Aurum - Year 2       {5 Months later}

 

 

The last months was very busy, the kobolds managed to stabilize themselves, and build a dignified and respectable village, with a large fence and some new houses. All the puppies had been born and now the women took on heavier work, such as taking care of the farms and animals. As well chopping wood and fixing some things.

The wave of monsters was increasing too, it wasn't anything deadly yet, but at this rate the Kobolds would fall in 2 or 3 years, but this wouldn't happen if we could avoid it, we continued pumping resources and healing items into the kobols, and investing in their future, because of this they had several experienced warriors, and none of them had scars or wounds. Everyone was completely well and healthy, and they didn't look at all like people who lived in constant war.

Hilda remained in the cave, just talking to Ciel and sometimes hunting some animals, and we finally had access to the first version of Ciel's dictionary. It was a little scary to be honest, imagine a cloud of golden bees emitting broken words in hundreds of different voices. This is what Hilda had to experience for the first time.

The development of magic was also in full swing, a bunch of [Spell Casters] became [Mages], [Battle mages] and some became [Wizards]. The main difference between the two classes is that a [mages] could cast more spells, but a [Wizard] had a larger mana pool.

And now I had reached level 45. It seemed like a super high level for a bee to have. But there is a balance between levels and classes, a level 9 soldier is much weaker than a level 1 knight. I don't know how this works, but I finally managed to evolve after so long.

And my options were tasty.

"Do we really have to discuss this? Aren't [Crystal Bees] clearly the correct option?" Hans asked.

Hans had evolved into the [Head Knight] and went through several changes, now he had heavily armored natural armor, which made him appear to always be wearing full knight armor, he had a sword was made from shards of blades created by Hans, which were attached to the bones of creatures with my new spell [Bone Growth] that allowed me to manipulate the growth of bones like I did with plants. This allowed me to create more stable and resistant weapons, and gave Hans a weapon with a badass appearance.

Hans was still smaller than me, but he was still currently the 2nd largest member of the hive, at about 25 cm, and I thought it was funny how someone with such an intimidating appearance could be an action figure for someone.

"We can't be hasty, the crystal bees look tempting, but what about [Twilight Pixie]? They basically imply that we would be able to cast spells with just our voices." Steve said.

"And what uses we have for that? Don't you think it's a bit stupid to shout "Fireball!!" at your enemy? That way he'll know what we're going to throw at them..." Ken said.

"That's an exaggeration, it could be that the [Twilight Pixie] will provide a deeper connection with magic, making the entire spellcasting process simpler and faster!" Max said.

We accepted Max as a member of the inner circle, because... Well, he was the leader of the magic club, and it was always good to have the opinion of really important people around here, Hans and Trouble could pass on the information to the other Lifeguardians, but Max needed to be here to listen and debate important issues.

"But wouldn't crystal bees do the same thing? They would kind of make us more connected to the magic of the world, plus they would allow us to create crystals! I don't know much about what kind of crystals are those, but I know they are very difficult to create ." Said Carl while drinking some honey.

"The "deep connection with the world, and close relationship with spirits" that crystal bees have makes me a little scared, what does this mean? That we are becoming more "In Tune" with the world, or just that we are becoming his slaves without even knowing? I also don't like close relationships with spirits, who wants to be haunted for free?!" Ken said.

"I don't think that a deep connection with the world is a bad thing, in fact it seems like a good thing to me, if we have a deeper connection with the world, it is more unlikely that someone will see us as something "unnatural"." Yan said.

"I agree, but why not choose things like [Lavender bee]? We could keep invaders away, and gain the magic of nature for free." Matt asked.

"This is because we must seek a solution that aligns with our mother's wishes, as the queen mother wants options that enhance the hive's magical talent, and also wishes to help the out-... Kobolds, we must adapt and follow her wishes." Hans replied.

"So shall we vote? Those in favor of [Crystal bees] raise a hand!" Yan said.

Soon 7 hands were raised, and we didn't need any more debates. The choice was made, now we would become crystal bees.

Making the choice, I soon felt the kick of a mule, and I felt myself fainting, hopefully the new preparations that had been made in my room would be enough to contain my new form.

---

 

When I woke up again, I felt....

Different.

The first time I evolved I just felt strange, like someone growing tremendously overnight, but now?

I looked totally different, I could smell rot in the air, mixed with a faint sweet smell. There were mysterious lights shining everywhere, and I could hear whispers coming from some mysterious place.

Soon I began to free myself from my chitin prison, when I came out the first thing I saw was Hans, who now looked like a toy soldier, and dozens of other hive members looking at me dumbfounded.

'Oh shit, how much have I grown?'

Stretching out of my cocoon, and trying to stand up, I ended up being relieved to discover that I still fit in the room without any problems, the room was 1 meter high, and about 2 meters wide, it was huge for ordinary workers, But I only had about 20 centimeters to go before I hit my head on the ceiling.

Before I could inspect myself, I was struck by monstrous hunger, and to my delight there were dozens of silos full of honey right in front of me, so I just had to open them and drink the contents like a can of beer. After using up about 70% of the hive's honey supply, I finally felt satisfied.

"Brurb... Oops. Thanks for the food, my little angels!"

Soon the whole room began to be cleaned by the workers, they removed the remains of my shell, and cleaned my body, and some soldiers came to move the honey silos.

"Mom! How are you feeling?" Hans asked as he glided in front of me.

"Well! I feel full of energy, but this strange stench is bothering me! What the fuck is this?"

"Smell? What smell? There's no smell here..." Hans said.

"How not!? It smells like carrion, or rotten fish, how can you not smell that horrible smell?!"

Hans looked at the guards, who seemed to share the same feeling as him, no one else smelled that smell.

