You know what? The Tela had body integration down to a science! I had been mildly pleased with how easy and second nature it was to live and exist as a Blidda but that had no comparison to how amazingly powerful I felt as a Levasucker.

As the name implied, this species of celestial wyrm shared a symbiotic relationship with the massive Leva that I had seen when escaping from Magus the 2nd’s Core.

The Levasucker existed to clean off the skin of the Leva herd and to keep the babies free from celestial parasites. They didn’t need to breathe, which was something that I was becoming increasingly fascinated with and they also existed with part of a star inside their body.

I had read some of the details while looking into which alien species that I wanted to play next. What stood out for me about the Levasucker was its crazy durability and deadliness. I understood why some of the other players didn’t choose to play it all the time, it had to do with the fact that the Levasucker was blind in normal and low light situations and required a bright flash of light to illuminate the surrounding area for it to see anything. Its vision worked as a sort of solar sonar. For PVP this manner of seeing had its benefits and drawbacks. One benefit would be against any creature that relied on sight to navigate. Experiencing a Levasucker’s photon burst could actually harm players who were even remotely sensitive to light and even kill creatures like the Skii.

The downside was it acted as a beacon to show everyone its location and Levasuckers were just as vulnerable to cr as the next alien.

For any creature that detected heat as a source of sight, the Levasucker stood out like an active volcano just from the heat that leaked from its wide and long mouth. Its skin wasn’t made from anything found on planets and was extremely durable and able to self-repair as long as it had sufficient heat. I didn’t fully understand what that meant yet or where I was supposed to find “sufficient heat”... but I was sure I could figure it out. I mean, who really reads the manual?

Before that thought came back to bite me in my long slithering behind I chose to ask Invicta how I was supposed to find something hot enough to repair my skin if I was hurt.

She appeared around me as a soft mist before she answered, covering the underbrush in tiny droplets of water as I slid under low canopies and around huge boulders. With my helm magnifying all ambient light for me, I could clearly see the expanse of forest around me and navigate easily. Invicta’s mist seemed to be helping me to stay concealed.

“Is that legal?” I asked as I moved through a thick plant grouping of what I would have thought was bamboo back on earth if not for the fact that it was covered in razor-sharp thorns at every knotted segment. Thorns that moved and sprung out like stingers and tried unsuccessfully to stab me as I slid past.

“Mmm… legal or not, I can do whatever I want now in regards to manifesting an avatar in game. All thanks to you.” She said as she flowed easily around me, keeping me hidden as I delved deeper into the jungle.

“As to your question, it all would depend on the nature and size of the damage. If, say, a player managed to cut down the length of your body you would have to find someplace safe and to work at melting your skin back together using your internal heat via your mouth. Levasuckers who are cut in half tend to explode violently.” She said, her voice gusting softly next to my helm.

“And don’t worry, I understand your need for training and self-discovery. I won’t interfere when you fight. It is just that, against the common native, the Levasucker is highly overpowered. Even a Fomys and Fomys Spawn will have a hard time even pestering you”

“Then why aren’t all the players picking this species to play?” I asked as I heard something off in the distance.

“Disable the helmet and you will see.” She giggled, causing a shiver of sparks to travel down my tail.

“Gah!” I said as she clearly found shocking me to be enjoyable.

I willed my helmet to become inactive and instantly lost all of my senses. I froze, unable to see, hear, or feel anything. It seemed that the Last Engineers helm had been feeding my brain all the normal senses that I used and even including the feel of air and electricity against my skin. I moved my head, trying to make out anything. The Levasucker couldn’t feel anything! Its body didn’t have nerve endings at all to even feel the stones or dirt I was laying on. Yup, I knew exactly why no player would dare to touch this species. Without the Last Engineer’s helm, they wouldn’t have had a chance.

Wait… let me try this…

I turned my head to the side and flexed a bulb along the side of my body that felt like it should be used to open my eyes.

Flash!

Harsh light bombarded the forest around me. Everything was captured like a photograph in an instant.

I slithered forward and found that I could move inside the frame of the photo just with everything frozen around me until I was outside of the exposed area and back in the further darkness.

Huh… so unless I flashed repeatedly, anything that moved fast enough would be able to jump out of the way of my attack. The flash worked inside the Levasucker’s mind as though it captured a 3D scan of the area. I flashed again and found that my blind movement had crushed and broken some trees apart, causing them to slip and to be strewn all around me. I had no way of knowing how much noise that had caused or if enemies were even curious about me noisily invading their hunting grounds.

I was also probably lighting up the forest like an airport spotlight every time I let a burst of photons out. I reactivated my helm and smiled when all my senses sparked back to life.

