I groaned slightly as I awoke to a strange chirping sound.

“Morning Jet,” I grumbled as I cracked one eye open to see the familiar face of the Black Darter that had been visiting me since I’d made it to Tane. It was hard to believe that it has already been a fortnight since the Yajashian refugees had arrived in Edra. Jet had been awfully surprised when she had shown up on the fifth day after they arrived and had seen all the Yajash running around.

I had been studying with Vera when Jet had appeared and started freaking out. Tane had immediately told me what was going on and I’d been forced to run over to smooth everything over before someone took a potshot at the poor neurotic thing. When I arrived Jet immediately started bouncing up and down on the branch of the tree that it was sitting on and I started to speak to it in the most soothing tone that I could.

Drem was also nearby and seemed quite amused by me trying to calm Jet down since she was still a bit nervous around me. When I finally managed to do so he suggested that I should tame Jet. What followed this was a long conversation involving the difference between a Minion and a Tamed Beast.

Minions could either be creatures like mine that I could create because of my Soul Aspect or a spiritual being that could be summoned from a different plane. Finally, a Tamed Beast was just a normal animal or monster that had a mind of its own. Unlike Minions Tamed Beasts could disobey orders or even attack and kill their owners if they were mistreated. They also didn’t require Control Points so in theory someone could have an unlimited number of Tamed Beasts. Except that you had to maintain a good relationship with all of your Tamed Beasts, or they would start disobeying you so controlling more than one became increasingly difficult.

I already knew that Beast Taming was actually something that came easily to the Yajash, so it didn’t really surprise me to learn that the beasts that pulled their wagons were actually Tamed Beasts. I ended up agreeing to Tame Jet pretty easily. While she was small right now Tane had informed me that she would grow into a much larger predator so having her around just seemed like a good idea. Especially considering that she seemed to be at least as intelligent as the average parrot if not more so.

As it turned out I had already been doing most of what Drem suggested that I should do to improve my relationship with Jet, so it didn’t even take me a week to tame her fully. During this time, I continued my training while the settlement quite literally grew around me thanks to the hard work of the Yajashian Builders.

The regrowth of my arm also went smoothly. One of the healers got around to seeing me pretty early on and was able to increase the speed that my arm regenerated and by the end of the week it had basically returned to normal.

This meant that melee combat training was added to my training schedule. Burl and Drem still made sure that I was focused on improving my magic and they also got me to fight alongside my Minions. Under their watchful eyes my abilities improved by leaps and bounds.

Vera was also pleased with my progress in her lessons. She accepted my apology for pushing her too hard with personally questions surprisingly easily and our relationship had actually improved to the point where she actually smiled whenever she saw me. I enjoyed every moment that I spent with the girl who constantly proved herself to be highly intelligent and an excellent person to ask questions about just about anything related to the System or Yajashian culture.

However, that wasn’t to say that everything had gone well these past few weeks. A couple of days ago a group of hunters had run into a swarm of Crawlers. They managed to take them out easily enough, but the damage had already been done and more of the ugly creatures had followed them shortly afterwards. Like the ones that I’d fought earlier these Crawlers had developed a defense against the aura the Tane gave off so even with the tree’s recent increase in power we couldn’t rely on it to keep them away.

Drem and Burl had both been against the idea of getting me involved but in the end, they had been forced to. There were just too many Crawlers for the hunters to deal with on their own. I had even lost a scorpion during one of the skirmishes which I had swiftly replaced. Like me, my Minions were also considerably stronger than they had been three weeks ago but there had just been far too many Crawlers for the scorpion to do anything else but hold them back while the hunters escaped. My Dragonfly was also badly injured in the fight and had to be carried away by the Slime Colony which had also been accompanying the hunters.

My Scorpion had evolved to its third form in the past few weeks and my Dragonfly had evolved for the first time, so they were even more powerful than they would’ve been if the related Skill Level had only increased. With how much training I had done over the past few weeks that shouldn’t really be surprising and I had picked up a few new Skills as well. I didn’t pick up too many new Skills since Drem and Burl wanted me to focus on the Skills that I already had as much as possible, but it was pretty much impossible for me to go through all of the training that they put me through and not pick up some new Skills.

