Chapter 59: The Next Choice

It was a strange sight, though not one that I hadn’t seen before. More than once, I had found myself stuck within a sacred slow-spot when the Great Core’s fields shifted unexpectedly, causing the world outside to move far faster than I - or, rather, causing me to move far slower than the outside world.

Falls that would have happened instantly instead occurred agonizingly slowly, and slithers that would have brought me across the Great Core’s nest in a few moments suffered the same.

And now, I had created something similar.

The mouth-flesh that had ripped free of the bad-thing fell slowly - in fact, hardly moved at all. The bad-thing reared away in pain, throwing itself violently to the side in response. Around me, the small cavern of mouth-flesh moved. Quickly.

Its side slammed into the slow-spots that surrounded the [Chrono Fire]. For a moment, I thought that it would stop.

But only a moment.

Instead, only some of it stopped.

The rest just kept going.

I burst through the mouth-flesh that trapped me as the bad-thing’s overwhelming strength was turned against itself. As I finally let go of my fangs’ grip on the flesh below me, I turned to the side to take everything in.

The bad-thing had brought me back to the surface, having broken back through the stone of the fire-water-that-once-was. Blood ran across the ground in great puddles, broken apart of by large fragments of shattered stone that had been strewn across much of the surroundings.

Unlike before, I imagined that the cavern was fairly dark; the fire-water had provided much of the light. Now, only a few scattered Flame Wisps, the mana-glow of the Coreless’ ore-flesh, and a few scattered bits of fire lit the area.

The light of [Chrono Fire], however, changed that - and it proved more than bright enough to be able to watch what happened next.

Through the distortions of the slow-spot that surrounded me, I could just barely make out the damage that the powerful bad-thing had taken. Needle-fang after needle-fang had pierced its flesh, a few having found their homes within a now-ruined eye. Its scale-flesh was lined with great furrows and fissures, each serving as yet another source of the blood that was trying its best to replace the lake of fire-water that had disappeared.

Even more blood ran from the giant bad-thing’s mouth, spilling out of the hole in its flesh where I had been torn free.

As it hissed in anger and pain, flicking out its forked tongue, I made a hiss of my own - though of excitement, rather than pain.

The Coreless, too, made their own noises of excitement and shock in response to my sudden presence. Just as with everything else, the sounds reached my ears as a strange and distorted mess. Fortunately, I could already guess what they were trying to say.

As their praises for the Great Core spread across the cavern like a battle cry, they attacked the wounded bad-thing again. The sight of the battle was broken and warped, with some slow-spots around the flames slower than others, forming a shattered image of distorted light - but what I did see was more than enough.

The Coreless fell upon the wounded bad-thing with a near-indescribable viciousness. Its flesh was carved to pieces as it writhed and thrashed, unable to land a blow in its wounded state.

Even more importantly, it had nowhere to go.

In every previous attempt, the bad-thing had been able to seek shelter within the fire-water if it was endangered; we had no way of following it safely, leaving us unable to attack it effectively. With the defeat of its Core and the disappearance of the fire-water, that had changed.

And now, it had been heavily wounded, slowed by its still-bleeding injuries.

The Great Core’s disciples were merciless, as was only right. The Coreless attacked from the side of its blinded eye, darting in where it could not see and defend itself - and they began to tear it to pieces.

A torrent of needle-fangs buried themselves deep into its flesh, courtesy of Needle’s needle-spitter. The-female-who-was-not-Needle dashed along its side, her sharp fangs of ore-flesh carving deep red lines from head to tail. Will tried to hold its attention, forcing it to hopelessly waste its effort on cracking his defenses. And while he did that, the Unrepentant One delivered a mighty blow at the bad-thing’s tail - slicing it off cleanly.

The giant bad-thing let out a pained cry, twisting upon itself and rolling in an attempt to crush its attackers. They dodged away, outpacing its blind thrashing, only to dart back in when it halted its attempts.

Bit by bit, they began to carve away at the massive creature, leaving giant pieces of flesh to clutter the floor along with the puddles of blood.

Each time, it only slowed further.

Until finally, everything slowed further. The attacks of the Coreless, the defense of the bad-thing, and everything in between as the slow-spots that surrounded [Chrono Fire] grew too powerful for me to watch any longer. The world in my vision looked as if it barely moved, frozen in place. As if the Coreless had halted in their attacks of the bad-thing. As if the enemy still lived.

Despite that, I knew that it was already dead. The world outside of my shell of slowed time had already moved on.

The thought-light proved it, even before that shell finally shattered.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

Level Up x 5!

5 Trait Points Gained.

And then, to my delight, it flickered again.

