I once again found myself alone in the corner, but I could feel the fear of all the other spawn directed towards me. I knew that I didn't have to worry about them attacking, because I was the only one keelish (ie, unhinged) enough to brutally murder another. Now, that's a thought...

While I was thinking, I certainly wasn't lost in thought. I watched as the rest of the victors were presented with some meat scraps, all of which were quickly devoured with gusto. The losers looked on with envy, but, under the watchful gaze of Greel, they didn't dare try anything.

As I looked on the feeding of my broodmates, I tried to reconcile my feelings on my killing of a keelish as a keelish with my previous thoughts. One of my foremost responsibilities in my not-so-distant previous life had been the absolute eradication of any keelish nest the tribe happened upon, yet here I was, thinking of killing a single spawnling as murder. As I mused over this, two spawnlings approached.

They both bore wounds from the recent "test", and looked miserable. One, a male, spoke up.

"Will... will you be our boss?"

"What now?"

"Can we be your... udderlings?"

"Huh? Underlings? Of course not." I retorted.

In response, the two recoiled, and began to slink away. However, I took notice of a new [System Message] appearing before my eyes.

[(2) Keelish spawn desire to serve you. They will count towards the evolution requirement "Young Keelish Alpha". Do you accept their request?]

"Wait." The two stopped, and turned around.

"You may serve me."

"T-Truly?" the male spawn that seemed to be the spokesman for the two spoke up.

"Yes."

[Young Keelish Alpha requirement, 2/10 complete]

"Then… can we eat?"

"Well, of course you can eat…? What does that have to do with me?"

Happily, the two ran over to the corpse of the spawnling I'd slain. They tore into its fleshy belly, and, blood coursing through their teeth and into the dirt below them, they devoured the innards.

I can't just keep thinking of them as "them", can I?

"What are your names?"

The spawnlings looked up, cocking their heads slightly. The female (slightly larger than the male, who had spoken already)

"Us? We too weak and small for names." Hopefully her thinking is better than her speaking.

Unwilling to put too much thought into it, I just decided to base the names off of "1" and "2". "All right, I'll call you Oncli and Took then." Oncli (the male) seemed unconcerned, but Took again cocked her head, then seemed to happily nod, before setting back to the devouring of the carcass.

As my stomach began to turn at the barbaric sight, I caught a whiff of the splashing blood and... something snapped inside me. Next thing I knew, I was burying my snout in the exposed viscera of my prey. In some corner of my mind, I remembered snarling at my two new subordinates to "leave the good parts to me", and they gave me space after that.

All I could remember after was pulling back, completely satiated, from the guts of my prey. However, once I came back to myself, I tasted what was in my mouth. Immediately, I tried to hold back the gags. Successfully, may I add! It did not, in fact, taste like anything other than gummy blood, and, regardless of how easily my teeth tore through the flesh, it was both an unpleasant texture as well as flavor.

As I half stepped and half stumbled away from the carcass, I looked for Oncli and Took. They had seemingly respectfully stepped away while I had eaten my fill, and, now that I was done, resumed their own messy feast. As I morbidly watched my underlings, I finally noticed a gently blinking light in the top right of my vision. Now that I had a bit of time, I wanted to finally try to understand this [System] thing.

[Dominance Skill Acquired]

Ok, and what is that"

[Skill: Dominance--the skill user has demonstrated their ability to force others to obey them. The skill user will now find it easier to dominate and subjugate others. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Dominate and subjugate 100 creatures. Current progress: 2/100]

Nice, I guess? Wait... didn't I have a couple of other skills too? How do I see those again?

[Skills:

-Bloodlust

-Evolutionary Foresight]

And what are those?

[Skill: Bloodlust--when incited by certain triggers, the skill user will find themselves enveloped by rage, thus heightening their battle prowess, at the cost of rationality. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Hidden.]

[Skill: Evolutionary Foresight--the skill user will have the benefit of seeing their immediate evolutionary possibilities and the requirements to fulfill them. This skill cannot evolve.]

Well, I guess that's all well and good. Just as I was going to resume my status deep-dive, Greel's voice rang out.

"Trash! Git over 'ere!" The spawnlings all congregated in what I'll call the front of the room, facing the exit.

"I'm 'appy to say that I'll have you little shits out from under my feet tomorrow." The swarm of spawnlings looked confused. "You all are gonna go on yer first hunt tomorrow, and that means that yeh'll 'ave to take care of yerselves from tomorrow morning. By the way, that's four hours from now." Greel bared his teeth, seemingly in mirth.

"Sleep well! It'll be all of you's first night's sleep and many of you's last!"