Oath of the Survivor

As Kyle watched the wasp approach, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment at how weak the creature was. It looked intimidating, though that was likely more a function of wasps in general being designed specifically to ruin a person’s day. Despite its admittedly impressive speed, the creature was frail. Kyle easily avoided its first attempt to sting him, grabbing the base of its two left wings in the process. He twisted his hips, intending to slam the wasp to the ground. Instead, he felt a brief moment of resistance before the wings ripped free, their former owner spinning through the air and landing hard, mandibles clicking angrily before finding its footing.

Kyle knew the trio of shambling beetles would be a bit behind, though his Auric Perception and a quick glance north told him that he would have company soon. What’s more, the sensation in the air had been progressively intensifying, and he had to actively work to suppress the urge to get lost in the fight. The wasp had no such suppression, and despite losing its wings it charged at him. Without its wings it was slow, moving only on instinct. One well-timed stomp smashed the creature into the ground, its head crushed.

A familiar pulse of mana came through the creature, and he saw the smallest red gem yet flow out from it. He was tempted to reach out to it, but with enemies still nearby he knew he couldn’t take the risk. Speaking of…

“C.H.A.D.D., you’re welcome to wake up any time, buddy.”

There was no response from the drone, so Kyle sighed as he looked to the north. He could hear the buzzing of wings, this group of insects being similar to the smaller beetles he’d encountered at the edge of the forest all those months ago.

Even back then they’d only posed a limited threat, and with his Enhanced Carapace he felt confident that they’d struggle to do him meaningful harm. Looking to the west at the still slowly approaching larger creatures, Kyle knew he had time before they arrived. Those factors together led him to one simple conclusion – he had time to practice.

Dashing to the northeast with HASTE active, he got a better look at the approaching swarm. Similar to the group in Albaum, this set looked to have been led by a similar mutated insect, this one looking more like a large ladybug with glowing spots on its back. Unfortunately for the creature, it had lost control over its swarm with the strong compulsion to fight in the air, and it looked to be losing control of itself, too.

As the small beetles buzzed towards him, he focused on the first and activated RESONANCE in his right hand. He grabbed the beetle as it got close, ignoring its attempts to bite him as he guided the pursuing swarm farther to the east, away from the slow-moving creatures. RESONANCE wasn’t able to activate on contact, but Kyle quickly corrected the flow of the technique, killing the beetle with a swift rotation of mana as soon as it was able to link. Throwing the body of the small beetle to the side, he repeated the process with the next beetle in line.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, Kyle was standing over the body of the ladybug, panting. He had deactivated HASTE, his mana reserves beginning to feel low for the first time in a long time. When he’d used RESONANCE against the Wall, he was able to pull a little bit of its mana to help fuel the technique. Using it to shape the wood and chitin also allowed him to pull some of his mana back, making it a slow but mana-efficient process. This case worked out to be quite different.

The smaller beetles simply didn’t have high enough mana density inside themselves to make a lethal application of the skill, so Kyle had to use his own mana to finish the job. If it had only been a handful of beetles, it likely wouldn’t have been too much of an issue, but after dispatching nearly thirty of the creatures he was feeling drained. This wasn’t a drawback he’d expected, and as another small red gem formed around the body of the ladybug, he looked at the lumbering newcomers with concern.

These creatures were large and slow-moving, with a mottled ash-colored carapace. Their faces were large and flat, small antennae bobbing up and down in the air. While their mandibles were relatively small, he expected they would have other means to cause harm. He thought back to the Infernal, and just how close he’d come to death. No, underestimating these three beetles would be a major mistake.

Kyle chose not to activate HASTE yet, given their relative slowness. He felt confident exceeding their current pace without his skill, and that would help him avoid the fatigue in his body as well as save mana that could be used for RESONANCE. And he knew he’d need to use it, because he had no confidence in damaging the horse-sized creatures with his bare hands. As the first beetle approached him, Kyle jumped into action. He sprinted past it, also dodging past the second as he closed on the last beetle in the procession.

Taking advantage of their bulk, he activated RESONANCE and placed his hand on the side of the final beetle as the other struggled to turn and face him. The connection with the creature’s mana network was quickly established, and Kyle let out a breath as he felt the power flowing through the creature. I won’t have to manage this all alone at least. The creature, seeming to sense the intrusion, attempted to wrest control of its mana network back from Kyle. Unfortunately for it, Kyle’s Willpower far exceeded its own, and with a powerful surge of mana the beetle fell to the ground, dead.

[DR. MAYHEW, YOU MAY WANT TO -]

Kyle nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the familiar robotic voice, and in his distraction, he failed to react to a massive greenish cloud that erupted from the fallen creature.

“Augh!”

The gas that expelled from the creature was incredibly pungent, and the first thing Kyle thought about was poison. Concerned that he’d already inhaled a breath’s worth, he gritted his teeth as he activated HASTE, escaping the cloud and creating distance.

“What is that gas?” Kyle sputtered, coughing in the foul cloud.

“Also, C.H.A.D.D., are you okay? How long have you been back?” Kyle had dozens more questions he wanted to ask, but he forced himself to focus on the matter at hand.

[DR. MAYHEW, IT LOOKS TO BE A CHEMICAL COMPOUND FOUND INSIDE THE CREATURE. A VARIETY OF CHAINS, PRIMARILY DESIGNED FOR ODOR.]

