I swallowed, basking in the wonderful sensation as a bad-thing’s corpse shifted into warm mana, absorbed and repurposed by the Great Core. The flickering of the thought-light, expected as it was, hardly even drew my attention.

Level 13 Stoneskin LeechConsumed.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 4/5.

The voices beside me, however, were a little more interesting. I turned in the direction of the noise, catching the scent-taste of more corpse-flesh on my tongue. Two Coreless jabbered at one another; one mine and one not. They were easy to tell apart, even with how similar most Coreless looked.

After all, one of them was wearing a [Little Guardian’s Totem].

That was something new; something that had changed almost overnight. For some reason, many of the warriors of the Coreless - the ones that covered themselves in dull skins of ore-flesh, though without the mana-light that my original Coreless had - saw the light of the Great Core all at once.

I wasn’t entirely sure what caused it, though I had my suspicions. I wasn’t surprised by it either. The Great Core’s victory was inevitable. It just...happened a little more suddenly than I expected.

“I’m telling you, it’s good luck to present an offering to the Little Guardian when you get a chance. Keeps trouble away,” one Coreless said to the other, surely offering his praises to the Great Core.

The second Coreless furrowed his brows before responding. “Morgan...you said that last time, and we still nearly got pinned by those damn Needlers.

“Yes, we nearly did. You’re welcome, by the way.”

The second Coreless remained silent, and I caught a faint hint of amusement when I sunk my fangs into the nearest Totem link. Unlike most, this one’s [Little Guardian’s Totem] made him extremely easy to read; rather than keep it on the outside of his ore-flesh, presented to the world, it was hidden underneath - touching his skin at all times.

I wasn’t sure which I preferred. Was it better for my Coreless to announce and advertise their faith in the Great Core, potentially inviting the curiosity of the Coreless around them who had not seen the light? Or was it better to keep the Totems close, so that I was always connected to them?

Regardless, I appreciated how much easier it made understanding him be. The morning after I had saved my trapped Coreless, she had brought another to me - a proto-totem in hand. As always, it had been hard to read the Coreless’ emotions from what I could see alone, but the moment he received a [Little Guardian’s Totem]...things changed. I understood.

I could see the desperation, the hope for something to cling to. I could see the fear. I could see the need.

And when, later that day, I saw terror instead?

I took that away from him, guiding my other Coreless to rescue him from the bad-things. Like before, I wasn’t able to consume the bad-things that we saved my Coreless from. The Coreless of the many-nest needed their flesh to survive. I tried to temper my disappointment with memories of hunger and need flashing through the Totem links to my tiny Coreless.

It worked. Mostly. The excitement of leveling up again and reaching level 29 helped to keep me distracted. If the requirements for the choices that the thought-light presented were consistent, I would receive a powerful blessing once I hit 30.

I was more than a little excited to see what I was offered, with my recent successes in mind.

These two Coreless had become regular visitors over the following few days, and the amused one had quickly become one of my favorite new Coreless. As much as I enjoyed the visits of my tiny Coreless and believed in their potential in the future, this Coreless was something special.

He liked to bring offerings. The Stoneskin Leeches that he provided were small; they wouldn’t do much to solve the many-nest’s hunger. I could have taken offense at the implication - that the needs of the many-nest came before my desire for more Traits.

The ever-present [hunger] of my tiny Coreless, so much harder to solve than [fear] or [loneliness], held that thought back.

The Coreless were mine; I could go without a few Traits if it meant more lived to see another day. They would remember, just as I would.

I flicked out my tongue, catching the scent-taste of the air. It only took a moment of concentration before I found what I was looking for. The two Coreless hardly broke their conversation as I slithered closer, winding my way up my Coreless’ leg until I reached the large skin-mouth at his side. I flicked my tongue out again, confirming my target’s location.

“Your ‘Little Guardian’ isn’t going to be so little anymore if you keep feeding him like that. Seriously, those things are almost as big as he is.”

“Relax. I saw him eat things a dozen times his size, when the refugees were crossing into Orken. You know that the way monsters work doesn’t make complete sense, especially Ascended ones like our Little Guardian here. He won’t get fat,” my Coreless responded.

They exchanged a few more words and I caught another flash of amusement as the skin-mouth nearly swallowed me whole. And yes, I had recently realized that the stomachs of the skin-mouths were fairly safe - beyond the one time where a skin-mouth had sealed itself shut and I had briefly panicked.

It had reopened at about the same time that I noticed its stomach couldn’t digest anything . Like, at all. It was weird.

This skin-mouth, though, had something that I wanted. I took it, pinning it between my jaws and swallowing it down. The final Stoneskin Leech that I needed to consume.

Level 8 Stoneskin LeechConsumed.

Transferred to Core.

Blooded Trait Acquisition Progress: 5/5.

Analyzing Blooded Trait…

Acquiring Blooded Trait: [Anticoagulant I]

The Great Core’s blessing washed through me, changing me once more. It was a subtler change than many of the Great Core’s blessings; it did not change any part of me that was visible, but it did change me. My mouth-flesh ran moist, far more than before, coated with a new form of saliva that I knew served one purpose: making my enemies bleed - and then making sure that it didn’t stop.

I hissed, slithering back out of the skin-mouth and offering my Coreless a look of gratitude. After a moment of thought, I decided to go further. This particular Coreless had proven himself of worth to the Great Core; I gave him a name.

Leech. It was fitting, naming him after the offerings that he had provided. I flickered an illusion of his namesake, drawing from my light reserves. A flash of surprise, followed by amusement, flickered through his Totem link. He seemed to like his new name. Maybe. Even with the Totem links, I didn’t always understand the Coreless - just as they didn’t always understand me.

It was a work in progress, but we were progressing.

Leech spoke with the other Coreless for a while, jabbering back and forth with him while I debated whether or not I should increase [Anticoagulant] with some of my Trait Points. Before I could come to a decision, a flicker of something - satisfaction, smugness, victory? - from Leech caught my attention.

I turned just in time to see him pass something to the other Coreless: another proto-totem.

Had Leech brought him under the Great Core’s light?

I slithered forward, touching my scale-flesh to the carving. Mana ripped itself from my mana core, forming the complicated pattern of [Little Guardian’s Totem]. Still, it was easier now. I could have made far more.

The Totem began to glow within the Coreless’ grasp.

I sunk my fangs into the connection, curious at what I would find.

[doubt]

[concern]

[worry]

I was disappointed, but not surprised. The Coreless did not see the Great Core’s light so easily. Even Leech had been the same, only a few days ago.

Still, he shared something else with the Leech of that time. Underneath it all, buried so deep that I could barely sense it. So deep that even the Coreless might not have seen it.

[hope]

I hissed with satisfaction.

That would be enough.