The thought-light flickered.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 1/20

Again.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 2/20

Again.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 3/20

And again and again, until it all began to run together.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 19/20

I slid through the gaps between the bad-things, snapping up every corpse that I could see. A few of them still managed to wisp away into pure mana before I reached them, reclaimed by the Core that had created them.

Most did not.

Instead, they found their home within me.

I slithered along, the notable lack of sound created by my illusory limbs going unnoticed by the nearby bad-things, just as all of the other oddities were. I hadn’t been sure what senses they used to detect enemies, but - whatever it was - it was not very good. Or maybe they were just too focused on the danger of the Coreless before them.

Because they were dangerous.

Every so often, I stole a glance toward the ongoing battle. I witnessed a giant boot come crashing down, shattering hard-flesh with a thunderous crack. I watched the way that heated mandibles failed to find purchase on shining ore-flesh. I observed the way that the bad-things died in droves.

It was different than before. Though Will had been strong, able to take many of the bad-things with him in his defeat, he had been caught in a vulnerable position. I had already felt the terrible pain that came with a high fall; the way that it rattled your mind and tried to shatter your form. And that had been with mana-water to cushion my fall.

Will had received no such mercy, his bones cracking under the force of the fall and his thoughts turned hazy.

Even worse, he had been alone and surrounded, vulnerable to attacks from places that he could not see.

Now, that was not the case. The three Coreless guarded one another, protecting each other from the things that they could not see - and the bad-things were massed in far less numbers.

It was enough for them to survive.

It was enough for me to feast.

For now, at least.

I reached another corpse, and earned my next reward.

Blooded Trait Upgrade Progress: 20/20

Blooded Trait Upgrade Received!

Blooded Trait: [Molten Bite II] Increased.

[Molten Bite III] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/40

My body changed, and my illusion faltered at the distraction of the increased fire-pain - just for a brief moment, but enough to draw the attention of a nearby bad-thing.

It jerked its head towards me; I hastily covered myself up again, draping my form in [Illusion Spark].

For once, it wasn’t fooled.

The bad-thing snapped at me, dangerous mandibles closing themselves around my flesh.

The illusion of it, at least. They clicked together, only air caught between them. I coiled myself, bunching my scale-flesh.

Then, from behind the thin layer of illusion that hid me from its view, I struck.

My fangs dripped with molten fire-pain, cutting easily through hard-flesh that had only recently been difficult to pierce. The bad-thing thrashed, trying to shake me off and bring its mandibles to bear, but it was already too late.

The slow-venom that had dripped through my fangs had already taken hold.

The thought-light flickered, bringing with it a long-overdue sight.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Venom VI] Increased.

[Mana Venom VII] Acquired.

Ever since my battle with the Aridae, I had continually shunted what little mana I could towards my gathered venom. It wasn’t much, without the mana-water to supply me; my natural regeneration just wasn’t that high. It definitely wasn’t enough to increase [Mana Manipulation] again. I had a feeling that it was improving slightly, but was fairly certain that it wasn’t an easy skill to master.

My experience in the mana-water might have made it seem so, but that was just due to the sheer amount that flowed through me - and I could still feel a slight twinge in my mana-core as a result.

Something like that couldn’t be done often.

Still, I had managed to keep my venom relatively well-suffused with mana; nowhere near what it had once held, but enough to increase its potency.

Enough to slow the bad-thing before me to a halt. Enough for me to throw an poorly-created illusion around us, concealing what was to come.

Frozen as it was, I repeated what I had once done to the Aridae, raking my fangs along its hard-flesh and saving my venom for another time. And yet, it was different than before. Even against the Aridae’s soft-flesh, my fangs had felt ineffective, requiring pass after pass to send them to their death.

Now, against the hard-flesh of the Flame Formican before me, my fangs ripped through with little resistance. [Molten Bite], upgraded again, was even hotter than before. It radiated a near-overwhelming heat, forcing me to constantly use [Illusion Spark] to stave off the fire-pain that it caused.

But that heat didn’t only affect me.

The bad-things that I had taken the ability from used it to crush and melt stone; I didn’t have the ability to crush, not with my own fangs.

I didn’t need it, though.

My fangs had become heat itself, drawing lines of fire-pain across the bad-thing’s hard-flesh. I forced the excess flames from the reservoirs in my scale-flesh, pushing gouts of fire into its eyes and down its gaping throat.

It was resistant to heat, but not invulnerable.

Not nearly enough.

Experience Gained!

I consumed it, collapsing the concealment of the illusion immediately afterwards.

Level 2 Flame Formican Consumed.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 1/40.

I exulted in my victory, letting out a celebratory hiss. A quiet one. [Illusion Spark] flickered for a moment, wavering due to my rapidly-depleted reservoirs of light. Covering up the fight from the other bad-things had strained them greatly.

I pulled it in closer, forming the image of a smaller bad-thing. It was less effective, making the others more likely to bump and jostle me - I had noticed that there was an instinctive sort of deference towards the larger of the Flame Formicans. Still, it was better than losing my light entirely.

Slowly, my reservoirs refilled as I dimmed the glow of the molten drops around me. My illusion shifted in turn, carefully reverting to its previous size.

And I returned to my feast.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 1/40.

The presence of the Coreless made everything easier. Part of me mourned the levels that I didn’t have a chance to gain; another part of me knew that I would never find such a feast on my own.

I swallowed another bad-thing; maybe half of one, this time. It had been pulped by a massive blow at some point in the fight, its pieces spreading to only the Great Core knew where.

This time, the thought-light did not flicker.

I hissed in disappointment, discouraged by the realization that not every corpse was worthy of the Great Core’s reward. They had to be somewhat whole; a missing piece here or there hadn’t caused problems yet, so I had thought it would be okay. It wasn’t.

Worse, the Coreless had done the same to many of their attackers. Still, the bad-things possessed overwhelming numbers - so much so that even the powerful Coreless had begun to falter despite protecting one another.

There were enough intact corpses to have my fill.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 2/40.

…

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 40/40.

Blooded Trait: [Molten Bite III] Increased.

[Molten Bite IV] Acquired.

Progress Towards Next Upgrade: 0/80.

This time, I had prepared for the change. It had been a tiring effort, keeping an illusion draped over myself as I slithered back to the wall-cracks - a bad-thing halfway down my throat as I did so. Still, I had known what would be coming.

I changed again, and the fire-pain changed with me. It blazed along my tongue and raged across my insides.

I clamped down on [Illusion Spark], but it didn’t matter. The sudden fire-pain, stronger than ever before, shattered the illusion that I had placed around myself. My form was revealed for what it was; no longer did I appear to be an ugly bad-thing, just like all of the rest.

Still, they never noticed. I had moved too far away.

Before any new bad-things could arrive and see me as I really was, I covered myself again. My mouth opened, allowing drip-drops of molten fire to touch down on the stone in front of me.

I pulled from that source; it held very little in the way of light, but even that might be the thin line between myself and an embarrassing death.

It was just in time.

From further down the tunnel, where we had once been, I began to hear the steady click-clack of mandibles.

The Coreless heard it too, jerking their heads towards the noise in the midst of their battle.

They started to desperately retreat, knowing what was coming. Their giant forms pushed through the crowd of bad-things, seeking an escape. It left them vulnerable to bite after bite; each of them screamed out in turn as their flesh began to sizzle and bleed.

Still, they accepted the great injuries in return for a chance to escape.

For a moment, the female-who-was-not-Needle turned back, an expression that I couldn’t interpret on her face. A mandible snapped at her heel, and she turned away again.

Soon enough, they disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, a crowd of bad-things following their bloody trail.

Leaving me behind.