That wasn’t the only thing that had changed around the settlement which had grown significantly over the past few weeks. Not only did everyone have a roof over their heads now but Tane had actually agreed to let the Builders make a large gathering area at the base of their trunk. The tree only had one condition for this which the Builders readily agreed to and that was that they make me a home from Tane as well. My new home was located above the meeting area and was quite a nice place. I even had a proper bed and a bathroom with running water and the Yajashian version of a toilet which used magic to transport my waste to a small hollow directly underneath Tane which the tree could use.

I also had some new equipment. Berril had proven her skill by making everyone a new set of clothes from my Webspinner’s silk and had even gotten around to making several for some people. The elderly Yajash was very impressed with the silk that my Webspinner could produce. Not only was it incredibly comfortable to wear but it was tough as well. Thanks to the combination of her Skills and the silk even my new shirt provided as much defense as the wooden vest that I’d made did. But Berril hadn’t stopped there. She had also made me a pair of trousers, a pair of gloves and a long coat. I loved wearing my new clothes which Berril seemed very pleased by.

I quickly got dressed in my new outfit and paused briefly so that Jet could get herself settled on my shoulder and stepped out the door. Drem nodded at me as I walked down the staircase towards him.

“Morning Rick,” he said. “Are you ready for today?”

“I’m going to have to be,” I replied before sighing tiredly. “Honestly, man. I didn’t sleep very well last night. I’ve dealt with these things before and I’m really not looking forward to doing it again. Don’t worry I’m still coming with you but I’m really not looking forward to dealing with them again.”

“I get it man,” Drem nodded. He’d been in the hunting party that’d fought the Crawlers the other day, so he understood what I was talking about. “But we both know that there’s only one way to deal with these things.”

“Yeah, I know,” I agreed. “I don’t think we’re quite ready to go after the hive yet though.”

Since I didn’t really know all that much about Crawlers, we had turned to Tane for more information which the tree had been more than happy to provide. I already knew that Crawlers lived in a hive structure similar to insects but what I didn’t know was that the hive itself was a type of Crawler that had metamorphosed into a sort of living structure. This structure was also the ‘queen’ of the hive and could give birth to up to twenty Crawlers an hour if they could provide enough food for their voracious mother.

We also got a better explanation of how Crawlers developed. I already knew that there were multiple different types of Crawlers, but I didn’t really know how these different types come about. When they are born all Crawlers start off as the standard type that I was familiar with but after they reached a certain Level, they would metamorphose into a more powerful form like a Crawler Stinger. The form that a Crawler would metamorphose into was dependent on what the hive needed it to be. If the hive needed more Crawlers that could use physical attacks, then it would metamorphose into a Stinger or if the hive needed more magic wielders it would grow into a form that I hadn’t seen yet that had a larger central body that had multiple pulsing lumps. When I heard this, I was confused because I had assumed that Shelled Crawlers were the only magic using Crawlers but apparently, they were an older more powerful version of the weaker magic users that Tane had mentioned. Stingers also had a more powerful form that was many times larger than even the Shelled Crawlers that functioned as protectors of the hive. According to Tane these monstrous Crawlers were about twice as large as the largest of the Shelled Crawlers that I had seen which made it difficult for them to move around in the confines of the forest. They were strong enough to uproot trees if they needed to, but it was rare for them to do so since it was just more efficient for them to stay near the hive and act as the last line of defense. Especially considering that even one of them required more food than twenty of the normal Crawlers.

“If you don’t want to come with us you don’t have to,” Xan snapped from behind Drem. “We don’t need any dead weight following us around anyway. Just let us take your Minions with us like we usually do.”

Things like this were still pretty normal whenever I had to deal with Xan. Drem had told me that she actually appreciated the abilities of my Minions which was probably why she didn’t want me to come along. She probably wouldn’t care if I were injured but if I were killed then my Minions would almost certainly die along with me. In other words, it was better for her and her people if I lived even if she didn’t like me that much.

“Don’t underestimate Rick, Xan,” Drem growled at the huntress who took a step back in surprise. “I know that you’ve spent most of your time out hunting so you don’t really know but Rick has been keeping up with both mine and more importantly Burl’s training for the past three weeks without complaining. “We did of course lower our standards to something suitable for his Level, but he still overcame every task that we put in front of him.”

