I bobbed my head up and down, hissing in delight at what the thought-light had just revealed.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 10/10

Blooded Trait Upgrade Received!

Blooded Trait: [Illusion Spark II] Increased.

[Illusion Spark III] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/20

My scale-flesh warped, allowing even more light and heat to be stored within. Moments later, the light around me ceased its distortions, the reservoirs within my scale-flesh filled to the brim. Part of me knew that I could do something similar to what the Flame Wisps had done, wreathing myself in mostly-illusory flames. Altering the appearance of the world around me, however, was far from possible.

Their ability to disguise the flame-water was done in little bits and pieces, the product of a large number of the Flame Wisps working together to achieve the same goal. I, on the other hand, was alone. I wouldn’t be able to do something like that.

The flame-water had been a dangerous trick, and were it not for the Coreless, I would not have been able to cross it so easily even after it was revealed. Even from my safe-place in Needle’s arms, my newly changed scales had filled their heat reservoir to the brim solely from the act of crossing from above.

That had been a wonderful idea, and it proved more than ever that Needle was a worthy acolyte of the Great Core - unlike the female-that-was-not-Needle, who had yet to prove any real usefulness at all.

I had little hope for her, but the Great Core did not bless each of us in equal measure.

Needle had even managed to take down a good number of the Flame Wisps that had floated beyond my reach, cementing her value even further with the new offerings.

Yes, she was a wonderful disciple.

I turned and hissed balefully at the female-that-was-not-Needle, showing her my displeasure. She bared her teeth in return, reaching into a skin-mouth at her side and offering me another piece of flesh. Again, I spit it out.

She was a stupid one, but maybe one day she would learn to provide better offerings.

They would all do well to learn from Needle’s example. For now, I put that out of my mind, focusing on the task before me. Unfortunately, the rest of the Flame Wisps remained out of reach - I had hoped to increase to [Illusion Spark IV], with how many had littered the cavern, but it wasn’t to be.

With that in mind, I turned towards the cavern’s exit. Already, the Coreless were poking and prodding at it, making their senseless noises at one another. I could see why they might be worried, though. It wasn’t quite a small-tunnel, but it was rather small relative to the larger of the Coreless.

Crawling through would be difficult for some of them.

For me, on the other hand, it was simple. I slithered past them, eager to see what was on the other side. The scent-taste of the Dungeon Core was heavy on my tongue, and it was difficult to fight the urge to leave the Coreless behind entirely.

And yet, the Great Core had led them to me for a reason. I wouldn’t abandon them entirely.

The tunnel opened up into a second cavern, though it was rather oddly shaped. Just as in the last room, Flame Wisps dotted the air here and there; this time, however, they were far fewer in number and remained near the ceiling. I doubted that they were concealing anything like the flame-water here.

The cavern was split into two distinct sections, with a natural sort of dividing wall in between them, built of that same glossy black stone. The heat was slightly more bearable than in the cavern before, shielded from the flame-water as it was, but my tongue still felt unbearably dry.

Behind me, the female-that-was-not-Needle crawled her way through the tunnel with a series of grunts, her large size making for an uncomfortable process.

“Don’t go too far, little guy! It’s dangerous around here,” she hissed. Once again, she butchered the sounds, only forming a series of nonsense noises. I hissed back, trying to teach her how it was done. It failed. My hopes were dashed, yet again.

Maybe Needle could learn to hiss properly, given time. The others, I wasn’t so sure of. They weren’t the brightest bunch.

Just as I thought that, the ringing of ore-flesh sounded from the tunnel behind me, followed by the loud noises of one of the Coreless.

“Are you okay, Erik?” the female Coreless hissed again.

“Just a little,” he grunted, “stuck. Hard to get through this damn thing.”

The female turned to me again, continuing to make noises quietly. Every so often, she would hold out a hand, attempting to touch my head-scales. Each time, I hissed and bared my fangs until she pulled it back.

It was having to look up towards her that allowed me to catch the flicker of movement at the corner of my vision. A strange bad-thing that crawled its way around the wall that divided the cavern, sticking to its surface near the ceiling.

It was tinted a pale red, almost pink in coloration, with slimy-looking skin that shone even in the sparse light provided by the Flame Wisps. Its long body was covered with eight strange little arms that jut out from the sides, complete with three-clawed hands that grabbed onto the stone as it crawled. Most of its weight, however, was held by its four thick legs, each leaving a slight shimmering liquid as it stepped - most likely whatever substance allowed it to grip onto the wall so easily.

It was huge, a giant in my eyes, nearly half as tall as the Coreless. Even from where I was, I could make out the thick plates that topped its head, forming a ridge of armor above its deeply-inset eyes. Eyes that were looking directly at us.

The bad-thing clambered across the wall, climbing up onto the ceiling. I bared my fangs and hissed.

“It’s okay, little cutie. You’ll warm up to me.”

I hissed again - and again, the female-that-was-not-Needle didn’t understand. All the while, the bad-thing continued to creep its way across the ceiling. A forked tongue split from its lips, a giant mirror of my own, tasting the air just as I would and revealing a set of sharp fangs.

Again, I hissed. Again, the Coreless did not understand. Behind us, the other Coreless still struggled to crawl through the tunnel, slowed by their overwhelming size. It was just the two of us and the massive bad-thing. I wasn’t happy about the situation.

And so I hissed again, baring my fangs. The monster had moved closer, and had almost managed to travel all the way to us undetected by the Coreless.

It flexed its great legs, preparing to pounce, while the strange grasping arms on its side rotated and turned towards us. I panicked, pulling at the reservoir of light and heat that I had gathered. [Illusion Spark] proved its worth.

A gout of light and pseudo-flame sprayed towards the bad-thing, flashing over the Coreless’ shoulder and forcing her to spin around in surprise. The heat quickly died out, as [Illusion Spark] was better at storing and redirecting light than it was heat, but light was all that I needed.

A great beam shone upon the bad-thing’s beady little eyes, highlighting its form and forcing its pounce to falter.

“Erik, get your ass through, we’ve got company!” The female Coreless shouted a warcry, pulling two fangs of ore-flesh from her side and holding them at the ready. I slithered behind her, hiding behind her great bulk.

The bad-thing, no longer in a position of ambush, changed its angle of attack rather than impale itself on her readied fangs. It dashed across the ceiling and down the wall, pushing off of it at the last moment and propelling itself through the air.

The Coreless dodged to the side in a blurring motion, avoiding the giant beast.

I, on the other hand, was left to fend for myself.

The bad-thing twisted in the air, doing its best to follow the Coreless. Its side crashed into me, rolling over my length painfully and grasping me in one of its strange arms.

The clawed hand squeezed around me, causing my scale-flesh to creak in protest. With a mental hiss of displeasure towards the Coreless, I sunk my fangs into the hand that held me, filling it with mana-imbued slow-venom.

Later, I thought, I’d have to bite the female Coreless too.

Maybe she’d learn to protect me better next time, if I did.