The Great Core’s likeness on my head-scales began to warm with an ever-increasing intensity, until it dwarfed the searing fire-pain of my mana overuse. It destroyed all semblance of thought, leaving nothing but the flames behind. Nothing but the pain.

It pulsed, sending those flames outward. They traveled across my scale-flesh, lighting a path down my body before returning from where they came. It pulsed again, and those same flames walked across my length before returning to their origin. Finally, it pulsed a third time. This time, the flames didn’t come back.

This time, the inferno collected at a single spot, forming a pinprick of overwhelming heat and energy. It was like the boiling mana-water from before, inflamed by the fire-gaze bad-thing, all over again - except ten times worse, feeling as if it threatened to pierce a hole within my scale-flesh, to erupt in a fiery blaze and melt the network of threads above.

I almost imagined the mana-water boiling around me, overheated by the flame that I carried inside. Maybe it really was.

I couldn’t see, and so I didn’t know.

I latched onto my faith, praying to the Great Core. Praying that the flame would go away. Praying that the flame would stay, and make me stronger. Praying that the Great Core would allow me to live.

Just behind my venom sacs, perched in a hollow above my fangs, the gathered flame shifted. It burned my flesh, hollowing out a new space within. Then, it was gone.

Something took its place, filling the hollow that had been created. I could feel what it was; I could control it with the same ease and instinct that I controlled the venom sacs that I had been created with. I didn’t need the thought-light to tell me what had changed.

Still, the thought-light flickered.

Blooded Trait: [Paralyzing Venom I] Acquired.

The Great Core had blessed me in my time of need. It had faith in me, just as I did in it. I knew that, now.

What else could explain it? Pure chance?

No.

The Great Core had provided, giving me the means to survive.

I accepted it gladly, hissing with glee as I floated on the mana-water’s surface. Though the change had felt as if it took an eternity, most of the Aridae were still descending down the stone-spikes; a few, however, had nearly made it halfway to the mana-water.

I knew that I needed to use what the Great Core had given me.

I called to the thought-light, telling it what I wanted.

Available Trait Points: 3

Use Trait Points To Upgrade A Trait?

Without hesitation, I confirmed my desire.

3 Trait Points Required For Upgrade Of [Paralyzing Venom I] To [Paralyzing Venom III].

Upgrade Successful.

As I acceded to the thought-light’s question, I felt myself change even further. The new venom sacs, nestled behind the old, shifted in response. They changed shape slightly, forming a greater hollow within my flesh and enlarging to fill that new space. More important was the effect it had on the slow-venom collected within. The fluid morphed, becoming both more viscous and more powerful.

I could have used the Trait Points to upgrade from [Venomous II] to [Venomous III] instead, but I realized that it would be better to increase the strength of my slow-venom twice, rather than my old death-venom once. More than that, I hadn’t been sure whether increasing to [Venomous III] would cause my death-venom to be restored. If it hadn’t, I would have made venom that I had already depleted more powerful. I would have had to wait for it to come back on its own.

I didn’t have that kind of time, even with the Great Core’s blessings. The Aridae were almost upon me.

I pulled away, whipping my tail around and plunging into the depths of the mana-water. The fluid streamed by me far faster than before, the slow-venom that had infested my system burned away by the process of creating the Blooded Trait. I felt free, despite being surrounded. I felt joyful, despite being endangered.

That joy depleted slightly when I realized what I needed to do, but I managed to hold onto it somewhat. I stroked with my tail, rising to the surface again. Just before I touched open air, I opened my mouth wide, guzzling down mana-water as if I were dying of thirst.

The fluids filled my stomach, pushing me to bursting, before shifting to travel to my waiting mana core. The already-strained core protested even further, sending a spike of fire-pain through my skull, making me question my resolve.

Still, I kept going.

I tamed the mana when it raged. I brought it to life when it fell still. All the while, the fire-pain continued.

[Mana Manipulation IV] made the process far faster than it had been originally, causing the formerly unruly mana to feel closer to a familiar friend. I greeted it, and we slipped into the customs that had become routine.

With one difference.

This time, when the mana flowed from the mana core where it had been stored, rushing through the channels that had been created, it deviated in its path. It found a new destination, rushing inside and filling it to the brim.

Imbuing my slow-venom with its touch.

Before, when I had created Mana Venom, I had still possessed [Mana Venom I]. It had greatly increased the strength of my death-venom, causing my venom to grow enough in potency to instantly kill the weaker of the Aridae, if I did not ration the use of my venom. Yet, much of that effect had been due to the sheer amount of mana that I had stuffed into my venom, to the point that I suffered from the pain even now. That wasn’t a feat that I could repeat; especially not with the Aridae coming closer by the second.

I didn’t think that I would really need to. In the course of the fight, the Skill had increased, leveling from [Mana Venom I] all the way to [Mana Venom IV]. That, too, had been caused by the overwhelming amount of mana that I had shoved into my venom sacs. Now, I hoped that the increase in strength would be enough, despite the reduced mana I had on hand.

[Mana Venom], I instinctively knew, was not a venom by itself. Instead, it was the combination of mana with a venom that already existed - causing it to become increasingly potent in the way it functioned. While the venom that I had been created with became more deadly, the slow-venom would change in a different way.

Combined with the increased potency that came with [Paralyzing Venom III], it might be enough to survive.

It would have to be enough.

I took one last gulp of the mana-water, shunting the energy towards my slow-venom sacs, just when I heard splashing behind me. My body felt slowed, the fire in my muscles dimmed by the fatigue of [Mana Manipulation], but I still turned faster than I had for the majority of the battle.

The father Aridae, quicker than the others with his larger limbs, stared at me balefully. Hatefully. His missing eye still leaked a clear fluid from within, matting the hairs around it an even darker shade. His fangs rustled dangerously, slow-venom leaking from their tips, causing the blue of the mana-water below him to cloud slightly at the droplets touch.

He pushed himself across the water, paddling furiously as he floated atop it. I didn’t meet his charge. Instead, I dove down into the depths again, welcoming the brilliant blue that filled my vision. In just a short time, it had become my ally in the fight against the Aridae - almost as if it, too, were a creation of the Great Core, tasked to seek vengeance against the bad-things.

I came back up again, aiming for the bad-thing’s darkened abdomen. With such a dangerous enemy, I couldn’t risk breaching the surface before I struck, providing enough time for him to react.

I would just have to suffer the pain of the mana-water again.

I came up underneath him, baring my fangs. The mana-water rushed in, filling me to the brim. I struck, sinking in deep.

Slow-venom dripped through my fangs.