Velasteros was delighted by the clarity her mind provided her. The difference was stark; her communications before were more through emotions that were translated. Now she actually understood what she wanted to say and ask.
Voice, what else do you know besides the information about me?
{Response: [Voice of Guidance] has what is considered a baseline knowledge on concepts, species, status and skills, and physical health.}
Voice, what do you not know?
{Response: Factors that have not been previously mentioned. Examples: current societies and individuals from your prior life.}
Understood…
She held curiosity about humans; she fought them but didn’t remember more than that. Even describing who the last person was to attack her was impossible.
Why is fifty intelligence considered human-level?
{Inform:[Intelligence: 50] is the baseline [Intelligence] for the human species. However, their standard is around [Intelligence: 100]. [Intelligence: 50] is the level of newborns, but status doesn't apply in baby stages of development, so by the time they begin to process information, they will be closer to [Intelligence: 100].}
I’m as smart as a human baby?
{Inform: User is an exception to the usual experience a creature has when gaining [Intelligence]. Most have a long string of vague memories, which impacts their mental performance by the time they reach the first two enlightenment stages. The user’s prior impediment prevented memories from properly forming, and since your rebirth allowed you to skip the baby stage of development, your mind was free to run with preexisting lag.}
This will change as I gain more memories?
{Response: Correct. If the user does not level [Intelligence] past this point.}
I knew it was the best stat.
{Response: [Intelligence] is not considered the best–}
[Intelligence] is the best stat until proven otherwise with evidence.
Velasteros meant to ask why [Intelligence: 50] was considered human level when humans operated at double that, but the thought slipped.
Hmm hmm, I really better level up faster to maintain this [Intelligence].
Species: [Black Scorpion] [6/20]
[Intelligence] - 22 (+30)
By the time she reached [Level: 20], her [Intelligence] would be sixty-four without any additional stat points, but the chance Velasteros planned to put every additional point into [Intelligence] was predictably high.
Am I forgetting something already?
Velasteros had already forgotten about her resolve to investigate why she had gone unconscious for those two minutes. In the grand scheme of current goals, it wasn’t anything important, but it was the fact that it had already slipped her mind during her questioning of [Voice of Guidance], which was a noticeable problem.
Voice, there is the issue of your disappearance once I evolve, correct?
{Response: There will be no problem. By the time that occurs, you will have the suitable level of [Intelligence] to not be too negatively impacted.}
{Inform: For safety, after a certain point, [Voice of Guidance] will be subtracted from additional [Intelligence] to not cause harm to the user.}
Ker…
Velasteros clicked her pincers in annoyance. Why should she have to lose out on points due to [Voice of Guidance] needing to vanish?
[Voice Of Guidance] Are there any other types of skills?
{Response: Yes.}
Can you explain what they are?
{Inform: The additional types of skills can be split into categories. Subskills, Personalise–}
The voice stopped.
Voice?
{Inform: Lacking capabilities and privileges due to using resources to increase [Intelligence].}
Will those… two things return if you lower the amount of [Intelligence] given to me?
Saying those words sickened her, but it was a shame if she lost the opportunity to have her questions answered. She was now smart enough to know if she was going to lose those extra points anyway, maybe using them for something before they left was better.
{Response: No.}
Hrmm…
She had two free stat points to use, and the smart option was to place them in [Vitality] and/or [Endurance]. Her instincts told her that it would help her body recover.
[Vitality] - 13→14
[Intelligence] - 22→23 (+30)
She didn’t obey her instincts; she merely listened to their suggestion.
The little boost was needed as her body was given a jolt, which sped up the healing process.
My intelligence point… Damn monkey...!
Her blame fell onto the entire species of monkeys for their transgression.
Velasteros still needed to search for a way out. There was the possibility of trying to break through the roof, but she didn’t have the skills or power necessary for that endeavour currently.
Am I worrying more often? Sigh, if only I had my old powers…
Velasteros ignored the possible downsides of her new level of thought—self-doubt—and focused on doubling, no, quadrupling her efforts to escape from here.
The cave system was a maze with so many dead ends that she wondered if there was even an exit.
How did I even fall down here?
{Response: The shell, which contained your soul, was shot into the ground and went towards the best location.}
What determined that?
{Response: Instincts and the initial form of [Voice of Guidance]. The goal was a location with enough ambient energy that would allow for you to hatch, but safe enough that it would allow for your rebirth to be uninterrupted.}
How exactly…? And what do you mean by 'initial form'? Were you not always the skill, always the skill [Voice of Guidance]?
