONUSES:

  +10 to VITALITY AND ATTUNEMENT

  I frowned. 10 Vitality at once was going to hurt and I was straight up skipping level 25 but it sounded good. Really damn good. Hopefully generating blood would give me extra experience and mana was the big issue that I constantly ran into but 10 vitality. I had 22 vitality right now. I would gain almost half of my entire vitality at once once I mastered it. It was double what my initial vitality had been like. I had gained at most 4 to a single stat, this was stupid. This was a bad idea. I would regret it. I knew it.

  I chose it.

  \\Class [LESSER HEMOTHEURGIST] selected

  \\Blood Bag is now level 15!

  \\Skill Blood Bag has evolved into Blood Mana!

  \\Blood Mana: 15

  The average adult human body produces around 43 mls of blood per day after experiencing blood loss until it regains the amount lost. But not you, you regenerate your blood faster than most and it will only become faster from now on. Your blood is rich in mana and extra blood can be used as a secondary mana pool that can be used to meet mana costs or empower your SPELLS. Your body passively consumes mana when you are full to increase your blood points by enriching your blood. Your body is still limited in how much blood you can hold at once and excessive blood will have side effects like bloating, going berserk, impaired natural healing and even lethal blood clots. Use blood mana or find other ways to lose blood to avoid this. You can forcibly refill your blood mana but this will injure you. Beware that this skill makes your blood especially appealing to hemophagic creatures.

  Your body produces 10% more blood per level and mana regenerated in excess of your pool size is converted into blood mana for 50% of its value + the level of this skill. For every 30 levels, you can hold 500% more blood safely than your current VITALITY. Current bonus: 150%, +15 and 500%

  \\Blood Magic spell list expanded

  \\Blood Magic Spell list

  Induce Bleeding: 35 mana

  Dilute Blood: 20 mana

  Coagulation: 20 mana

  Blood Shield: 60 mana

  Blood Drain Touch: 30 mana

  Blood Bolt: 70 mana

  Yay for more mana even if now I had another way to kill myself. Just perfect. I had hoped to get a healing skill from Blood Bag but this was not bad. In fact this was rather good. Now only if I could find a way to get healing magic to compliment it.

  MANA: 110/110 (REGEN 22 PER HOUR)

  BLOOD MANA: 110/110 (REGEN 26 PER HOUR)

  I shivered as the skill evolved. I could feel my body changing, a pressure and heat in my veins as the skill took hold. It was hot. Too hot. I was burning. Biting down on my rising panic, I sent the excess mana to a Molt spell for Medea and sighed as the pain subsided. Medea’s body rapidly secreted web that wrapped around it but a couple of stray strands fell on me. I was too preoccupied with my own skill to care.

  No, this was not good. This was rather bad. Extremely bad even. That was dangerous. And if I was sleeping or something and could not let out the excess… I had to get rid of this skill now.

  \\WARNING: Do not unequip body altering skills without the proper preparations. Injury and even death may occur. Likelihood of death: 97%

  That would have been nice to know beforehand, wouldn’t it?

  Not everything was totally lost. If my calculations were correct, if I emptied both my mana meters before sleeping then it should not overfill in 8 hours. I was screwed if I was unconscious for much longer though.

  Another earthen platform joined with ours, a man with a destroyed arm was on it. I nodded in acknowledgment and then started looking at my other rewards.

  \\Would you like to use a skill token?

  Yes.

  \\Skill upgrade token automatically assigned because of Dead Quiraion’s Blessing

  I was back in my home. Not my hotel, not the apartment I moved to, nor the trailers of my refugee entourage, but my old apartment complex where I lived with my dad. The one that had been close to sinking into the sea even when I lived there. The same faded wallpaper and the same furniture that I had seen a thousand times before in my childhood. The windows were all boarded shut, but bright white light seeped through the gaps. I seemed to be alone. A bedside alarm clock let me know that it was 10 in the morning. My dad was probably out at work, and I was running late for my classes. I would have assumed that it was an old memory, but I had the system on me, and it didn't feel quite like a dream either.

