IMPERIUM INSECTUM

 

 “Are you done yet, Penn?”

“NO! There is still so much I need to do. I need to see your digestion in action And see how you repro-“”

“WOW, THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING, but I think it can wait for tomorrow; I'm exhausted, Penn, really well and truly exhausted. Relax, Okay?, I'm not going anywhere. You can continue tomorrow.”

“But….”

I Let out a deep sigh as she gave me a bunch of meaningless protests about her research. The tests weren't hard, and nothing was draining. Move here, crush this. Pierce that. Over and over again. I'm mentally done for today, and I want to go home. But I don’t think she will let me leave easily. Unless.

“Earlier, you said you wanted to know what these holes were for. Well, come here and take a look.”

Instantly, she was by my side, ogling me like a dog staring at a raw steak.

“Show me, show me, SHOW ME!”, She pleaded, causing me to roll my eyes.

I rolled my eyes and held my arm. I think 2 flies will suffice. Penn looked eagerly as 2 royal flies crawled out of the holes.

“Woaahhhh, are those….. flies?”

“Those flies are my children, yes.”

“That’s amaz- wait, children, are you a mother?”

“Not just a mother. A queen.”

“A QUEEN!” Her eyes bulged, I figured that would happen I wanted to keep it quiet, but seeing how glued she was to me, she was gonna find out eventually. I guess it's best to let her know on my terms. I placed the flies in a nearby glass jar and placed it in Penn's palms

“Now, I will leave these two here with you for the night. They are very intelligent, so they shouldn’t cause you any bother.”

“thank you.”

“And Penn. If you even consider hurting them. Contract be dammed I will end you. Understand?”

“Y..yes. Of course, I wouldn’t  even dream of doing that.”

“Good”

< Okay, you two. Do what the crazy woman asks you to do. I don’t think she will hurt you, but you never know, so be alert.>

<Yes, mother>

“You have your own language!”  I winced at her yell. Why is she  like this

“Diva, you have to teach me.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. You don’t have the vocal cords for it.” I lied. I have no clue whether or not a human can learn the language. But I'm doubtful.

“I've learnt multiple languages. I'm sure I ca-“

“Maybe another day! Bye, penn!”

Before she could argue any more, I bolted away. Sorry, my children, but Mother needs a break. I'll collect you tomorrow. In no time, I was at the entrance to the dungeon, up the stairs and out into the dark alleyway.

<Oh, thank god!.> I took a deep breath. Good lord, Penn can be overwhelming at times. I took a few steps down the alley. It was cold, damp and completely swamped in darkness thanks to the night. You could probably murder someone here, and nobody would notice.

<I should head back home before I get involved in something I don’t want to.> Annoyingly, however, Andre took the carriage, leaving me with no mode of transport.

<I guess I don’t have a choice…>

I looked around, not a single body in sight. Thankfully, Penn lives in a pretty secluded place. I slipped off my clothes and threw them in a nearby garbage Bin.

<No turning back now, I guess>

My wings unfurled and spread out wide, almost hitting the walls of the alleyway. So what do I now? When my children do it, they just flap their wings and take off. Is it really that simple? My wings swayed back and forth, picking up more speed as they moved. Soon, flecks of dust and litter start to move and tumble away. The speed and power increased some more. My feet started to get light, and soon, I was hovering off the ground.

<Should I just go for it?> I looked around once more to make sure the area was clear before finally, with a large flap of my wings, I shot up into the air like a bullet.

<WOOOOOAHHHHAGHHHHHAAHHHH! Hahhaahaha! This is amazing!> I sored clear over buildings and up into the night sky.

<So much speed!!>  My wings flapped hard again, and I took off once more <HAHAHAHHAHAHA  YES!> I kept soaring higher and higher into the sky, and the once-tall buildings looked like tiny ant hills from where I was. Just how high can I go? I kept flapping, sending me higher and, giving me more speed, and getting faster and faster. As I got higher, the air got colder and colder. I could feel water condense onto my armour, but I kept pushing. Soon a dark all-encompassing cloud came into view.

< Let's go for it!>

My wings hummed even louder as I surged up towards the cloud. I felt the air get colder and colder as the water on my armour started turning into ice, but I kept going until I plunged deep into the cloud. The visibility dropped to zero, and all around me, I could see nothing but darkness. But as quick as it came, it went, and soon I shot through to the other side. My wings thrummed forward, and soon, all my forward speed stopped. My wings instinctively settled at a steady speed, keeping me in one place.

<this is.... amazing....>

I was hovering above the clouds, nothing but a clear moonlit sky, twinkling stars that looked like jewellery and a large bright white moon. It was so large that it made the moon on Earth look like a joke

<How could I have not noticed before? The moon here is so large>

I looked down towards the ground, and a large blanket of cloud blocked my vision.