“And I’ll admit that he’s tougher than he looks,” Xan agreed irritably. “But I still think that it’s too risky to bring him with us. If he dies, then so do his Minions and we rely on them too much to lose them now.”

“It’s nice to know you care,” I said with a smirk causing Xan to glare at me irritably. “But in all seriousness, I get basically no experience from fights that I don’t personally take part in. Also, why are you trying to turn away willing help?”

“Rick’s right,” Burl agreed as he walked up to them. “We’ll take all the help that we can get. That’s why Vera is coming with us too.”

“What!?” Xan gasped. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Burl nodded. “Don’t worry she’ll be careful.”

“To be honest I’m with Xan on this one,” I said. “I don’t like the idea of bringing Vera with us either. But I’m guessing that it’s because of a different reason.”

“You’d be correct,” Vera agreed from behind me. “She’s not worried about my safety but the safety if everything else around me.”

“Um, okay,” I replied carefully as I eyed the short girl. “Is it alright if I ask?”

“It’s because of my Soul Aspect,” Vera sighed. “I’m sorry but it’s just a bit of a touchy subject for me.”

“Fire magic, right?” I asked causing her to flinch away from me slightly. “Did you really think that I wouldn’t figure it out?”

“Well done,” Burl nodded. “You’re correct. Her Soul Aspect allows her to use the fire magic that our people have disdained for hundreds of years.”

“Unfortunately, this meant that she was treated rather badly by some of us when this was discovered,” Drem sighed. “Which is part of the reason that she is so shy.”

“I see,” I sighed sadly. “I suppose some things are universal no matter what your species is. Why is it that people blame others for things that they can’t control anyway?”

“That’s a good question,” Xan agreed then paused when the rest of us turned to look at her. “Alright fine. I’m sorry for the way that I’ve been treating you, Rick. It was unfair of me to not even give you a chance. I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends or anything like that, but I’ll try to treat you better.”

“That’s plenty Xan,” I told her. It was honestly a bit of a surprise that she was even willing to give me that much. “I understand why you’ve been suspicious of me, but I am thankful that you’re giving me a chance.”

“It’s not like I’ve had a lot of choice,” Xan grumbled. “Vera threatened to stop talking to me if I didn’t give you a chance. She’s really taken a shine to you, you know.”

“Xan!” Vera hissed at the huntress who grinned back at her.

“Did you really think that I wasn’t going to get back at you Vera?” Xan laughed.

“I didn’t realize that you two were so close,” I chuckled in amusement as Vera blushed. A blushing Yajash was an odd sight due to the strange color of their skin, but I was getting used to seeing it these days. If there was one thing other than fighting and making things that Drem was talented at then it was making Vera blush.

“We’ve known each other a long time,” Vera admitted quietly. “Xan was there when I unlocked my Soul Aspect. Our parents had just been killed by Redian raiders and I had been shot in the gut. It was then that Burl showed up with a group of warriors to save us. When they found us, my entire body was covered in flames that were somehow healing my injury.”

“Like a phoenix,” I muttered thoughtfully causing Vera to blink in surprise.

“I’m sorry?” she asked as she spun towards me. “What did you just say?”

“I was just thinking that reminded me of a mythological bird from my world called a phoenix,” I replied. “Supposedly when it died it burst into flames and was reborn from the ashes of its own body.”

“Really, that’s interesting,” Vera mused thoughtfully.

“Alright you lot can continue that conversation while we’re moving,” Burl said firmly. “Everyone else is here. Do one last check of anything you need to so that we can get going.”

The others started checking their gear but all I had was the new axe and kunai that I had made because Drem had been too busy to make new weapons for me. They were only slightly better than the old ones that I’d made but Drem had promised to get around to making me some better ones when he actually had time. Since I wasn’t going out every day like the hunters and warriors were, my gear wasn’t really a priority. In fact, Drem had made weapons for pretty much everyone but me since I specialized in magic anyway and I was more than capable of making my own weapons.

So, I decided to take a look at my Skills List instead.

