A fire had been ignited inside Velasteros that wasn’t going to be extinguished by mere instinct anymore.
She was furious and still deeply hurt and confused, while not completely understanding her emotions.
Explanation of other stats?
To begin, she needed to know and understand more of the world, and the best place to start was with her abilities. It also served as the perfect distraction from the painful aspects of her emotions that were bubbling within her.
{Explain: [Vitality] is your health and fitness. More vitality keeps the user energised and allows them to keep getting back up. Vitality also helps fight off sickness, diseases, and poisons.}
{Explain: [Strength] is the output of physical power. How it affects the user is dependent on their race, as for you. It will increase the power of your pincers as a priority, then, less effectively, your overall body strength. How an individual fights and uses their muscles also affects how strength interacts with the body.}
{Explain: [Endurance] is your durability and toughness. It is used to reduce damage to the user. Same as [Strength], this is also affected by race. For you, your exoskeleton will become harder, but your insides will still be significantly weaker.}
{Explain: [Wisdom] is your sixth sense; it helps you control your skills and magic. Also provides better awareness.}
{Explain: Agility is how fast the user can move. Same with [Strength] and [Endurance]; this is affected by the user's race and how they utilise it.}
{Explain: Skills are powers that are granted to the user. The user may select a skill from a list that expands as they evolve. These powers develop with use, and it is possible to recreate certain skills as normal abilities with practice and time.}
{Explain: Status is a screen that displays the user's own body to them. This isn’t a physical screen and exists purely in the user’s head. As you level, you gain stat points which can be placed in any stat. When you reach the max level, you may evolve your race.}
I need. Power.
Velasteros found the explanation a little much and felt her thought process slowing. Remembering she had a stat point, she immediately thought about placing it in [Intelligence].
Worst stat. Never.
Once that was done, she immediately went and selected her skills.
Skills: 3/3
[Crush] Lv1
[Barrier] Lv1
[Force Pull] Lv1
Instantly filling every single one of her slots to ensure there would be no temptation. She didn’t even think about the consequences of not being able to select a good future skill. All that mattered was that she wouldn’t be able to select her past.
[Voice Of Guidance] mentioned that skills could be removed, but that didn’t sound like an issue since she couldn’t feel any way to remove them. As the skill explained, it would take a while before that option became available, but unknowingly, her firm decision to not remove these skills was going to lengthen that countdown.
Velasteros grabbed a solid rock and tried breaking it.
Good. It’s not working. Now, Crush.
Activating [Crush] immediately shattered the rock into dust.
Ke Keh ke! Velasteros chuckled. Wonderful!
The skill had lived up to her expectations.
[Barrier] came next, and as it said on the tin, a sphere of energy manifested around her and disappeared after a few seconds. She understood it would need to be tested in combat but was satisfied that it felt tough.
For the final skill, she was dissatisfied with the outcome. [Force Pull] only moved a few pebbles and only lasted for a second.
Skills get stronger. Right?
{Response: Correct.}
Good.
Time to hunt.
Days passed after Velasteros’s declaration. This cave system was perfect for development, with prey throughout the caves, perfect for eating and improving.
There was no way to actually tell how much time was passing, but after a full day had passed since the awakening, [Voice Of Guidance] informed her that a day had passed. This repeated for each and every day.
A quick blind rat jumped around the cave, unaware of the still scorpion. Velasteros only had to wait.
Soon it hopped near her; excitement was bubbling within her as the little rat sniffed the dirt, twitching its head as it prepared to move again.
Now!
With great glee, she jumped as it entered her range, her sphincter reaching for its neck.
The cave rat jumped, trying to escape her pincers, but it was too close.
Force Pull. The rat was brought into Velasteros’s pincer, where she activated her skill.
Ke Keh Ke!
Its neck was shattered, so there was no need to use venom. Velasteros’s venom, due to the species [Black Scorpion], only had a minimal amount, and it took over a day to restock. It was powerful for dealing with the weak creatures in this cave system, but she wasn’t sure how effective it would be on more powerful creatures. Her instincts told her it would be effective, but she didn’t want to completely rely on them.
{Inform: Skill Development: [Crush] Lv4→Lv5.}
{Inform: Skill Development: [Force Pull] Lv7→Lv8.}
{Inform: Level Increase: Lv3→Lv4.}
All points to [Intelligence]!
[Intelligence] - 12→16 (+30)
She was proud of the improvements, and, relying less on instinct, Velasteros was a smart scorpion. The emotions within her were beginning to mix more as she felt pride in her decisions and joy in the outcomes.
The skill developments had produced minor results. Every level made [Force Pull]’s range increase by minor amounts, and the power behind [Crush] was hard to judge, as everything shattered in one use anyway.
[Barrier] hadn’t been used, which she determined was good; it meant she was being smart with her positioning–now that she understood that concept.
Need to leave. Place.
Now she had a plan of wanting to leave this cave system, to continue to grow. Being trapped down here wouldn’t serve her needs. The bigger important plan was to reach [Intelligence 50]. Each level granted her one point she could use on any stat, along with the three points she gained naturally thanks to [Voice Of Guidance].
Soon…
What would it mean to reach enlightenment? Velasteros went from nothing to her current mind, which already felt amazing! How much better would thinking be with better thinking?! That was Velasteros’s thought on the matter; every second, the garden of curiosity continued to grow.
Three points per level was supposedly a lot, but it did come at the cost of her other stats having hampered development.
The dark and wet cave continued to be without end. Each tunnel she went down, no exit was found, only dead ends and loops.
Exit must be somewhere.
She moved along the wall, trying to avoid notice when it wasn’t on her terms. More creatures appeared–rats, snails, lizards, and other small monsters. Some fought, and others ignored.
Interesting.
