I stood at the edge of the world, the abyss on one side and a Jaguar on a grassy plane on the other. I sent my Anteaters in the general direction of where Bug Jacob was telling me it was, using their lightning to flush it out.
It made an attack, and I moved my pieces to counter, every little action I made and every order I gave done with the utmost efficiency. Because if I even slipped for a second, the Jaguar would take that opening and devastate me.
And I couldn’t prepare for anything they hit me with since I couldn’t sense where it was most of the time until the moment it struck. So I couldn’t really make a plan, only dealing with problems as they came, like a deadly game of whack o mole.
But I had gotten used to this sort of game over the last few days, though it still pissed me off to no end at the sheer state of panic it constantly put me in. Every time one of my minions moved in a way I didn’t want them to, every unexpected move the Jaguar made.
It made my blood boil and my antenna twitch.
What do you think you are, hot shot! You think that you can do whatever the hell you want! Well, this is my declaration, so listen up! Fuck yo-wait, what the hell are you doing! No, no, stop it! Bad, kitty.
It had gotten through my defences unnoticed as always, and was running towards Guppy the last time I saw it. So I prepared to puppet my dragon, flying overhead to get the best view possible.
Waiting for it to start, then Guppy reacted to something hitting him on the back, and I tensed, looking for the threat. But nothing happened, then Bug Jacob panicked and frantically looked around. I noticed multiple things coming at me at once.
The Jaguar jumping into the air, having used Guppy as a platform. And a small barrage of shadow bullets, each coming from a direction that I would have to go towards to avoid the Jaguar.
But I didn’t have any good options, so I dodged the Jaguar, letting one of the shadow bullets hit me. Tearing half of it off in an explosion of pain, the adrenaline in my system being the only thing allowing me to keep my wits.
I had one of my Ravens pick me out of the air, pulling me away from the danger, and over the edge of the abyss, so it wouldn’t pursue. But the Jaguar shot more shadow bullets, killing the Raven while still holding me over the great field of nothing.
Shit, shit, shit!
I tried flapping my wing, but it just sent me into an uncontrollable spiral. So I had my nearest flight capable minion catch me, Guppy. Spreading their leathery bat-like wings as they jumped off the ledge, successfully catching me in their mouth.
But they had a hard time turning around, considering their size, and their wings giving them limited lift since they didn’t have time to build up momentum. Because they were built more like a Geese, made for long stretches of flight, rather than quick, fancy movements.
But they were eventually able to turn around, just barely getting onto the earthen ledge. The Jaguar, having waited there, struck the moment their front feet touched the ground.
Guppy scrambled to get back on, but the earth crumbled beneath their feet, the giant cat trying to push them off not helping. I got the elite Anteaters to try and help pull Guppy up, but the Jaguar just pushed them off as well, like a glass of water.
Sending us all off, but Guppy had stuck onto something beneath the edge of the world, having also caught the anteaters in their claws. I felt that Guppy wanted to do something else, but was stopped by me being in their mouth.
So I crawled out, latching onto their neck as they proceeded to lift the anteaters up, sticking them onto the bottom of the world. Which looked like a mixture between obsidian and steel, so smooth that I wondered how Guppy was sticking onto it with their feet.
Then, after Guppy was done sticking the anteaters to the bottom of the world with their spit, they put the side of their head against the wall. Like they were trying to hear something, which was weird since they didn’t even have earholes, making their hearing rather lackluster.
So I checked what Guppy was doing by connecting to them using my Tarsus, a wave of alien senses washing over me. It took a while to find out what I was even “looking” at, then I realized it was Electroreception. A weird sense where the animal could sense electromagnetic fields, the only animals I knew that had it were sharks and platypuses. But I suppose Guppy gained it after evolving… or I just didn’t check till now.
But what I saw through Guppy was mindboggling, sort of like lidar but in constant waves. After getting used to it enough to actually get any use from it, I realized something was standing right above us.
The Jaguar. It was camping at the ledge, tail swishing.
Why hadn’t it left? Did it notice Guppy sticking to the bottom of the world? No, it would’ve had to peek over the edge and climbed down to see that. So why?...