  A poster hung beside my bed. “WORTHINGTON, JONES AND ASSOCIATES” it claimed proudly, and the visage of a handsome man in a tailored suit who sported a fake smile that showed white teeth was below the text. He was abnormally handsome, the product of a thousand different skincare treatments and surgeries. Blood transfusion, hormone regulation, fat sculpting, and more procedures I didn't even know the names of. And below his dazzling smile was bold text that advertised the “loan forgiveness” service that they provided. They would purchase your debts and let you work them off. Of course, legally, such programs weren't considered employment and thus not subject to pesky things like workplace safety standards. It had been one of these loan forgiveness firms that my mom had been indentured in at this time. But that didn't explain why I had a poster for it in my room, and it did look like my room as I remembered it except for the windows and the poster.

  I had apparently fallen asleep with my laptop powered on. I briefly had a flash of a younger version of myself laying on my stomach and gaming all night. Turning it on, I tried to log in to my virtual school, but the apartment’s wifi was offline. I grumbled to myself, and my stomach responded in kind. And with that, I was immediately hungry. The immediate sensation of hunger made a part of me think that it seemed like the world around me seemed almost improvised? Like it was adjusting itself to fit my thoughts.

  Racing outside to make myself a sandwich, I saw Medea’s cocoon at the center of the kitchen. I was not sure how long it had been, but the cocoon seemed to be bleeding profusely, and a dark puddle of liquid had formed around it. A notification flashed.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  \\Mana Tainted Spider-Scorpion Worker. Name “Medea”. Current Status: Healing. Undergoing Holometabolism. Expected time until completion: Unknown.

  Holometabolism. That meant it was undergoing metamorphosis like what a caterpillar went through. That certainly explained why it was like that. But what did that have to do with my house? I left the cocoon alone for now and decided to go exploring. My steps felt light and I crossed more distance with each than I should have. More evidence of dream logic.

  First I tried to open the door, but it didn't budge an inch. Then I tried to look through the gaps between the boards on the windows, but all I could see was white. I couldn't even communicate with the world outside. For several minutes, I tried everything from the television to phones to even my laptop’s email, but it was as if the world beyond my perfectly normal house didn't even exist. Even the internet didn't work, and I was displeased to note that my laptop apparently had nothing in its storage that I could use for entertainment. And while I searched for a way out, the patch of deep purple steadily grew under Medea's cocoon. I really didn't want to touch the bleeding cocoon, but it genuinely did look like I was stuck with it for now. Another glance yielded no new information, and I, with resignation, extended a hand towards the now wet and dark cocoon. The moment it touched the cocoon, electricity zapped me, and I pulled my arm back with a jerk.

  The cocoon didn't respond. Was I trapped here until Medea’s metamorphosis was done? How long would that take? Hours? Days? I wondered if Fahria and the rest would find me sleeping next to Medea and leave me when I won't wake up? Or would they get help? I was already in debt, in Valdima's debt, and now whoever gets me help’s debt. Was that why the loan forgiveness poster had been there? A prediction of sinking into debt that's impossible to get out of using normal means.

  I was wrenched out of my spiralling despair when the apartment shook and the sound of thousands of skittering little legs rang around me. A scraping noise brought attention to a boarded-up window. The wooden planks were moving and budging, and as I watched, a deluge of tiny black insects crawled out from between them. The mass of insects fell to the floor with a dull thump, and even more followed as the planks gave way entirely. I might have scrambled atop a table, but a powerful gust of wind blew away everything except for me and Medea. The roof of the apartment was swept away as walls fell and furniture flew, and yet nothing touched me or Medea.

  In moments, we were in a desert, and a harsh sun glared at us. A dry wind swept through the sands, and between the sun-kissed dunes and clouds of sand kicked up in the air, I spotted a massive lumbering silhouette. The creature had to have been the size of a skyscraper, and yet I could not make out any distinct features. It was almost as if a haze existed before my eyes that occluded the creature’s shape, leaving only the blurred impression of a grey titan. But despite that, I knew in my bones, as certain as I knew that I was alive, that it was the Third Calamity.

