Seated as they were, on the porch of their shelter, the heat of the dying summer did not leave them be. With the gentle freshness of the cool sea breeze, the warmth would just die sooner. However, the cups of hot tea in their hands contrasted with the breeze and soothed their hearts.

At that moment, however, the [Monster Tamer] felt a tremor in her Essence and frowned before the frown dissolved and understanding dawned in her eyes.

“Surya’s monster is awakening.” The woman said to her husband and the [Ship Captain] nodded before he ordered a nearby servant to call their son. Meanwhile, the woman ordered another servant to bring a glass full of seawater.

The seawater arrived sooner than the couple’s son, as the boy was in the middle of one of his classes. The woman nodded at the news as she took a sip of her tea before she put down the cup and summoned a cylindrical egg in her hand. However, the egg that had once been chalky white and solid like a shell, had now become closer to gel. It jiggled and wiggled in the woman’s hand and the woman carelessly tossed it in the glass of seawater.

“6 months, huh?” The green-clad woman said, with her voice lost in thought. “A third evolution that takes merely a year. Pitiful.”

“Don’t be greedy.” The husband chided gently. “To find an intelligent monster in such a desolate place is a fortune in itself.”

“I know. But can I not want good things for my son?” Divyaaditi sighed. “Do I have to settle? Is that too much to ask for?”

The moustached man did not answer. Instead, he changed the topic. “What will you do with it once it wakes up?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you let it live with Suryaakaruna?” The deep voice of Sagar Manthan echoed out. “Like you do with Sigh Raj and others?”

“No, I will not,” Divyaaditi answered with a tone of certainty. “I lived and continue to with my monsters because my Equivalent Level suppresses them. Surya’s cannot. His monster’s Equivalent Level greatly surpasses his own.”

“Suryaakaruna will not like that.” The man observed.

“No.” The woman agreed with a grimace. “And that’s not that the only thing he will dislike.”

0.0

The creature woke up but then immediately frowned. It couldn’t see a thing. However, before its thoughts could race ahead a notification popped up.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

Ting.

‘Heavens above! Not again!!’

The moment the [Hive Monarch] finished that thought, the effects of the notification made themselves known. The hunger that the creature had bid farewell to a long time ago, returned with vengeance. As a result, before the creature could even think, the [Hive Monarch] found itself biting into the gel-like substance beneath its body and it grimaced. It couldn’t taste a thing. It couldn’t feel a thing.

That was not the only thing, however. The [Hive Monarch]’s vision, which had been rather dark and black till that moment, turned into a world of grey as the creature began to perceive the world in the shades of grey masses. The creature’s mind whirled as it ate and after a moment, it summoned its Status.

‘What nonsense is this!’

The creature twitched in anger at it observed its [Lifespan: 1 Year]. It almost slapped the screen in frustration. The Larva dismissed its Status and started going through its notifications. As it noticed the first notification, the creature let out a sigh. ‘At least, I evolved.’

The creature read through the notifications until it reached its new Skill, [Sensor].

Ting.

The creature activated the Skill and felt the vibrations created by its act of eating that the Title [Hungry] had forced it to. ‘This is good. This is good. If what I am guessing is true then this will help with the Title [Senseless].’

The creature dismissed the following notifications until it came across its new titles and grimaced. It focused on [Senseless].

Ting.

‘Heavens above.’ The creature sighed and a refreshing gel-like passed through its body. The creature’s body twitched in irritation before it focused back on the task at hand and summoned description for its last Title.

Ting.

The Larva focused on its last Skill, [Change].

Ting.

‘Huh.’ The creature twitched. ‘Interesting.’

0.0

“Now, Surya.” The green-clad woman addressed her now 8-year-old son. The same son had his face stuck to the walls of glass as he waited for the wiggling egg within to pop and release his first-ever monster. The pretty version, of course. “You know how birds grow pretty as they age? They grow beautiful feathers and their bodies become elegant?”

“…yes?” The boy turned his face away from the glass and eyed the [Monster Tamer] suspiciously. Meanwhile, the [Ship Captain] smothered a chuckle.

“Well,” the woman paused, “sometimes you just need a little bit of time to make things pretty.”

The boy’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t like the feeling he was getting from those words. “Is it still ugly?”

“No, no. I did not say that.” The woman corrected. She did not want to deal with yet another tantrum. “He would just need a bit of time, that is all.”

“How much time?” The child asked as his brows furrowed.

“Well,” the woman collected the boy in her arms. “why don’t we ask it once it comes out.”

The child scowled and wiggled out of her grasp and instead climbed onto his father’s waiting lap. The woman gave the boy a betrayed look and to the man, an angry one. The moustached man, however, simply shrugged and the boy huffed.