'What the fuck?! What could this stench be.... That... Could it be Mana?!! Mana have smell?! I never thought it could stink like this... or is that because the mana in this place stinks? I can smell a faint sweet and pleasant smell mixed in the air....'

To test my theory, I start pouring some life mana into the air, and to my surprise it was exactly that, the life mana had a pleasant smell, like the essence of vanilla or grass, but the natural magical energy of the earth had a unmistakable rotten smell.

"Damn! now that I have to live with this stench!?! I can't stand this kind of thing, no one deserves to live in a stinky place."

Deciding to breathe through my mouth, I stop to analyze myself, and realize that I have lost a lot of my colors.

Before I was all gold and with pretty yellow details and things like that, but now I was mostly white, silver, gray, and black. I had a mane, which went from my neck to my waist, in a V shape, the difference with this mane was that mixed with the pearly white, there were mysterious sparkles like those of a prism, they shone like the colors of the rainbow depending on the color of light and this fur spread over my arms, shoulders, back and neck.

My arms were thin and slender, and where they weren't covered in hair there was only a deep black section, completely smooth and without cracks. My waist was shaped like a guitar, and ended in pointy legs that made me look like I was always wearing high heels, I had 2 large, deep black eyes, long antennae that hung from my head, and a small, delicate mouth, but when I opened it, she opened up from ear to ear making me look like Jeff the killer.

'Shit?! Why do I have a mouth like that?! What do I need to stick in here for it to open like that?! Crystals??? Because I'm kind of a crystal bee, so can I eat crystals? But this mouth are not friendly at all, it's better to never show that in public.'

'Status'.

 

 

"Shit! I'm a super badass now?!"

'I can kind of see spirits? Have I become some kind of Shamam? And I can even create crystals! I didn't know crystals were so easy to find.'

'What the hell is the {Crystal Core} trait?! He turned me into a glass cannon! Well, it's okay that I have a lot of HP to compensate for this, but if I were someone with low health, this trait would turn me into porcelain! But for me it was worth it, I gained magical talents, and maintained a high amount of HP.'

'And what the hell is [Appraisal]?! Is it the evolution of [Analyze]?! Is that why there are rarities in my [Traits]?! And what do I do with that, I became an evaluator? It's a very useful skill, but it fell by the wayside! I thought I would gain a skill like [Great Sage] when I evolved [Analyze] not something like that.'

'But I've become a crazy bitch full of mana! I have mana to give and sell! The problem is this horrible smell that is in the air right now.... But otherwise I only see profit!'

"Hehehe... Let's play system~"

Trying to create a mana echo, I soon discover that it is much easier than before, and now I just feel a light pull being pulled from me, and when I open my eyes there is a prismatic colored jellyfish floating in front of me, the creature has easily the size of my head, and it's clear as glass- No, crystal!

"That's it!! Now it's easier to create more of you, and for my supreme test, BOYS! Bring me a pot of seeds!"

"Yes!" said the guards.

Right in front of me was a tall array of seeds, and the jellyfish was floating peacefully in front of me. Soon I extended my arm towards it, and invoked the [Rot] spell, when black smoke began to come out of my claws, it mixed with the jellyfish, transforming it into a dark gray jellyfish, with shades of purple and the appearance of petroleum in water.

"Fly to the pot, and only finish off the lily seeds!"

Hearing my command, the jellyfish quickly sailed towards the seed box, and began to emanate a black aura, rotting the entire seed box, then it turned around and positioned itself in front of me again.

"So no very specific orders huh... Just the basics. How about... Ties? Are you capable of doing that?"

"Bring a wax test dummy, more seeds, and some flowers!"

"immediately!" replied the guards.

Soon the room was filled with items, with Hans and some members of the inner circle looking at everything with interest, and a few wizards and historians there to see everything firsthand.

"Very well, let's begin..."

Reaching out my hand again to the medusa, I cast the [Wild Growth] spell, but to my surprise the medusa begins to tremble, and explodes in a wave of living mana, casting the rot spell on everything around it.

"Shit!"

The explosion wasn't big, but it still rotted the moss carpet, and made part of my mane dry and turn in lifeless strings, but as no one else was around I didn't see any major injuries.

"Mom! Are you okay!?!" Hans shouted nervously.

"I'm fine guys! This kind of thing won't bring me down, it was a good lesson to know that echoes can no longer carry 2 spells like they used to."

Summoning another echo, I enchant it with the [Seed Blast] spell, and soon the echo becomes a pleasant-looking lime green jellyfish. I then place a seed on a nearby surface and give the command.

"Use the seed to bind the target in vines!"

Some spells like [Seed Blast] need "Catalyst" items, and specific things to work, just like [Strengthening] could only be cast on living creatures, or like [Pain] needs to be cast on something that feels pain.

Soon the medusa began to float towards the seed, and sucked it into itself, leaving it suspended inside it, as if it were a mana bubble, then the medusa quickly floated towards the wax mannequin, and fired a colored seed with no exitation.

Halfway through the seed already exploded into some green vines and soon as it touched the dummy they started grabbing it. But the vines weren't surrounded by thorns like mine, and they didn't even squeeze the target, they were just ordinary vines growing around the dummy.

"So you can cast spells, but it has its limits huh... It's not very cool, but it's still incredible to know that you can cast spells indefinitely as long  you have mana! Next test... Turn those vines into thorny vines!"

Soon the mana jellyfish floated towards the wax target, and began to emit a green glow. As it glowed, wooden thorns sprouted from the vines, but they grew without direction and in complete disarray, some pierced the target, but most still remained outside, wasting mana.

"You're not the best spell casters, but you're still very good! You can serve as sentries, or expendable members! If I could just recharge you... Then I'd have an army!"

Army of sea jellyfish.... Made of mana!