{Response: Instincts homed in on locations while [Voice of Guidance] draft version handled the selection. Extra skills created from wishes can be unstable and undergo changes as they develop into what the user needs. Thankfully, there was enough power and energy placed into the wish to allow for the early function, rebirth, and status overhaul.}
Remind me to ask that question again at a later point…
Velasteros’s head felt sore as if something was pushing down on her brain.
{Response: Understood.}
Evolving and gaining skills strong enough to break her way out was looking to be the option.
There were many too-small cracks that might be a way to the surface. However, the only things that could hope to fit through them were baby creatures, and Velasteros had long left that stage.
Velasteros assumed that the bigger monsters that lived down here were ones that grew up here, like the idiotic monkey. She attempted to mine the stone, but it was stubbornly tough. On the upside, likely no cave-in, but it made breaking out even harder.
This spot is cozy.
Velasteros hid for a period of time to heal, chewing on the monkey corpse as she grumbled. Once her body was in working order, she got up to explore the tunnels. Travelling further down, staying on the walls or ceilings for an advantage, she didn’t need to eat much after that fulfilling meal.
What’s happening?
Velasteros questioned, as her vision felt restricted. Her sight was already awful; the lack of light and general inferiority of the scorpion's visual processes left her with lacklustre optic vision. Detecting the changes in light intensity worked, but the caves were nearly pitch black and completely so in some areas.
However, it wasn’t just vision; everything felt restricted: vibration, sound, and smells all weakened as she moved down a certain tunnel.
The potential dangers of this path were obvious, but Velasteros kept trekking on. She had already hit so many dead ends and was willing to try this risky solution.
The lack of vision was oddly comforting.
Darkness makes the process of thinking clearer… neat… I wonder why that is the case…
Velasteros used the time to think about what this scorpion wanted to do in the future. She thought about her… prior master. For a lack of a better name…
No plans were ever going to involve returning to him. If he were still alive, how much time had passed was a mystery, but she doubted he would want her back in this weak form anyway. Well, maybe he would with the [Obsidian Tyrant Empress Remains] existing.
Past Velasteros never hated him, because why would she? She didn’t even know the pleasure of knowing, understanding! Snipping off his limbs was the least she would do for him after he prevented her from experiencing all this!
But do I want revenge?
Reflecting upon the idea, it wasn’t worth it. The risk was too great, and overall, she just wanted to stay away. Who knows, maybe he has already died? Velasteros didn’t know how much time had passed, but basically everyone was his enemy… that’s what it felt like anyway. That thought came from one of her basic orders: attacking everyone on sight besides her siblings and Master.
There's also the issue of my siblings… That was what Master called us. I would have to fight them as well, and unlike me, they had intelligence.
Having access to the best stat for a longer period of time would grant them a thorough advantage. Not one Velasteros felt she couldn’t overcome, but fighting all of them felt like too much work.
Haaaa, I truly was the odd one out. The brute force disaster weapon. A tool, when the rest were subordinates… Hey [Voice Of Guidance], do you know how long has passed since my defeat?
{Response: No. That information evades this skill.}
But if… you? Help pick this location? You kept watching while I was in egg form as well?
{Response: This version of the skill was only active for one year before you awoke. It knows the process of the previous versions of the skills, but doesn’t know the full duration, as it was lost due to certain factors.}
Estimate? It sounds like it had to be at least two years.
{Response: Approximately thirty years.}
Velasteros was learning a few flaws about this skill.
Thirty years.
No matter how much raw hate, the first fire of hatred she held towards that man, it was still hatred for an individual that she had never seen. Picturing him in her head returned only a vague figure, the same as her siblings.
If I can’t remember, then do they really matter?
It felt weird. If she didn’t care, did that mean she had to give up her hatred? Velasteros didn’t want to stop hating that bastard, but how did hating and not acting upon said feeling work?
Ehkeer!
She walked forward, and the force on her senses increased in power. The black scorpion froze for a moment and breathed in and out. Part of her wanted to turn back, but her curiosity was screaming that there had to be something.
With trembling legs, one at a time, they moved forward.
Time felt distorted, as tracking anything was impossible.
Even with her distorted vision, a little further ahead, there she saw a crack with a warm shine escaping through it.
Light…
For the first time in days, she saw light. Rubble was in the way, so she lifted her tired claw and [Crush] the small debris in her way.
She could feel light reflecting off the shell but couldn’t see it. Not because it was too bright, but because the pressure drowned everything so that even knowing there was light, she was blindfolded from seeing it.
Velasteros tried to keep moving forward but tripped and rolled down into the cave.
Keer…
She lay on the ground for a moment, annoyingly upside down. It took extra effort, but she was able to roll back over.
The fall had sent her much further down, deeper into where the pressure was coming from, and at least now she could officially say she couldn’t see.
The invisible pressure had finally taken all her senses.