Then I realized it, the birds. My Ravens were still circling above, doing nothing since I hadn't given them any orders, but still on standby to do anything at a moment's notice. It must’ve noticed that, so I dispersed them, making it look as natural as possible.
But it still didn’t leave, so it was just standing there. I took this time to try and use appraisal on it, since I hadn’t been able to the whole time. But nothing happened, I then smacked myself in the face with one of my legs.
These aren’t your senses, stupid. Why would you be able to use a skill through it. Unless?..
I attached Moon Silk to Guppy, pushing my Appraisal skill into them, then using it. And it actually worked, but an unexpected system message popped up.
“Appraisal Skill blocked.”
“Level up, +1 to Appraisal Skill.”
Oh, ok, so that can happen. Good to know, at least I got a level up, so it wasn’t a total bust.
Then another system message popped up, startling me so much I nearly jumped off of Guppy and into the void.
“Contestant Julian Seawright has been eliminated.”
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (8/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: First of the Sea
6: Jacob Davidson
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
Don’t do that system, you’re going to give me a heart attack!
Then I noticed the Jaguar had stood up and started walking away. I observed for a while till it was out of my (Guppys') range. A third system message popping up.
“Level up, +2 to Stealth Skill.”
Ok, I suppose that’s confirmation that I fooled it.
But I still waited a few more minutes to finally come out from under the bottom of the world, Guppy dragging the two anteaters out in their claws. The animals not looking too happy about it, but they would just have to deal with it.
I regathered my Ravens and Butterflies, making sure my elite Ravens were still there (they were). Then I got healed by my butterflies while I thought about what to do next.
I’m only one place away from qualifying for whatever the third phase is, and I don’t even know what the second phase is. So, how do I go up the leaderboard?
It was probably something to do with fighting; it was the only thing that I could think to do in this situation. It was a competition after all, and that was the only thing I had been doing at this point.
Admittedly, I had no idea if it was. I was just desperately grasping straws at random, hoping one would be good. But having some semblance of a plan felt better than nothing.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
So, if the fighting thing is correct, what can I do? What opponent would be impressive enough to qualify?
My mind immediately went to the Jaguar, that thing would’ve killed me if it wasn’t for my army. And my army would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for me.
It would be impressive enough to climb up the Leaderboard; it had to be. Plus, even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t regret it. There was a certain kind of feeling that made me want to kill it that had developed over the past week.
Couldn’t exactly put my finger on why, though, or right the murder!
So with this half cobbled together idea, the beginnings of a plan started to form. But as I was now, I definitely couldn’t kill it, so I looked at my mutations.
Mutation Points: 48
Antenna: Royal, Mutations available
Sonar, 15 MuP
Wings: Royal, Mutations available
Confusing Patterns, 15 MuP
Superior Wings, 20 MuP
Tarsus: Royal, Mutations available
Telepathic Tarsus, 25 MuP
Abdomen: Royal, Mutations available
Silk Storage, 15 MuP
Complex Pheromone Production, 20 MuP
HP: Green
Lv: 5
Use 2 MuP to level up?
MP: Green
Lv: 13
Use 4 MuP to level up?
EP: Green
Lv: 9
Use 4 MuP to level up?
I had enough to buy a few of them, but I decided to abstain until I could buy all of them to waste the least amount of time and gain as much as possible, at least that was my goal. But from my calculations, I would need to get to LV 19 to get enough MuP. An entire 11 levels within a week. My only hope was that the MuP gains would increase as I leveled up, like it did before.
But no point putting all my eggs in one basket, so the next thing I did was locate the Rhinos that I found that butterflies with. Guppy was finally able to go into the desert during the day without drying up immediately, holding the Anteaters in their claws. They still struggled, but I had my Raven douse them with water every once in a while.
Then, during the night, I was tense, expecting the Jaguar to attack at any moment, my vigilance not relaxing even as the sun rose. The peaceful night unexpectedly not letting my nerves calm; instead doing the exact opposite, making the twist in my gut grow tighter every second something didn’t happen.
