“Don’t worry, I don’t bite.” The tree spoke as if it were so wise. “I don’t have a month, see? Aren’t I not a threat?”
“Kek, that is the most threatening sentence I have ever heard.” Technically speaking, that was a low bar, but the clever scorpion wasn’t going to mention that part.
Leaves rustled, and the tree sighed. “Haa… What did the world come to? Even the intelligent monsters cannot even respect a tree like me.”
Where did that come from…?
Velasteros was deeply confused…
“Anyway, young old one, you appear to be an underground creature. What has made you come to the surface?”
“How did you know that…” Velasteros paused. She was extra crystally now, which could be a reason for the tree’s assumption.
“Trees like me like growing in places with a lot of energy. You are the first monster that has come out of the hole, or the first intelligent one, though you may be the smartest.”
…Velasteros did not know what to do with this conversation.
“Do you want me for anything? Otherwise, I would like to be on my way.” She decided to try and part on neutral terms. She hadn’t fought a tree before. Go figure. But her instincts were telling her this wasn’t exactly an achievable fight.
How did one even go about fighting a tree?
“Actually, yes, there is someone who has been loitering around my forest for a while. A human, and they haven’t left yet, and it has been quite a worrisome situation.” The tree said, sounding exhausted.
Velasteros asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Anything really. You can befriend the human, kill it, stare, or simply move its body elsewhere.”
Velasteros's suspicions were exploding like fireworks, but she still didn’t know what the tree actually wanted. Not like meeting a talking tree in the first place was something she had planned.
“Okay… I will think about it…”
“Good. It would be a good experience for you.” The tree gave directions to where the human was located, and Velasteros scurried away in the opposite direction. Her curiosity and worry were in a tug-of-war match that constantly flipped sides of the argument. She had asked no more questions of the tree, but was it safer to speak with the tree more or to get away?
Either way, Velasteros didn’t immediately go to visit the human; she had more important priorities. Finding a safe corner, she looked over her newly available skills.
How did [Fire Magic] even appear? Actually… It's probably due to [Obsidian Tyrant Empress Remains] again… Even by removing the evolutions that were directly influenced by the skill, there was still going to be some trace remaining. She could’ve done this earlier after she evolved, but the rush of being free was too strong.
With [Voice Of Guidance] no longer here to guide, Velasteros had to make mostly assumptions about how her skills would work.
[Amethyst Gem Eyes] was one skill she didn’t need to make a complete assumption for. It replaced her eyes with rocks, which she could still see with. They were stronger against attacks than fleshy eyes for the obvious reason. She wasn’t sure why she knew that, and it was a question she desperately wanted to ask for an answer to. Her best guess was due to the fact it modified her body, as there was another skill that did that, which also gave her some mental image of what it would do.
On what those eyes actually did differently. If the crystals were all about storing energy, perhaps the eyes interact with energy in some manner.
The assumption for [Reinforce] was that it could increase her [Endurance] and maybe also the strength of [Barrier].
[Thrust] felt self-explanatory.
[Bipedalism Form] felt like it would fundamentally change her body into what she assumed was a human shape? It was hard to explain, but there was a strong feeling that she wouldn’t be walking on eight legs. Outside of that, she didn’t know if it held any advantage. Was there really any benefit of being human-shaped?
[Crystallise] could either be an offensive or defensive skill, and Velasteros wasn’t sure what she would prefer since her mental picture for both was vastly different.
[Eyes Of Crystal] Velasteros was getting no feeling on. Which was surprising since [Amethyst Gem Eyes] did. The scorpion decided not to make any assumption about this skill.
Finally, [Gravity Shift] was one that Velasteros felt she had a weird understanding of. Her thinking was that the reason she had the option of this skill was because of [Force Pull], and if that was the case, it could work similarly. That was the thought process! She was quite proud of herself for that, and because of it, she was tempted to acquire the skill. [Force Pull] had already been doing wonders; it was her highest-levelled skill for a reason, and another similar skill could be really beneficial. Worst case, if it was simply a superior or inferior version of [Force Pull], then she could remove one of the skills.
Hrmmm. Kek!
Velasteros let out an irritated click as she fumbled around in frustration. Why was this so difficult?! Her burning desire to fill up her skill slots was very much present. There was a deep, creeping fear that latched onto each of her emotions in an attempt to bring them down with it, that she would somehow select [Obsidian Tyrant Empress Remains] through uncontrolled instincts if she had an available slot. She could place the skill and remove it… But she was afraid… that even equipping it once would be irreversible.
In the end, she decided not to fill out all her skill slots. She was just too undecided, and perhaps after a day, she would be more confident with her skill decisions. However, there was one skill she chose to pick—[Gravity Shift].
Now… How does this work…?
Selecting the skill made her realise her initial guess was completely wrong. Currently, she was able to use the skill on herself to make her move slightly faster or slower, but that conclusion didn’t feel exactly right. It was only a minor increase that also disappeared when she tried to put more effort into her skill use.
I guess it is making me feel heavier; it’s certainly harder to move, but the effects aren’t too strong, and that will likely change as the skill’s level increases.
Velasteros decided it was a skill that made things slightly heavier or lighter; she didn’t really understand the concept of gravity yet. The movement speed boost she found was so minor that she felt that if she was determined–or fearful–enough, she could reach that enhanced speed normally, and unlike other skills, her instincts were almost telling her that aspects of the skill wouldn’t improve.