<enough time wasting, let go>

I bent over, and my body followed through, putting me into a dive. My wings stopped flapping as gravity took over soon. I was through the clouds and heading down like a bullet. Soon, the town came into view. My speed increased more and more, and I moved faster than ever. 2000ft, 1500ft, 1000ft. The wind howled against my ears as I dove like a falcon down toward the ground. 900ft, 800ft,700ft, 600ft. The lights of the houses got brighter and brighter. 500ft, 400ft, 300ft, 200ft, 100ft,

<NOW!>

My wings shot out, and I instantly levelled out, and I started flying horizontally towards the mansion.

<hahahHAHAHAHAHAHA I HAVENT HAD THIS MUCH FUN IN A WHILE> It’s so easy to forget everything you have and just fly, no stress, no responsibilities, nothing! Just me and infinite miles of sky. I cruised steadily across the sky, taking in all the wonderful sights. I looked around to the east and noticed a familiar-looking warehouse.

< That reminds me…. Let's take a detour to see our would-be-friendly assassin.>

My wings twisted sharply to the left, causing me to sharply bank to the right. This is going to be fun.

A few minutes later…..

My wings flapped again, bringing me nicely to the ground in front of the warehouse.

<Luckilly, this place is secluded.>

I walked over to the door and quietly pulled it open. As soon as I stepped in, I was hit with the familiar smell of dust and mildew.

<I really need to fix this place up sometime…But now is not the time.> I quickly ran over to the far office, and in no time, I was in the basement. Well, it was the basement. It turned out my children have been doing a lot of work here. It was completely different in front of me; there was a large hole where my children had started digging, and whoo boy, have they been busy. The tunnel stretched for what looked like miles into the ground. The amount of dirt piled up in this room was astounding. How long ago did I ask them to start this? If I had to give a rough estimate, I think it's been 2 weeks, give or take. And to think they've done so much in so little time. I took a step into the tunnel when suddenly, a high-pitched voice hit my ears.

“HELP! HELP! I’VE BEEN STUCK DOWN HERE FOR 3 DAYS. I NEED SOMETHING TO DRINK IM GONNA DIE OF THIRST HERE!” I winced as the tunnel caused his voice to echo and distort as it travelled up the tunnel towards me.

 

<I guess it has been a while, and annoyingly, humans like him can't go too long without water.>

I let out a sigh and walked down into the tunnel. However, before I started walking, I noticed a small gap in the wall in the tunnel. Curiously, I approached the gap and went in. I was taken down another tunnel that led to a small room filled with hundreds and hundreds of apollinaris mushrooms. I remember her saying she planted some here to grow, but I didn’t think there would be this many. The walls were completely covered in the stuff. I picked one mushroom for the road and headed back down the tunnel.

As I walked down the tunnel, I noticed just how perfectly round it was, surprisingly dirt- and dust-free. I also noticed how the tunnel didn’t have any support to prevent a cave-in. Just how did they do it? I looked closer to the wall and noticed it had a weird-looking texture. I gently Place my hand against it. It had a weird texture. It felt smooth and waxy feel, but it also had tiny little abrasive stones. Could it be…

I let out a small chuckle. <So that’s how they did it…> Very clever children, aren't they. Instead of just using their wax to hold up the walls, they take any stones and rocks they dig up, crush them into a makeshift aggregate, and mix it with their wax to make a form of cement. How clever and very time-consuming. I kept walking down the tunnel, and the echoes of the man got louder and louder. Just where did they put him? I kept walking and walking until I noticed another tunnel split off the main at a right angle.

“HEEEELP! SOMEONE. I CAN'T SEE, AND I'M VERY THIRSTY.”

Looks like I found my man. A long sigh escaped me as I quickly headed towards the split-off. To think they built an entire section just for him. What can I say? They are diligent in their work. I would have just sealed him into the tunnel wall.

“Help! HEEELP he!”

“SHUT UP! YOU'RE MAKING TOO MUCH NOISE!” I yelled as I entered the room; prison would be a more correct word to describe it. The workers had carved out a rectangular room and, using the wax from their bodies, created 3 separate jail cells. On top of that, they also stuck him to the wall and sealed every part of his body except his head to the wall.

“How very thorough of them.”

“I recognise that voice. Let me out now! It's dark as hell down here! And I can’t see!”

It’s dark? It looks fine to me. Could it be my [Insect vision] ability? But I don’t remember activating it. Something is off here; I will have to check my ability list soon. I feel Like a lot has changed.

“Why are you so quiet? ARE YOU STILL THERE! YOU BETTER NOT HAVE LEFT ME IN HERE!”

<He’s not as soft-spoken as he seemed when I first captured him. Now, How do I get into his cell?>

<Mother? When did you arrive >

I turned around, and there it was. One of my workers. His chitin was mostly bright yellow with dark green dashes dotted randomly across it.

<Hahah, hello, my child. I arrived here a few minutes earlier. How are you?”

<I’m fine, Mother. Do you need Any help> He asked curiously.

<No, I'm just visiting him. How do I get in his cell?>

<As of right now, there is no way. You have to destroy it.>

<I see. Do you mind if I?>

<No mother. Anything you break ill fix.>

I smiled and petted him on the head. <Such a good child.> I walked over to the door, and suddenly, black mana started to ooze from my hand. I put my hand against the prison cell wall, causing it to disappear, and then, with ease, I drew a large arch with my hands. Once it was completed, the arch fell easily to the ground.