Each night, growing worse and worse as we got closer to the oasis, until it eventually loosened up slightly. It was still there, ready to tighten at the slightest fright, which Bug Jacob didn’t help with his constant freak outs.
Seriously, why the hell are you still doing that? It’s long over, you prick!
But loosening my nerves seemed to get easier each night nothing happened. Then we finally reached the oasis I had found just a few days ago, looking the exact same as before.
And we went inside. Guppy created some ruckus among the other animals as a dragon, especially when they practically crash landed into the oasis, with what seemed like a sigh of relief. A few crocodiles, especially, did not take too kindly to it, but I don’t think their newly beheaded bodies minded now.
After my minions rested, I enacted a portion of my plan and started a war with the herd of Rhin’s. They were only thirty in number, and they weren’t anywhere near as smart as the Jaguar. So it was much easier than I expected. The only difficult part was having to wait a few seconds as I subjugated them, even with Royal Will, since they could spew fire at me while I was doing it.
But in the end, as all the Rhinos either fell under my control or fell dead, then I heard eight sweet dings in my ears.
“Level up, +1 to Lunar Scale Dust Skill.”
“Level up, +1 to Moon Silk Skill.”
“Level up, +1 to Royal Will Skill.”
“Max Level reached, Giant Tempest Anteater ready to Evolve.”
“Max Level reached, Giant Tempest Anteater ready to Evolve.”
“Max Level reached, Rain Raven ready to Evolve.”
“Max Level reached, Rain Raven ready to Evolve.”
“Congratulations, you’ve fulfilled the condition to gain the skill ‘Split Focus’, would you like to accept? Yes or no.”
I looked at the new skill with curiosity, using Appraisal on it.
Split Focus: Allows the user to split their focus.
Great, we’re back to these types of descriptions.
Then I thought about it for a moment. This skill name seemed rather self explanatory, so it might’ve just been what’s written on the can. I thought it over for a few more moments while chewing on a leaf. And eventually hit accept, even from what little I’ve seen of it so far, it looked like it would fit my fighting style quite a bit.
The next thing I checked was my Lunar Scale Dust to see the new minion cap.
Lunar Scale Dust
LV 5/5
30/90
I nearly choked on the leafy green I was eating; it had been one of my guesses on what it would be. But it was still just such a big increase, and I started immediately scheming what I could do with this new power.
OOO
Over the next few days, I reinstated my Conga line of death.
With three times the death and slaughter as last time, and only half the price. Get this deal while it’s still here, folks.
Finally getting my Elite minions to max level, their evolutions in front of my face.
Available Evolutions: For Giant Tempest Anteater
Colossal Tempest Anteater: Giant, evergrowing anteaters known for their might in nearly every aspect of their being.
Requirements: Reach 1 Max Core Skill Level, kill 1000 beings of the same or higher level as you
Available Evolutions: For Rain Raven
Storm Raven: Bringers of violent storms, and are an omen of death for sailors across every world they permeate. With powerful wings that create gales, talons that strike harder than lightning, and a caw that booms louder than thunder. They’re also the sworn enemy of all Dragons capable of flight, the two known to frequently get tangled up in a fight. Sometimes, destroying entire cities with their squabbles.
Requirements: Reach 1 Max Core Skill Level, kill 1000 beings of the same or higher level as you
Nimbus Raven: Giant Ravens known to lead murders of Rain Ravens, gaining power from their flock, having wide reaching control over the weather. Once, one of the oldest and most powerful Nimbus Ravens had their mate killed by a human, and drowned an entire desert, creating a new inland sea. With the blessing of a god and help from over 60% of all Rain Ravens in the world.
Requirements: Reach 1 Max Core Skill Level, be recognised by other Rain Ravens as a leader
I didn’t spend much time on the Anteaters since they only had one choice, but the Rain Ravens were trickier. I had two options ahead of me, and I couldn’t choose which. I was leaning towards Nimbus Raven, though. From that description, it seemed like I could control the Rain Ravens without them taking up minion slots. Leaving space for higher quality minions.