  The Third Calamity roared. A rumbling sound that made the world shake around it, and I could see a black and glinting tide of insects emerging from its… her underbelly. The tide seemed to have no ending, and as it spread towards me, away from me, to my sides, I could truly believe that it would have consumed the very world itself. There were billions and billions more, and yet that was only a fraction of the writhing mass before me. The insects went through me and Medea as if we didn't even exist. Dimly, I was aware of shouting and of people fighting the tide. But they didn't seem to exist in the same world as me, mere psychic echoes, ghosts of a battle fought long before. They fought valiantly, or at least that's what the blurry flashes of light and the holes ripped in the endless black made me think, but they too eventually tired and were overwhelmed.

  The blackness spread across the horizon, and the Third Calamity walked with steps that made my bones rattle. And yet, I followed it. I watched as it laid waste to a city. Someone had launched a spear of light the size of a train at her before dying, and the indistinct monster had been injured. It sat down with a titanic thump to rest. For the first time, it turned, and a bright blue light glared at me. I felt a vast presence upon my mind. It didn't seek to overpower me, intimidate me, or subsume. It just seemed slightly curious. It went through my mind like a bored reader flipped pages, and I re-lived frozen still flashes from my memory. A domestic scene of a shouting match between my dad and me. A gaggle of young teens climbing atop a transmission tower. A spaceship landing in the distance as a girl stared at it with binoculars. A girl with crutches stabbing a much larger boy to death. The same girl in an office with a terrifying woman around whom lightning crackled.

  “Not mine. Begone thief.” The Third Calamity didn't speak, but the world spoke for it. The millions of chittering insects, the wind blowing, the shouts and screams of humans, the explosions that marked distant fighting, all sounds in the universe synchronized perfectly for a moment to form a sentence made of numerous different sources before once more dissipating into chaotic noise. The blue light that was as bright as the sun stared silently at me as the world spoke for it.

  Dragons, it was said, were only one step removed from being gods, and the Third Calamity had clawed her way to dragondom and I could believe it after that display. I was pretty sure that I was dreaming about the past, but I had no doubt that it was me that the Third Calamity addressed. And similarly, I was sure that I could have died there before I even realized that something was wrong if she were inclined to kill me.

  At her command, the world shattered around me, and I found myself in a new place. A moonlit forest clearing. The same clearing that I had found myself in when I was transported to this world. I tried to blink away the blue gaze of the Third Calamity burnt onto my retinas before realizing that it was the moon now. The forest had an otherworldly and fragile dream-like quality to it, like it would shatter like glass around me if I felt anything too strongly. For whatever counted as otherworldly to me, that is. And then came a new notification.

  \\Holometabolism of Medea aborted.

  What? No. I was willing to wait!

  \\Swarm Expansion attempt failed.

  It was obvious that something had happened with the Third Calamity that I didn't understand or intend. But I was really glad that the Third Calamity hadn't just killed me on the spot for attempting to steal from her swarm. But how would that even work? The Third Calamity’s rampage was ancient history. How could I have stolen from beyond time itself? Could someone take Medea from me like that? I stared at the egg-like cocoon again to see what the metamorphosis cancellation had done to Medea.

  \\Mana Tainted Spider-Scorpion Worker. Name “Medea”. Current Status: Healing, minor evolution. Expected time until completion: 28 minutes and 17 seconds at the time of this diagnosis

  Yay for a timer! But no metamorphosis for it. And then came a deluge of new notifications all at once.

  \\New skill Unseen Slayer 13 granted by Master.

  \\Unseen Slayer

  The Dark is your friend. Many terrors lurk in the tenebrous night and now you…

  Wait, that had to have been one of Medea’s notifications. More notifications scrolled across my vision. All of them were Medea’s.

  \\Unseen Slayer is now level 14!

  \\Hivemother identified

  \\Hivemother has initiated Molting

  \\Biomass integration initiated

  \\New skill Golden Barrier 38 granted by biomass integration.

  \\Skill level reduced by 29 due to biomass incompatibility.

  \\Biomass Incompatibility resolved.