Kyle certainly couldn’t disagree with that, as his nose burned from the pungent scent. It was like burning rubber met rotten eggs. “Is it toxic?”

[CONSUMPTION OF LARGE QUANTITIES WOULD BE ILL-ADVISED, BUT THE GAS DOES NOT APPEAR TO CARRY ANY COMMON TOXINS THAT WOULD OTHERWISE BE DANGEROUS.]

Confident in his companion’s analysis, Kyle regarded the remaining two creatures. Massive stink bugs. Can’t say I expected that. Holding his breath, Kyle rushed towards them, putting an end to the last of his opponents.

The area by the stink bugs and the swarm of beetles was well and truly covered by a thick cloud of noxious gas, so Kyle made his way over to the body of the wasp, which was blessedly free of the foul stench. His eyes still watered as he spoke to his companion.

“C.H.A.D.D., what happened to you when you absorbed that energy from that gem earlier? In fact, how did you absorb the energy at all?”

[I… AM NOT ENTIRELY SURE HOW TO DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED, DR. MAYHEW. IT WAS A STRANGE EXPERIENCE. AS A POINT OF CLARIFICATION, HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT A GEM. IT WAS BIOLOGICAL IN NATURE – AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. WHEN I CAME INTO CONTACT WITH IT, THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE CONVERTED INTO MANA, WHICH WAS THEN ABSORBED THROUGH NORMAL MEANS.]

Those words made Kyle stop walking entirely. “What do you mean it was biological?”

[THE CONSTRUCT WAS FORMED AND SHAPED BY MANA THAT WAS BOUND TO THE CREATURE, BUT THE CORE COMPONENT WAS BIOLOGICAL. THINK OF IT LIKE BLOOD WITHOUT PLASMA, WITH THE MANA GIVING IT SHAPE, BEFORE IT WAS BROKEN DOWN AND REABSORBED.]

The concept made Kyle’s head spin, although pieces were starting to come together. It made a lot of sense that all these creatures, himself included, were giving off the same pulses of mana. If a biological component was consistent among all the effected individuals, it would explain a lot about what was driving these mutations. Unfortunately, it also created a lot more questions. Why is the biological element releasing the same type of mana that is so harmful to the rest of the world? Why are only insects mutating like this? What caused this to happen in the first place?

Kyle shook his head. These were important questions, but not questions he could answer at the moment. For now, he had more than enough on his plate. Finishing the walk over to the body of the fallen wasp, he looked more closely at the red gem that was still present near the corpse. Even though he hadn’t made time to enter meditation after his encounter with the Wall, he didn’t want to leave these orbs out to be absorbed by anything that came across them. Kyle resolved to absorb them himself, then consolidate all the gains at once afterward.

Gingerly, he reached out to touch it. As usual, the red… whatever it was broke apart and tendrils of crimson energy began to flow towards his arm. This time, however, something changed. Only a small amount entered his body before the entire process stopped, the remaining energy freezing before dissipating into the air. Kyle frowned at this, but before he could say anything he was whisked away into a vision.

Kyle immediately felt the ancient presence regarding him, and his perspective shifted to be removed, regarding the entirety of the planet. From his bird’s eye view, he first saw a quickly rotating snapshot of countless mutated arthropods, some like the beetles and ant he’d encountered, others even more powerful than he’d encountered before. But none of these creatures carried with them the signature energy of the red gems.

From there, his perspective shifted to another massive number of creatures like the fly. Weak, but carrying the energy that Kyle now realized matched the presence surrounding him. From there he saw creatures like the Infernal and the Wall, monsters that had absorbed significant amounts of essence. He saw them destroy one another, yet be unable to absorb the essence that flowed out from their fallen opponents. Each tier of creature showed fewer and fewer, but still numbered in the thousands. The last image was himself, counted among their number. For whatever reason, he and the others had hit a bottleneck, unable to progress farther. Then, finally, his vision stopped on four images.

They were shadowy, and the first thing that struck him was the power that emanated from each. Not even close to the impact of the presence that surrounded him, but power that was familiar. D Grade, just like Grandpa. There was no doubt that the four creatures in this highest tier were at least as strong as his grandfather was. There hadn’t been reports of D Grade creatures since the time of the Originators, but somehow the changes that had happened to their planet had given rise to at least four more. Shuddering, he focused on the first.

Kyle saw a gigantic moth with a wingspan at least a hundred meters across. Scales clouded the sky as it flew, with nothing daring to come close. Then he saw a man-sized… lobster? No, that wasn’t right. It was a mutated crustacean of some type, with powerful claws and a brightly colored carapace. He watched as six claws on its front exploded out in motion, creating shockwaves that broke its prey to pieces. His perspective changed yet again, watching a centipede the size of a train rush through a rainforest, devouring everything in its path. Finally, he saw a spider in a jungle, massive fangs chittering as it disappeared into the shadows.

THIS IS THE PINNACLE OF YOUR PLANET, LITTLE LARVA. THERE IS NO PURPOSE TO ASSIMILATING LESSER ESSENCE ANYMORE. ASCEND AND DEVOUR, OR BE CONSUMED. I WILL OFFER YOU NOTHING MORE UNTIL YOU DO. The voice boomed out in his mind, and as abruptly as the vision started, it ended. All Kyle was left with was a pounding headache, and the images of four monstrous beasts seared into his memory.