At that moment, the creature that had once been a Malfae broke the gelatinous shell and entered the saltwater. Yet, it did not stop eating.

“Is that it?” The boy’s voice was high pitched and his eyes were wide in incredulity. “Th-that thing is my monster?! That-that what is even that?!”

Indeed, the form of the creature was quite something to look at. If you could find it in the first place. The creature was almost circular in shape, with a gelatinous skin that was mostly translucent. If one were to look inside, they would find even more gel-like substances floating within the gelatinous skin.

A tail poked out of the circular shape which, quite like the rest of the body, was made of gelatinous skin. A tiny mouth was situated on the exact opposite end of the tail, which was nibbling away at the comparatively enormous egg from which the positively miniature creature had emerged from.

After all, the creature was the size of the mortal infant’s nail. Even then, it was not the nail on the largest finger or the thumb, but the nail that belonged to the smallest finger. The creature was so small that it was only through the magic that it could exist with all its intelligence. A creature such small didn’t have any right to intelligence, after all.

At the creature’s appearance and its almost animal-like instinctual behaviour, even the [Monster Tamer] hesitated for a moment before she decided to grant the creature the ability to communicate once again. “[Impart].”

With a rush of mana leaving her, the green-clad woman felt the Skill activate. She frowned at the creature that continued to eat and ordered. “[Projection]. Stop eating.”

At the command, the creature stopped nibbling at the eggshell and responded hastily, as if in great pain. Its voice, however, was very small, much like its physical form. ‘It’s the Title [Hungry]. It is forcing me to eat!’

The woman’s expression cleared as she understood the creature’s action. However, despite knowing the effects of the Title, the green-clad woman did not allow the creature to continue its consumption. “What else did you receive?”

‘Titles. [Senseless]. [Changeling]. Skills. [Sensor]. [Pain Resistance]. [Change].’ Anguished as the creature was due to the fire in its belly, it answered in a short burst of words to remove all unnecessary words.

“And your lifespan?”

‘One year.’ The creature answered as it squirmed and fidgeted. Its tiny tail twitched constantly but none of the mortals paid it any mind. The woman scowled and was tempted to crush the creature right then and there, yet she controlled herself. She breathed and reminded herself that the only reason the creature continued to live was its intelligence.

“Throw it back in its cell.” The woman ordered the servants that were lingered around.

“What about me?” The boy’s annoyed voice paused the woman and she turned to face her son, who had scowled at her with his arms crossed. “When will it become pretty?”

“One year.” She raised an eyebrow.

The boy pursed his lips and his face turned red. He glared at the woman before he screamed. “NO!”

“Excuse me?” The woman’s voice was incredulous.

“No! You keep doing this!” The boy screamed as he pointed and flailed his arms. “First you get me an ugly monster! Even when I told you I wanted a pretty one! I did! Many times! Then you make me wait! Then you give me this! And then-and then waiting again! No! No! No!”

“I want a pretty monster and I want it now!”

The green-clad woman stared at her son with blank eyes. Instead, she called out to the lingering servants and ordered them while using [Projection] to inform the monster as well. “Take it away. Place it in a large tank and drop in a lot of animal meat for it to eat.”

“No! No! No! No! I don’t want this ugly thing! I want my pretty monster! I want it now!” The boy screamed and cried as fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

“And you,” The woman addressed the Larva as she ignored her son. “From tomorrow, focus on raising the Level of [Sensor] too. It is a vibration-based Skill. Raise it enough and it will allow you to decipher sound vibrations.”

0.0

The green-clad woman sat down as a sigh escaped her lips. Her husband closed the door to their room before sitting down next to her.

“Why don’t we do as Suryaakaruna wants?” He asked with his deep voice low and soft. “He has been waiting for a long time for this.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to do the same.” The woman rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s just, Surya’s Level is just too low to allow that.”

“Will it really make such a big difference?” The [Ship Captain] kept his deep voice low. “Allowing the monster to Evolve I mean.”

“A Tier 1 mortal can subjugate Tier 0 and Tier 1 monsters, depending upon the mortal’s Level.” The woman sighed as she closed her eyes and leaned against her husband’s shoulders. “A Tier 2 mortal can subjugate Tier 2 and Tier 3 monsters. A Tier 3 mortal can subjugate Tier 4, Tier 5 and Tier 6 monsters. While Tier 4 mortals can subjugate monsters up to Tier 10.”

The man softly patted the woman’s head on his shoulders as he thought the situation over. “If the monster evolves once more, it will become a Tier 4 monster. Something only a Tier 3 like you can subjugate.”