The ground became uneven. A large assortment of collapsed boulders and a noticeable lack of monsters in the area.
Another dead end? Block? Can I break the block?
She observed and found gaps that could lead to a path.
Deep down, she dreaded never finding a way out. As that could lead to the return of [Obsidian Tyrant Empress Remains]. Being trapped plagued her instinct and mind with fear. This could be her home, sure, but she wanted to learn what existed beyond.
Please. Don’t be necessary.
“Hraaa Haaa.” Reverberating in the cave was a deep groan.
Huffing, puffing.
She stayed on alert as moments later, a monkey monster appeared. It was four times larger than her; Velasteros stayed low and kept hidden. The monkey climbed up onto a boulder.
Blood soaked its lips and hands, dripping down fresh onto its grey fur.
Stronger, but can hide. How long?
The scorpion’s instincts began to scream as the monkey noticed the little bug, and its purple-red eyes contained untamed wild madness.
A small hope shattered.
It ran towards me, Velasteros leaping boulders in a single bounce.
Focus!
Readying her stinger as the monkey reached out towards her.
[Barrier]!
The black sphere of light appeared over Velasteros as the monkey's head collided with a bang. The barrier vanished, and Velasteros scuttled forward, rapidly striking it with her stinger. Injecting venom into three spots: its arm and two jabs at the chest.
The monkey’s eyes seemed unamused, and it laughed, seeing the bug’s attack as nothing but pathetic.
Quickly, it reached out, and Velasteros failed to move out of the way.
Dangling near the beast's mouth, she swung my appendages around to no avail.
It wants to eat me? No. I’m not some delicacy!
Her anger helped her focus as she aimed her pincer, and as the monkey was throwing her into its mouth, she used [Crush] on its lip.
“Mrghaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!” The monkey screamed and threw the scorpion in a panic.
Smashing against the stone wall, her exoskeleton screamed and cracked.
The pain could be ignored as she basked in the monkey’s pain. Its lip was torn, blood overflowing.
Ke Keh! Deserved!
The issues still remained. She was on the losing end, and [Barrier] didn’t feel usable. She had to ask why [Voice Of Guidance] afterwards.
Biting its lip, the blood soon stopped flowing out of the body, as its eyes went mad red.
Velasteros wanted to climb up the wall, but her back legs felt snapped. Instead, she moved forward. Displaying arrogance and superior intelligence! She had a plan, not a good one, but better than nothing.
The monkey slammed its fist onto the ground, on guard, and Velasteros laughed at its cowardice.
Having enough, perhaps by its own instinct, it ran again to strike the bug, not repeating the same mistake.
Its hands encircled her, and Velasteros moved forward to intercept. It was going to grab her no matter what and keep those nasty appendages away.
Her stinger jabbed towards its eye, and it scoffed, looking with disdain, attempting to easily dodge.
[Force Pull]!
Its head shook forward, and her stinger injected venom directly into its eye.
“Kekeke!”
“Mrghggghaaaa!!!!!!!”
Despite the pain, its arms caught Velasteros, and it pressed down to shatter the squishy insides.
Arghhh! The pain. I handle. I’m stronger.
Losing feeling in her body. Blood leaked from my back, and the exoskeleton folded in on itself. The stringer is still locked in its eye, and through her skills and will, she would not let go.
Finally, the loser in the war of pain was the monkey.
Unable to handle pain, it tried to pull Velasteros away.
Then with a pop. The venom stopped entering its body through the monkey’s eye.
It recoiled, and the monkey’s left hand let go of Velasteros as it grabbed its empty eye socket.
Free!
Velasteros used her tail to swing herself and used [Crush] on the monkey’s wrist. It was only really a pinch, since her own body was tapping out, but it was enough for it to let go.
The monkey was bleeding everywhere. Even with its advanced healing, which sealed its wounds, it had lost so much blood.
In its rage, it attempted to squash her one final time.
Ke Keh… Then the monkey finally froze.
It slowly became slower, and it didn’t even realise. Truly an idiot monkey.
Venom flowed, swimming through its body. Velasteros stayed back, too injured to risk it.
Its remaining bloodshot eyeball faded. The monkey collapsed.
I victorious!
“Ke Keh! Ke Keh Ke Ke Keh!!”
{Inform: Level Increase: Lv4→Lv6.}
Twice! Strong monkey. Dead!
Velasteros’s mind went hazy…
[Intelligence] - 16→22 (+30)
…
Everything felt… good… Velasteros didn’t know how else to describe it.
Marvellous… Everything feels so good… How did I live without this feeling before?
Velasteros questioned everything she had been through, and her internal rage only grew.
I really did live like that… No, I didn’t live, I merely existed as a tool…
Proper realisation.
Her mind was clear, and she was able to think about words and concepts with ease in comparison to her short journey so far before reaching enlightenment.
While happy, she wasn’t satisfied this reward was only temporary and could be stolen away. [Voice Of Guidance] was the reason she reached this point by granting her additional [Intelligence], and as the skill kept reminding her, it was only temporary.
Is there no way of keeping you around, Voice?
{Response: No. Additional note: You were unconscious for two minutes after you reached the threshold.}
Why didn’t you mention I would be out for a minute when I reached enlightenment?
Velasteros had no doubt it wasn’t a harmful reason, but now that she had this intelligence, she was more curious than ever before about everything.
{Response: I didn’t know what the results of reaching the state would be on your body and mind. Your injuries from the fight could’ve had an impact.}
Hmm… Velasteros mused. She had been about to ask a follow-up question, but her own curiosity had flipped onto herself, and she wanted to see if she could solve the problem.
So she debated her own body’s state for the first time. What a moment. Now with a working mind, she wanted to ask [Voice of Guidance] a few different questions.