Skill List

Combat Skills

Dodge Lvl 11, Knife Mastery Lvl 10, Stab Lvl 7, Axe Mastery Lvl 12, Chop Lvl 8, Exoskeleton Lvl 5, Unarmed Combat Mastery Lvl 6, Front Kick Lvl 2, Roundhouse Kick Lvl 3, Neurotoxin Lvl 2, Bloodletter Lvl 2, Hack Lvl 3, Hook Lvl 2.

Magic Skills

Essence Drain Lvl 11, Mana Manipulation Lvl 38, Magic Missile Lvl 19, Nature Shaping Lvl 18, Calm Mind Lvl 25, Spell Targeting Lvl 16, Mana Blast Lvl 4, Magelight Lvl 2, Mana Shield Lvl 6, Spellcrafting Lvl 4, Rock Bullet Lvl 16, Earthen Armor Lvl 5, Air Slash Lvl 12, Charged Weapons Lvl 9, Create Slime Colony Lvl 22, Condense Water Lvl 7, Sticky Bog Lvl 9, Earth Grip Lvl 8, Stone Lance Lvl 11, Heal Minion Lvl 6, Share Senses Lvl 1, Telepathy Lvl 21, Overwhelming Presence Lvl 6, Create Manticore Lvl 18, Gust Lvl 6, Candlelight Lvl 4, Regenerate Lvl 7, Gravel Shotgun Lvl 13, Enchanting Lvl 7, Caustic Bomb Lvl 11, Acid Arrow Lvl 13, Empowering Aura Lvl 4, Create Windsickle Lvl 15, Tremor Lvl 3, Nature Construction Lvl 5, Weapon Shaping Lvl 2, Create Giant Shieldbug Lvl 11, Magic Sculpting Lvl 2, Spider Silk Lvl 3, Wind Gloves Lvl 1, Web Shot Lvl 5, Create Giant Webspinner Lvl 8, Remote Casting Lvl 4 Bloodsucking Swarm Lvl 2, Create Giant Centipede Lvl 1, Create Swarmling Queen Lvl 1.

Misc. Skills

Spoken Yajashian Lvl 10 (max), Unbreakable Will Lvl 5, Sneak Lvl 8, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Dark vision Lvl 9, Biomass Absorption Lvl 6, Inner Vision Lvl 6, Running Lvl 22, Observation Lvl 11, Photosynthesis Lvl 4, Laborer Lvl 15, Mapping Lvl 12, Survivalist Lvl 2, Cooking Lvl 2, Zoology Lvl 12, Botany Lvl 11, Dissection Lvl 6, Digging Lvl 6, Swarm Control Lvl 26, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Controlled Breathing Lvl 10, Poison Resistance Lvl 2, Trapping Lvl 6, Fall Resistance Lvl 4, Cellular Regeneration Lvl 7, Contact Admin Lvl Maxed, Danger Sense Lvl 3, Strategist Lvl 3, Hivemind Lvl 7, Tactician Lvl 4, Compound Eyes Lvl 5, Flashstep Lvl 3, Pheromone Control Lvl 2, Mana Enhancement Lvl 2.

My Skill Levels had grown pretty significantly over the past few weeks. 324 Skill Levels in total which was apparently quite impressive. It hadn’t been easy either since it took longer to increase your Skill Levels the higher the Level of those Skills became. Especially considering that I hadn’t really been out hunting the past few weeks and had also been spending quite a lot of time being taught by Vera.

Even though most of my Skills had grown considerably the most impressive of all were my Summoning Skills. Three of my Minions had also Evolved becoming something even more powerful.

The Scorpion had evolved into something known as a Manticore which was somewhat different from the mythological creature that I was familiar with but no less dangerous. The scorpion had grown in size and its armor had thickened and had a number of sharp spikes sticking out that were almost a foot long. It had also grown two extra tails that could fire one stinger from these two smaller tails every few seconds that could deliver a powerful neurotoxin that could kill all but the strongest Bugs in seconds but was unfortunately less effective against Crawlers. Its pincers were also larger and more powerful with serrated edges making it more dangerous at both melee and range.