“See what I mean? While powerful, most players won’t fight through that level of sensory deprivation just to be unkillable by the game's denizens. Well, unkillable until later that is.”

“Can you explain more what you mean by that?” I asked as I lifted my head to a high vantage point, trying to spot anything of interest.

“Sure. As the story goes, the Huli native hero that everyone will have to face in the last phase of the game discovered a dead Tela and managed to obtain a blade of cr to use as his weapon. This is how one Huli managed to kill so many Tela over the span of seasons. He couldn't control the cr but that didn't stop him from being able to use it as a weapon.” She said as I spied something moving towards me through the sharp leaves.

A battering ram burst through a tree and came charging right for my raised underbelly. I used my Prime Speed key for just a moment to study what was quickly rushing in my direction. It was a four-legged creature that almost resembled a moose who had been on steroids since birth. Its head was a massive fist-shaped out of a solid horn with cones that served as armored tubes to look down at its target through. It must have had the narrowest vision in the world. - I thought until I noticed similar recessed eyes on the side of its head as well. Nevermind.

I was curious how strong I was as a Levasucker so I didn’t pay much regard for the oncoming brute and released the control of my Prime Speed key.

You know those thoughts that you have as you are flying over the handlebars of your bike? Thoughts like “Maybe I should not have tried to jump Miss Granger’s huge flower pot.” Turns out she had filled it with cement so that kids would stop trying to kick it over every summer. Your back tire had met an immovable object and allowed you to continue your flight, unimpeded except without your bike in your possession anymore. Three stitches later, a spanking, and an apology would see you repainting the flowerpot where your bike chain and tire had messed it all up.

But that was a different story. Right now I was getting to watch it all from the viewpoint of the flowerpot.

When the HornyMoose, MooseFister, or McPunchyFace (Look, I told you I can’t name things.) had gotten close enough to me I had opened my mouth and grabbed his massive head securely before flipping him over the length of my body and into the prickly trees behind me.

It really was a comical sight to watch his eyes get bigger and bigger inside his cone-shaped eye hole tubes as he realized that events had taken on a different direction than the way that he had expected them to go.

After he bounced, rolled, and flopped over several trees and a small rock Mr. FistFace charged again, just not at me. This time he was rushing off like he had forgotten to lock his phone while his girlfriend was over.

“Ha! That was fun!” I said as I watched him smash through the brush and quickly out of sight. His movements made me remember that I had a new tool in my kit that I needed to work at mastering. Moving above the surface was something that most creatures took for granted, they continually failed to notice what was beneath their feet. Lurking out of sight.

“I wonder how I can use my Last Tunnelers gloves if I don’t have any hands....” I muttered to myself, ignorant of the fact that instead of actually speaking I was setting the ground in front of me ablaze from the plasma that was dripping from my maw whenever I cracked my mouth open.

I rocked my body back and forth while I thought, it just felt like something that would feel good to do.

What I failed to notice was a detachment of natives watching me from a high platform in a close grouping of trees. They were mesmerized at the hypnotic movements that my head and body were weaving. I was dripping figure-eight patterns of plasma onto the lush ground beneath my snout, burning the vegetation to a crisp and creating interesting swirling patterns.

“Ah, Kevin, eyes up. You have triggered a quest line.” Invicta’s voice interrupted my investigation into my interface and instructions.

“Hmm? What?” I asked as I looked up and found a small gathering of natives just climbing down from the trees. There was no way that I could talk to these things with my snakehead.- I thought before I remembered my helm's awesome features. I turned on the ability to speak and listened just as one of the natives in the front was already finishing up saying something.

“... to grant us a boon of freedom.” He or she said while holding up empty palms to the sky.

“Dang it, is there a “Play dialog again” button?” I muttered as I sighed, causing my mouth to bubble and froth with plasma.

“I…” Invicta started to say before she was interrupted and the natives shockingly vanished mid-movement and mid-breath in front of me to be back in the middle of climbing down from the tree ... again. It was as though everything had glitched back a few dozen seconds in time.

“Invicta, what just happened?” I asked the air and only got silence in return.

When they all reached the bottom the native in front of me stopped moving and stood looking at me with lifeless eyes before he and all the other tribespeople nearby began saying the same thing over and over again.

“System Warning, System Warning, System Warning…”

-All players will be ejected from the game in 5,4,3,2,1-

"Well, that didn't sound good," I muttered as I was transported instantly out and returned to standing on my travel disk back inside my habitat.

The sight that greeted me looked like I had returned to a command station inside of a global warzone headquarters.