Free Web NovelChapter 22: The Ringtails
"Divine Light sect?" he parroted, "What, so you just wrestled around with a bunch of other mantises?"
"How dare you..." her voice dropped.
"Relax," he pulled his head away, fearing that he’d get punched, "I’m just messing with you."
"You shouldn’t," she said.
"I’m Jimmy, by the way. What’s your name?" He asked, "We haven’t properly introduced ourselves to one another. You saved my life back there, and you should know that I’m thankful."
The mantis nodded awkwardly, avoiding eye-contact, and then she said, "They call me Virena."
"Pleasure," he nodded.
Afterwards, he asked, "You said that you used to be part of your sect, right? Why aren’t you part of your sect anymore?"
"We got wiped out..." she looked down, "I fled before they could get to me. I live every day in shame... I should’ve stood my ground."
Very quickly, he asked, "Who wiped your clan out? It wasn’t us crows, was it?"
"No," She shook her head, "Crows are surprisingly jumpy, they’re careful. They’ve known to leave us for ages now. The younger crows try their luck with us sometimes, but we set them straight quickly. We never kill young crows, of course, but that aside... I wish we were overpowered by birds to begin with, as that would be less embarrassing. My clan was wiped out by the Ringtails."
"Ringtails?" he parroted.
"Fat heads...? Stingers? I’m not sure what sort of name you use for them. I think us insects call each other differently." She said, "They have nasty stingers, and they buzz."
"Bees?" He asked.
"No... but I remember now." She said, "Hornets. A hive of hornets. I’m not sure what they call themselves, but we called them Ringtails. They look disgusting to us."
"Ah, okay, I know what they are." He said, "But how did they manage to kill your clan? You could’ve kicked my ass if you wanted to, so I don’t understand how hornets wiped out your clan."
"There were more of them. We were outnumbered ten-to-one." Her pores tightened the more she spoke of the event, nearly suffocating her, and she got dizzy as a result, "I fled deeper in the city, and the Ringtails haven’t found me yet... I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s making me sick."
"It’s alright," he jerked his wings around, so as to gesture to her to calm down, "You can stick around if you want... I mean, I’m not very liked by the crows, but at the very least I can fly you away from danger if the hornets do find you."
"That’s noble of you," she nodded, "In return, I shall protect you from the crows, then, and the humans. I do not fear either of them."
The two of them found common grounds once more. They agreed to become a tiny little team.
Jimmy could not possibly guess what made those hornets so powerful. He saw Virena knock that deadly stick away, and he didn’t doubt that she could punch a human unconscious as well, so he guessed that she could one-punch-kill any insect easily. Being outnumbered by the hornets didn’t make sense to him.
Alas, he didn’t want to stress her out any further, so he didn’t bug her with any more questions. It was enough for him that he finally found someone he could cooperate with. Having a friend felt nice. Less lonely.
The two of them got as comfortable as they could within a shade. Their bellies were full, so they didn’t have to move around as much for a few hours.
With over seven thousand points at his disposal, Jimmy browsed the evolution tree again. He didn’t want anyone to know that he had a system within him, who helped him evolve, so he kept his conversation with the system strictly within the bounds of his head. He felt that he was seen as a weirdo already, and he didn’t want his new friend to have the same, gut-wrenching impression of him.
’Alright, let’s put this IQ of mine into use,’ he thought, ’What should I buy next...?’
Moments later, he found himself browsing the second branch within the evolution tree. This branch was the longest, featuring an endless array of upgrades, and he saw it best to slowly climb this branch for now, so he could unlock new evolutions, and or skills within the branch.
’Swordsmanship Comprehension won’t do me any good right now. I don’t need my leg to spin like a helicopter blade to land a kill.’ He muttered.
At the collar of the branch, at the very bottom, there were five paths that led upwards.
Weapon Mastery, Strategy, Anatomic Knowledge, Defense Mastery, and Phantoma.
Jimmy went and explored the Phantoma path. In short, the available purchases in this path would help him move around undetected.
’I get myself in trouble often enough,’ he thought, ’It would be great if no one could track my bullshit back to me.’
The first option available on the Phantoma path, was the Colourful Feathers skill. It had four levels attached to it, so it could be upgraded three times after the initial purchase.
Although it was expensive, Jimmy bought it immediately. His indecisiveness was hardly a problem now. It had been significantly reduced, and he liked to thank his free IQ boost for it.
[Confirmed]
[Initiating...]
[Complete]
[-1,100 system points]
[Remaining points: 6,337]
In hindsight, it took the system longer to announce the process, compared to gaining the actual skill. He was surprised that the process was entirely painless.
’Nice,’ he nodded.
Immediately after, he decided to put his new skill to the test.
’This better be good. It was too damn expensive.’
Jimmy gave it his best shot, but his feathers remained the same color. This ability didn’t come to him as naturally as the rest.
’What the hell, system?’ He grunted.
[The Colourful Feathers skill won’t react to your demands, but rather, it’ll react based on what your subconscious mind processes.]
[For example, if you feel vulnerable, the skill will activate, and camouflage you, change the colour of your feathers based on your surroundings. The skill will activate even if you don’t want to admit that you’re scared.]
’And right now... I’m not scared.’ he thought, ’How could I be? I have a very dangerous mantis guarding me.’
