Chapter Fourteen

Spiders, Hyacinth could smell spiders! It was getting dark, and Harmony wanted out of the mimic territory before they camped. The woods at the base of the mountain range were ahead of them, and Harmony's sense finally felt more right. Birds could be heard, and Hyacinth finally sensed something more than the nothing of the sandy scrubby mimic-infested plains they'd been deposited on.

After thoroughly checking the area with her skills, Hyacinth took night watch. The lazy toad had spent enough time on the walk snoring on her chest with a squeaking rattle. He could also see better in the dark than all of them. With a shift of darkness he revealed his new full-size, monstrous was an understatement, and with his new augmentation he probably never needed to stop growing which would have been worrying if she hadn't felt stability return to him after her evolution and choice. Now he could finally get as big as his ego, or at least approach it.

It did make sleeping easier. The pile of twelve dog-sized spider corpses when they awoke did not. "Part of being a watch out is waking us up when there is trouble!" Harmony lectured them.

"Groopt," Hyacinth responded, his deep voice booming in his large form."

"Yes, you should wake us for things you consider minor pests."

"Groo, Groo, Groo, Groo, Groo."

"So you don't think we'd have been able to see them or wake up in time? That's still not the point."

"Groapt!"

"Oh, lecturing us about us needing sleep too! Fine! But if we get hurt, that's on you!" That toad could be so mothering at times.

Adric poked at the pile of corpses. "Do you really understand what Hyacinth says?"

"When he wants me to. And I do have some practice. You've heard him contribute to Ambrosia's songs if he wanted he could speak too, but chooses not to."

"Do you think you can make some clothes out of these for me?" Adric asked a little pleadingly.

"After breakfast." They ate more biscuits rather than roast spiders. Neither of them had a heat-related skill to cook the insects. [Feed] had degraded too much over the night to use.

With a spot to fill she let [Claim the Remains of Power] evaluate the spider corpses. Monster corpses were always a pain. Even with her new lack of clarity, she got a sense of what the options were. One about webbing. Just because her ass was now sticking out didn't mean she wanted to risk shooting webbing out of it. The second was a sensing one and the [Claimed] that, [Intruder Sense] maybe that skill let them keep the mimics away?

That hunger satisfied, it was time to get to work. She gestured with her hand as the shape of an idea formed and started her magic toward the pile of dead spiders. It failed. The Corpses scattered As though pushed to the side with [Manipulate Dead] while [Beautician] recoiled at the bodies with only flashes of ideas of how the solid black color Could work. The synergy failed to connect the skills.

Rotting seals. The restriction of soul sense was reasonable and it probably would screw up any attempt to break skills with soul strike as well. Both of those were works in progress and honestly felt like cheating in that they copied something that might be offered in a choice or created like Tyler made his skill. Just the information on the other participants had been stupidly valuable, it almost didn't hurt that much because [Recall] kept track of what she'd learned.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

This though! Harmony let her anger try to force [Beautician] and [Manipulated Dead] together to influence the dead material the same way she'd shaped nails, skin, and hair. A solid wall blocked any such merging that felt like she was grinding her teeth metaphysically. She'd spent years mastering that. Forcing herself to act on the shamblers in old bones, picturing both the beauty in death and superficial changes she could make for aesthetics. From there it had been getting it to work on living beings with dead parts be it rats, or hand spiders, and eventually as success came Lady Coodly and her garden party friends.

It was like they'd crippled her legs when she mastered running. It had allowed her to poof the wooze, rip feathers off birds, and push through Nae's Garden. What could she do now, blow the corpses apart and with a narrow focus cut them? [Disintegrate] seemed to synergize there. The shaping, strengthening, and modification properties were not there without that synergistic bridge. She could physically manipulate it, but no longer materialistically work her magic with a sense of beauty.

Angrily she got to work with the tools she had, converting the corpses into plates. The hard exoskeleton could be made with effort into what Adric needed. Poke holes, link them with rings, and use a bit of [Mend] when needed.

Adric had a long spider-mail shirt that reached down to his knees and covered his bits. It was nowhere close to what she could have done without the seals. For herself, she managed a skirt out of plates, not long enough to hamper her movement, but at least she was more covered now. It took up most of the material until they found more.

Practical might always trump cute but it looked like they'd tossed on garbage and Harmony seethed at that. [Beautician] was having a fit that made her stomach hurt. Things hadn't been this frustrating since she'd been hazed early into her time at Coodly Manor. Apparently creating an even playing field meant she couldn't look pretty. If the old methods weren't going to work maybe it was time to try something new.

More clothed they made their way into the spider's woods. Hyacinth was back to being tiny in his nesting place near Harmony's heart. With a pulse of stamina, she started [Intruder Sense] and the skill mapped out the area around her in a ring. Back the way they came it did pick up a tiny mimic which confirmed how they kept the area separated. How this sense was different from hers she couldn't quite figure out. The mimic, shaped like a small rock came back as a sick greasy sensation in the impression that was returned. If this area was constructed with regions this might have been a design feature.

There was sure to be some kind of guardian-style monster, a spider queen, or Madam Web. A challenge competitors could hunt down but at the risk of letting mimics advance. Definitely not doing that. She'd rather the spiders. Maybe more than one large defender as the woods were a large area to cover?

Others had more reasons to blindly charge into danger. Improve their skills, and see what they might expect in the Ascendant Games. They'd further polish their evolved class and profession that they'd had for weeks or longer before the games even started. The seals would complicate such a task. More time was needed to explore what she could and couldn't do before choosing to hunt. All they needed to do was get through the woods and to the camp. Hopefully, there they would be rewarded with proper clothing.

It's not like she could gain a level and increase her overall power that way during the Games. Thibodeux on Evolution was quite clear on that. Once you evolve you will enter an extended stabilization period where gaining class and profession levels is impossible as you adjust to your new ones. Don't worry you can still refer to Thibodeux on Skills to train those up! Repetitive exercise is the best way to familiarize yourself with them and maintain your old ones. [Recall] brought up the passage of that infuriating text.

There was every reason to avoid difficult enemies and get to her group's site. As long as she was away to let Bates and Ambrosia deal with Kelly this was almost a vacation, ugly outfit or not. Harmony looked toward the beacon almost excited to get there and have the next part of the game be revealed.

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