The Giant Dragonfly had undergone a slightly less impressive change but one that was still quite useful. Now that it had become what was known as a Windsickle it could use magic to create blades of wind to attack. They were weaker than my Air Slash spell, but it was still quite a useful ability for it to have. Other than that, the Windsickle was now smaller than it had been before but was also even more agile and better camouflaged as well. This all made it an ideal scout that could also provide ranged support which the hunters all appreciated.

As for the Giant Beetle it had become a Giant Shieldbug which had increased its defensive abilities dramatically. Like the Windsickle and Slime Colony it could now use basic magic, but both of its magical abilities were defensive in nature. The first ability allowed it to increase its defense by a significant amount for a short period and the other allowed it to create magical barriers to protect its allies. Its Mana Pool was even lower than my other Minions, but it was still enough to make a significant difference if I used it correctly.

My Slime Colony had also managed to learn a few more spells to go with its Mana Bolt spell. It could still only use a few basic spells, but it was much more flexible than it used to be. Burl had only heard of a few Minions that had been able to learn new spells like this in the past, so he was quite interested in my Slime Colony.

I had also unlocked several new Skills from my Soul Aspect and other Aspects that I had completed. Interestingly I hadn’t unlocked that many Skills from my Soul Aspect recently since it had been unlocking Aspects for me to complete instead. This was actually one of the things that Burl had explained to me was going to happen and had recommended that I save up some of my Aspect Points to complete these Aspects since they would also have an effect on my inner world.

Because of the training that Burl and Drem had given me I had gained more than enough Aspect Points to complete several Aspects despite some of them requiring over a hundred Aspect Points to complete them. I had completed Aspect of Agility 1 as well as both Aspect of Charisma 1 and 2 which was why I had both the Tactician and Strategist Skill. However, that only accounted for 100 of the Aspect Points and I had completed two more Aspects after that. The first of these Aspects was Aspect of Wisdom 2 which had unlocked the Mana Enhancement spell. I wasn’t a big fan of that spell though since not only did it have a significant MP cost but it also injured you while you were using it but there were still plenty of situations where it could be useful to me. The final Aspect that I had completed was Aspect of the Swarmlord which had increased my Control Points by a pretty significant amount and given me what seemed to be my most dangerous Skill yet. This Skill was called Create Swarmling Queen and while the creature that the Skill allowed me to create wasn’t that dangerous on its own it was its ability that made it dangerous. As one might expect from a creature called a Swarmling Queen it was able to produce offspring. Thankfully at the moment it could only produce a limited number of offspring which were known Drones right now. I had only summoned the Swarmling Queen last night, but it had already been able to produce three of these Drones which resembled termites about the same size as an average Labrador.

Technically these Drones weren’t my Minions but were controlled by the Swarmling Queen. However, since the Swarmling Queen was directly controlled by me I could still give them orders through her. The Queen was actually surprisingly intelligent in an animalistic sort of way, but she was completely useless in combat and even needed to use my Essence to produce her offspring. As for the Drones, they weren’t all that dangerous compared to my Minions, but they were still extra bodies that we could use which was why we were bringing them with us.

“Alright people!” Burl shouted suddenly causing me to turn my attention to him. “If you’re ready then you should probably get going. Remember that I’m going to be staying behind to continue preparing our defenses, so Drem and Rick are going to be taking command once the fighting begins.”

“Why is Rick going to be in charge?” one of the hunters asked. “He’s the weakest among us.”

“That’s true,” I nodded. “But I have a number of Skills that make it easier for me to control the battlefield like Telepathy and the Tactician Skill. I’m also going to be in control of my Minions no matter what we do so Drem decided that it was just going to be easier for me to be in charge.”

“That’s right,” Drem nodded. “Another couple of things to bear in mind is that Rick has a bit more experience in fighting Crawlers than us and one of his Minions can fly which gives him a view of the battlefield that can’t be replicated.”

“As much as I don’t want to admit it but Burl and Drem are right,” Xan said loudly so that everyone could hear her. “I might not like Rick all that much, but he is the best option here. Besides if he messes up then Drem can take over. Let’s just give him a chance.”

“Thank you, Xan,” I nodded. “I just hope that you’re not just giving me enough rope to hang myself with.”

“Well, don’t mess up then,” Xan replied with a smirk. “Let’s move out people.”