“Yes.” The woman grimaced. “Surya is far from reaching our Level.”

“But Aditi,” The man said softly. “Suryaakaruna still can’t control that monster. What difference would it make if he can’t subjugate it for a little while longer? As long as you are here, it will behave.”

The woman did not respond as she remained lost in her thoughts.

“And besides,” The man turned the woman’s head gently so that her forehead touched his. “That monster is pathetically weak. Even if it evolves, it will be no match for Sigh Raj.”

“That is not what is important.” The woman sighed and let her head fall on the man’s shoulder once again. “Surya should learn to subjugate and order monsters. For how long can he depend on us?”

“That’s not such a difficult problem to solve, truthfully.” The man’s deep voice was gentle. “Let’s just make sure that his next monster is something that he can subjugate easily.”

“And what about his dependence on us?” The woman raised her head and their gazes met. “What are we going to do about it?”

“Is that not why we are keeping that weak monster around?” The man raised an eyebrow. “So that it can Level Suryaakaruna faster?”

A thoughtful frown appeared on the woman’s face and she let her head rest once again.

“Besides, we chose Clam as his [Species] for a reason.” The [Ship Captain] reminded his wife.

“We didn’t succeed though, did we?” The woman scoffed. “A year of lifespan. Tch.”

“It’s still a Larva.” The man gently protested. “When it evolves next, its lifespan should be acceptable. Just halt its progress then.”

“Hmm.” The woman was unconvinced. “Let’s see.”

0.0

The creature was dropped off in its old cell but the Larva cared for it not. Now that it had the Title [Hungry] once again, all it cared for was eating, eating and eating some more. Yet, the creature was intelligent after all. Hence it acted upon the [Monster Tamer]’s advice and kept its new Skill, [Sensor] activated.

Ting.

Ting.

The creature paused eating for just a moment to read the notification before it continued to eat the enormous amount of the egg remaining. The creature did not care about the fact that it could still read the notification just fine even though the world around it was a mess of grey masses. It was way too ravenous to care about it and what it implied.

As it continued to eat, its new Skill [Sensor] picked up vibrations that were continuous and long. They even seem to have a pattern that repeated itself. The creature continued to observe as it ate but the vibrations soon died down, only to reappear after some time once again. The creature’s gelatinous body twitched.

If its guess was right, then these vibrations were the vibrations of speech and the only one that would speak with it was the woman in the cell next to its own. Yet, this was not what had caused the creature to twitch. ‘Shouldn’t I be noticing this sort of pattern when the Skill Levels up? Why am I noticing it now already?’

The creature summoned its Status and it noticed that the Skill was already Level 5. ‘Oh. So, this is the Skill this evolution was focused on.’

The evolved Malfae was somewhat correct. With each evolution, it had received a set of Skill that had belonged to its new Vessels. However, amongst those Skill, there had always been a Skill that it had received at Level 5, instead of Level 1. When it had just been born, so had been the case for [Poison Resistance]. For its Moth Vessel, it had received [Flight] at Level 5. While for its Malfae Vessel, [Drone Eggs] had been the Level 5 Skill.

The vibrations came again and it frowned before activating [Projection].

0.0

The chambermaid frowned as he called out once again. “Little monster. What game are you playing at?”

‘I have evolved into a clam larva. I currently lack all senses and cannot hear you. I merely sense the vibrations of your speech.’

The chambermaid scowled. From the clear speech that the creature was transmitting, the woman inferred that the [Monster Tamer] had used [Impart] to grant the monster the high-levelled [Projection] once again. His face twisted into a snarl and his fists fell on the wall diving the two. Muted thumps echoed out and the Larva replied. ‘I cannot understand you. However, the majestic woman said that as I Level up the Skill, I would be able to comprehend speech.’

The woman nodded to himself and gulped down his saliva. “In that case, I will spend my nights talking. Listen closely.”

‘I am going to sleep now. Do not disturb me.’

0.0

The creature cancelled the Skill [Projection] as it continued to eat. Two muted thumps resounded followed by long streams of sound vibrations but the creature paid it no mind. After all, the creature didn’t know who it was that it had been talking to. It could have been the woman in the cell next to its own or someone else, the creature didn’t possess any method to verify the identity.

Thus, it decided to cut off communication in case it let out something sensitive. Something like its plan to help the woman with her Essence bindings. Instead, it closed its eyes and activated [Mana Manipulation]. The creature remained within its mana system for a few moments before cancelling the Skill. And as it returned to the world of the living, it found itself in the middle of taking another bite of the gelatinous eggshell.

‘That stupid Title!’

-X-

Within a desolate desert, inside a dilapidated shop, on a simple chair, a youth seemingly slept.

-X-