And that story about flooding an entire desert was definitely compelling, but it had rather extraordinary circumstances behind it. I neither had a blessing from a god nor 60% of the world's Rain Ravens over here.
The Storm Raven, though, seemed like a powerhouse; anything capable of fighting with dragons put them up in my estimation. But the Nimbus Raven just seemed to fit my needs more, but I was also lacking in direct power.
I suspected even with my new Rhinos and Guppy, that I couldn’t deal any real damage to the Jaguar. I hadn’t even seen it get hurt once. The closest I saw was when I shoved a water blade down its throat, but even then, it hadn’t seemed to be affected.
I anxiously groomed my antenna, trying to think of what to do. Then I realized I was kind of being stupid, I had two Ravens ready to Evolve, I could just do both. So that’s what I did, but in the back of my head, I was still worried I made the wrong choice.
What if one was useless, and I should’ve made both the same Evolution? What if both of them are completely useless!?
I felt Bug Jacob in the back of my head, trying to do something, but I automatically pushed them away out of habit. Then he tried to do it again, and I tentatively allowed it to see what he was trying to do. And felt a weird comforting feeling coming from him, allowing me to calm down.
Oh… that’s nice.
It didn’t get rid of my worries, but it made it easier to bear with them. Allowing me to get my thoughts back together.
Ok, thanks for that, Bug Jacob.
I felt a sense of appreciation coming from him at that, and then an idea came into my head. This whole time, I've been pushing Bug Jacob away, but that’s almost always ended with disaster. Especially with sensing the Jaguar, so maybe I should let it in?
OOO
Over the next few days, as I prepared my battleground, I practiced allowing myself and Bug Jacob to be in concert. Allowing us to be one will, different thoughts converging together in one. It helped me gain a level in my new skill. But weeks of conditioning against doing that made it harder than I originally thought it was going to be.
And I wasn’t getting any better at it as the days passed by. Though I had other things occupying me, since I had finally gotten enough MuP. Having killed so many creatures that I’m pretty sure that I would’ve made any Spaniard from the 1500s to the 1700s jealous.
And I had only needed to get 17 Levels, since at Level 14 and beyond, I got 8 MuP each Level up. And so I picked every Mutation, the only Mutations that weren’t self explanatory being.
Complex Pheromone Production: Allows the User to create Pheromones that can have any number of effects. Ranging from blinding them to creating hallucinations.
Confusing Patterns: On the wings of the user, it creates patterns that can trick to subject into thinking the user is something else.
The others, Silk Storage, Telepathic Tarsus, Superior Wings, and Sonar, being pretty much what you expected from the name. After spending a day in my cocoon getting them, I enacted what would hopefully be the hardest part of the plan. Finding the damn Jaguar again.
I spent the next few days sending my minions out and absolutely wreaking havoc. Hoping that it would attract them, but a day passed and nothing happened. I checked the leaderboard to see how much time I had left.
Leader Board:
Must be within the Top 5 in (3/14 days) to get to the next stage, or be automatically eliminated.
1: Fifth of the Mist
2: Krath Nixm
3: Second of the Snow
4: Urg Flaow
5: First of the Sea
6: Jacob Davidson
7: Julian Seawright
8: Ninth of the Flame
9: Jones Parker
10: Halian Rith
11: Anya Abashev
12: Hanna Guy
13: Trom Halk
14: Grn Fet
15: Eighth of the Stone
I was praying that I didn’t have to cut it as close as last time with the time limit. But I wasn’t counting on it since my last set had been ignored, since someone else hadn’t been eliminated, automatically making me qualify.
And it seemed like my guess was correct; it was the last day of Phase Two, and I hadn’t found even a trace of it. But then, as I was flying overhead with my minion below, burning, tearing, and electrocuting the forest all over the place, hoping to lure it out, I felt a faint reaction from Bug Jacob.
At first, I ignored it, but as part of my practice, I followed it up. And was pleasantly surprised when I found the Jaguar, trying to slink away. A mental grin spreading across my face.
Got you!