Level 20 Reached!

Analyzing Potential Reward Choices…

Only One May Be Selected.

Revealing Possible Rewards Unlocked Through Species: Snake And Its Interactions…

Size: Your body mass increases greatly, with all of the increase in strength and health that comes with a greater size. (Provided by: Snake)

Hardened Scales: Your scales harden, strengthening far beyond their natural measure, becoming an armor that protects you in your every moment. (Provided by: Snake, [Piercing Resistance])

Enhanced Venom Capacity: Your venom production increases greatly, both innate and acquired. (Provided by: Snake, [Venomous], [Paralyzing Venom])

Illusory Camouflage: Your scales are not what they seem, automatically pulling from your light reservoirs and shifting to match any surrounding colors. (Provided by: Snake, [Illusion Spark])

Warm-Blooded: You have been Touched By Fire, and that has marked you as something new. You break free from the restrictions and perils of your cold-blooded nature, receiving great resistance to heat. (Provided by: Snake, [Touched By Fire])

I was offered the same choices as last time, plus something new: Warm-Blooded. While receiving great resistance to heat might be useful, I didn’t think it was something that I needed if I was careful. [Illusion Spark] already helped with my weakness to heat, giving me some degree of protection - and if [Illusion Spark] increased, its ability to protect me from heat would grow along with it. Unless Warm-Blooded made me resistant to flames in the way that the bad-things of the lesser Core were - and maybe it did - I couldn’t see it being worth getting.

Not with the other options that I knew I had.

Revealing Possible Rewards Unlocked Through Species: Ouroboros And Its Interactions…

Life: You are a symbol of the eternal, just as you are of many other things. You are a symbol of life. You gain the ability to transform mana into the essence of life, using it to fuel life-giving abilities. (Provided by: Ouroboros)

Death: You are a symbol of the eternal, just as you are of many other things. You are a symbol of death. You gain the ability to transform mana into the essence of death, using it to fuel deathly abilities. (Provided by: Ouroboros)

Rebirth: You are a symbol of the eternal, just as you are of many other things. You are a symbol of rebirth. You shed your skin, marking the birth of a new cycle. (Provided by: Ouroboros, [The Endless Cycle])

Traveler: You have flowed through time, and it has flowed through you. You gain the ability to more freely flow through time distortions, and are able to greatly reduce their effects on your form at will. (Provided by: Ouroboros, [Chrono Fire])

This time, I put Rebirth aside. Without it, defeating the lesser Core and its defenders would have been significantly more difficult, but I no longer needed something like that. Especially now, since I knew I could shed my skin by consuming one of the Great Core’s lessers. Having only recently shed my skin anyway, the choice to dismiss Rebirth was easy.

Life and Death were still possible options, though I didn’t know exactly what either of them did.

The newest choice, Traveler, was a little more clear - especially after seeing the ability that it stemmed from, [Chrono Fire]. Whereas now, I could get stuck within the slow-spots that it created, Traveler would allow me to slither past them. I wondered if that would allow me to more safely attack bad-things that I trapped within the slow-spots created by [Chrono Fire].

Before I could wonder further, the thought-light flickered again.

Revealing Possible Rewards Unlocked Through Titles And Their Interactions…

Mana Restoration: You are a unique being, the embodiment of the cycle of renewal. Now, you have taken that even further. [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] gains the ability to heavily increase passive mana regeneration when activated. (Provided by: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail], [Minor Mana Core])

Mana Blood: Your blood, already storage for toxins, has become a storage place for mana as well. Greatly increases capacity to store mana. (Provided by: [Venomous Retribution], [Minor Mana Core])

Fire Aspect: Your mana has been Touched By Fire, imbuing it with the Aspect of Fire. Mana costs for flame-based abilities and manipulation are reduced. (Provided by: [Minor Mana Core], [Touched By Fire])

After receiving [Chrono Fire] and [Mana Fire], both Mana Restoration and Mana Blood seemed more powerful. In the fight against the fire-water bad-thing, I hadn’t exhausted the well of power that was linked to [Chrono Fire]. Instead, I had run out of mana - which meant the same thing, in the end.

[Chrono Fire] didn’t seem to work on its own; I needed to use it with [Mana Fire], which meant the ability to regenerate mana or store mana more effectively could both be useful. And then, of course, there was also the ability to use mana through [Mana Venom], which I would still need when the Coreless weren’t around to kill things for me.

The newest choice, Fire Aspect, would also help my newly-acquired [Chrono Fire] and [Mana Fire] combination - though it did nothing for [Mana Venom].

I thought for a moment.

I made my choice.