  \\Fragile Golden Barrier

  A pale imitation of a pale imitation of the Golden Barrier of Aster. The Golden Barriers of the Godslayer’s warriors are impenetrable under the heavens. When activated, these resplendent shields of gold make their owner impervious to weaker magical or mundane attacks, maladies and curses and reduces the power of even the strongest of attacks. Furthermore, attacks that are absorbed empower it by storing their energy that can then be released through an earth shaking explosion.

  And yet, the laws of the heavens are not tolerant to those that seek to escape the wheel of Samsara. This protection of august might is powered by a wielder’s own spiritual energies and if that proves inadequate then even the least of techniques will shatter these scales.

  Uses 100 mana to activate. Additional mana cost based on damage mitigated. Can't be used again for 24 hours after this skill is broken.

  A pale imitation of what the Retchlord had? I doubted the retchroot barriers were level 38. Retchlord was the only source that made sense. If that was a pale imitation of the skill Aster’s forces had then I could not imagine what the real thing was like.

  \\Calibration commencing

  \\Hivemother engram downloaded. Superseding lesser directives.

  \\Welcome Hivemother [ANYA]. Adjusting sensorium. Adjusting motor controls.

  \\ERROR: Host is damaged. Motor control calibration cancelled. Please try later.

  \\Sensorium online.

  I hadn't noticed when I had stopped seeing, but I certainly did when everything came back into sharper relief than I had ever experienced before. I would have cried out, but my body didn't work. I was in a cabin, but it seemed like sheets of fine silk covered my face. And it was my massively superior senses that let me see clearly through the gaps in the fabric. Before me stood a woman with crazed eyes and matted hair. She was muttering something feverishly.

  \\Hivemother, please calibrate the host.

  I took a step, a step with far too many legs, The woman clapped and laughed hysterically.

  “Finally, you can avenge me, my daughter! Drown those bastards under the weight of your children.” She held up a knife and without ever ceasing her smile, slit her wrists.

  ”Consume, consume oh my beloved! Consume without pause, without thought, without rest, without any hesitation. Eat a thousand worlds and devour a thousand more, until all is one within you, until all evil is vanquished, until suffering and torment become strangers to life, until death has met itself in your belly.” I walked forward, slowly, hesitant and full of trepidation and then I took a bite. And then another. And soon enough, I was devouring the woman.

  Was this? Was it the Third Calamity’s memory? Of course it was. I ate the woman until nothing was left.

  \\Host calibration complete.

  And then I was violently shunted back into my own body and time.

  \\Skill Greater Enslaved Familiar's Bond has evolved into Hivemother’s Crippled Dominion!

  \\Hivemother’s Crippled Dominion is now level 40!

  Like the Third Calamity’s Hivemothers of yore, you and your servants are one mind and many bodies. And yet your powers resonate. This skill is multifaceted and has two aspects that exist in tandem with one another.

  Mindweb: Weaken and shatter the ego of an insectoid to integrate it into your swarm. You can take over the minds of insectoids in your swarm, sense through them, pilot them entirely or simply mentally command them. Your host can become the origin point for your proximity aura effects. Your swarm can never disobey you. Adverse mental effects are diluted across the swarm, including the Hivemother. With each level, your swarm shares beneficial mental effects and skills at 1% efficiency. You can have insectoids up to a tenth of your skill level per General, excluding Generalsbin your swarm. Insectoids can’t be above 3 tiers below your highest tier General. Control and coordination improve per level. For every 45 levels, gain an additional parallel thought process for interacting with your swarm. Current bonuses: 40.0%, 4 and 1.

  Swarm Generals: Designate strong members as Swarm Generals. These behemoths can deliver touch attacks for you and receive greater benefits from your presence. Each level grants Generals 1.5% more stats when in proximity (0.5 meters per level +10). Beneficial effects on Generals are 5% stronger and last 5% longer if applied by you. Generals are always under every Companion skill's effect for the purposes of the Hivemother’s skills and spells. Every General can control lesser insects based on its power. For every 45 levels, designate an insectoid as a General. Current bonuses: 60.0%, 30 meters, 200%, 200%, and 1.

  I blinked. That was a surprisingly massive jump in power.