A side effect, I guess?
For the moment, she chose to think of the skill as an offensive weakening option. From what she trialled on herself, making a creature heavier would impact their movement. The effect was only minor since it was a new skill, but her excitement was already radiating with a golden glow at the possibilities at higher levels.
A while later, Velasteros decided it would listen to the tree thing. Not because it believed in what the tree was saying, but simply due to the fact that it was curious. It had not seen a human since before its rebirth… and it wanted to know… what was a human like?
She wasn’t stupid enough to believe all humans acted the same. Not every snail moved to the left when they noticed her; most did, but there was variance. Humans, being a more intelligent race, should show more differences between individuals.
I’m just going in circles.
Velasteros pulled the reins on her dancing curiosity and intrigue. Both emotions were being too noisy, and it was clogging up her mind.
Bad emotions. I need to focus.
Moving to the location, she found the target. The scorpion stayed still for a moment as her emotions and thoughts clashed, but Vlasteros chose to meet the human… she was curious…
“Hello… Human.” Velasteros declared, standing above the human on a small lump of dirt, which allowed her to look down at the human who was resting against a tree.
The woman’s eyes cracked open to reveal a pale white. “Oh god, first a talking tree, now a damn scorpion. What is my life coming to?” Her head adjusted slightly, and with a loud crack, it was now resting in a slightly different position.
Velasteros tilted its pincer. “Do you want me to end it?”
A simple question that got the human woman to laugh.
“What a reasonable request.” She coughed up a blob of blood. “You are nearly tempting me to accept."
The woman laughed at the whole situation, but her lower body barely moved, even with the vibration of her laughter. She wore a hood that concealed most of her face, but her eyes always appeared perfectly visible.
“Do humans usually cough up blood?"
“No, but my insides are likely more similar to the end result of a meat grinder, which, for a human, is not a fortunate situation."
“I understand. It is bad for me to spew blood as well.”
“Is that empathy I’m hearing? That’s appreciated. My last party couldn’t even offer me that.” She smirked and tilted her head to the sky.
“So, why are you here?” Her voice dropped, and Velasteros felt a chill on her exoskeleton.
Yo–you don’t scare me, human! The demon was far uglier than the human and wasn’t half dead either!
“The tree asked me to see you.”
“Is that your only reason?” Velasteros felt a sting of accusation, as if she dared to hide something. Which she was, but that wasn’t the point.
“I wanted to see you, human. I haven’t met one before, but I heard about you.” Velasteros wasn’t sure if this counted as a lie.
If I didn’t have a mind before, then did I really meet people before? I say Nay!
The woman’s faded white eyes blinked.
“I see.” The woman let out a light chuckle. “I know the tree is quite afraid of me, so I was wondering if you were a countermeasure."
“Why?”
“Because if it is not careful, I can explode this whole segment of the forest.”
The tree made me talk to this living bomb!
Velasteros was very happy that she didn’t do anything too hostile to start the conversation.
“Though, you are certainly a rare species, some sort of variant of the [Crystal Scorpion], I suppose?”
Velasteros paused. “You know what I am?”
“I have an understanding. Monster Reference Manual Vol 5 is mostly about arachnids.”
“What?”
The woman said with her calm voice. “It’s a book, one designed to help people learn the habits and abilities of certain monsters.” Indulging in the scorpion’s confusion. It had been such a long time since her last intelligent conversation partner that wasn’t the damn tree.
“A book… So books contain information on monsters?” The scorpion became interested in the idea of learning more about her possible evolution.
The woman giggled again. “Not wrong, but books contain more information than that. Depending on the purpose of the book, it can be a story or a source of information about any topic, really. It just requires someone to write it down.”
“So they contain a lot of information… and creatures with a lot of information are the intelligent ones…” She created her own connection. Velasteros knew that knowing many things was a key aspect of being smart, but besides increasing her [Intelligence], she had no other way to improve the quality of her mind.
The woman held herself back from laughing again. The scorpion was a weird creature and was a welcome change of pace.
The conversation between the two didn’t last much longer. Before Velasteros asked many more questions, the woman asked for alone time, and with the glare she received, Velasteros was not risking challenging that statement.
Velasteros sat under the night sky thinking. Thinking was fun. Why was the sky kind of bluish? What were the stars? Why was the breeze of night so calming? So many thoughts, but her mind processed them without issues and welcomed each new one as a friend. Hugs and celebration at the door for each one.
A dream to think. Velasteros wondered if her past self had dreamed about such a thing, if that was even possible. The cruel answer was likely the true one. It might’ve been impossible for her previously to dream.
After her first sleep that included a dream, she had been embarrassedly frightened, which it felt as if her emotions were teasing her about. It kept surprising her with a small bang every once in a while. Once she learned how to teach surprise, how to behave would be a good day. Curiosity seemed to know when to chill, so it should learn from its older sibling.
The human mentioned books… I wonder what those are like…
The simple thought soon got stuck in her head; no matter how many hours passed, her curiosity continued to sparkle.
I should ask her if she has any on her… But what do I need to give in return?
Demanding books was her first thought, but the human might literally explode if she did that.