“What was that.” The man yelled. Clearly, he was on edge here

“Oh, just me. How are you feeling? Comfortable, I hope?” I said, walking closer to him.

“Comfortable, my ass. Let me out. I said I would come willingly. There is no point in all of this.”

“Don’t get angry; my children are a little cautious, is all. Now I want the names of the people who were sent after us. Who and Why. I haven’t been in this town long, so I want to know what I have done enough to warrant sending assassins to my house.”

“Can I have some food  fir-“

*SMACK!* A loud slap echoed through the chamber. “You tried to kill my girlfriend. I won't stand for jokes. I may sound calm, but I assure you I am very much burning with rage. You should thank whatever god you believe in that she is still alive because if you had succeeded that night, there would be no doctor in this plane of existence that would be able to fix what I do to you. Now. Names, tell me. NOW!”

“S….sorry. I didn’t mean. I was just following order-“

“I don’t want your apology! I want names!

“I don’t know, okay! The boss did most of the dealings okay!! All I know is that the person who hired us was an intermediary. Someone speaking on the behalf of someone else. All I can tell you is that these people had a lot of money.”

“How rich are we talking about, the same level as Andre and Titus?”

“More. So much more that it makes Andre and Titus look like poor homeless chumps in comparison. Honestly, we were scared for a little bit; we thought they were working for the government, But no, they were legit.”

Dammit! I can't do anything with that. The people behind this were smart enough to not do anything in person. Think diva. They came for Apollinaris, so realistically, there are 1 or 2 people who could have it out for her. The family of the girl Apollinaris had a problem with and the city of Spirits. But why? Why go so far just for one person? Is there more to Apollinaris than she lets on? Maybe, but I doubt it.If she had some big secret to keep, she would have been much more protective of herself. AAAGHHHHA. This is useless! I shook my head. Either way, if it is them, I feel it would be best to let Apollinaris sort this out.

“That’s enough. Thank you for your cooperation. Another question. The ashdown ball blast. What do you know.”

“absolutely nothing. All I know is that it wasn’t anyone in our circle of work.”

“How do you know?”

“The job was too amateurish. If you plan to assassinate someone, you do it quickly and quietly. A blast like that attracts way too much attention and heat and isn’t guaranteed to kill the target. I mean, the blast only killed 1 of the 4 ashdowns. Their little runt.”

Dammit, no leads here either. His theory makes sense when we look at it. The attack was very amateurish. If the goal was to kill the ashdowns, then there are way better ways of doing it. An explosion like the one they used. Unless killing them wasn’t the goal. But if it wasn’t the goal, then what was it? Dammit, this is getting ridiculous now. At some point, I'm gonna need answers to some of these questions.

“one last question. The word marigold. Does it mean anything to you?”

“Besides the flower…Nothing. Wait- marigold. It’s an old reference, but I remember a mining company that used that name once. Yeah. They had a mine somewhere in the consecrated forest.”

Well, that confirms what the girl told me. I have to find that mine. I feel like I may get some answers to some of these questions.  

A deep sigh escaped me as I moved closer to the man. “Thank you for your cooperation.” I leaned up to him and placed my lips around his. Before he could react, I forced my tongue into his mouth. Confusion flowed through his body as he tried to fight me. But it was pointless. We made out for a while. Before I finally pulled away.

“W…..WHAT WAS THAT!”

“Just getting a taste; it's been a while since I've been with a man. My last one…..Let's just say he had an accident.”

The urge to ravish him here and now was strong but annoying; I had other things to do. I turned away and walked out of the room.

< I'm done. You can repair the cage now.>

I let out a long sigh. As I left the room and went back into the tunnel. There was still quite a bit of tunnel left, so I decided to explore the cave further. Safe to say, it wasn’t an exhilarating expedition, just the same monotonous tunnel walls as before. Despite the boredom of this, I am deeply impressed with my children. I don't think they got so much done by themselves. I continued walking until eventually I reached the end, where 3 of the other workers continued to chip away at the tunnel wall. Before I could say anything, they all turned to face me

<Mother?>

<hello, just checking on how the wall is going. What’s the ETA ON the completion>

<around 2 weeks. Thankfully, the soil and stone are quite soft, allowing us to move faster than originally planned and putting us ahead of schedule. However, it is still very time-consuming, and there are so few of us.>

<I see.>

Ideally, I would like this to be done before I leave. Having quick access to the warehouse would be very beneficial for me and the hive. Maybe we could expand outwards, turning this into a smaller hive.

I sat down and crossed my legs. I guess it's finally that time, huh.

<Status>                 

Suddenly, a flurry of blue screens erupted in front of me. Oh boy, that’s a lot of new abilities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woooh boy. Okay, where do we start? A lot of those abilities are very self-explanatory, as I had already experimented with a few of them. Now, what really caught my eye is the Fluid hybrid armour. This explains the redesign of the armour in my chest area. It's nice to know it wasn’t just for looks, but what worries me the most is that little bit about my stomach being able to expand…. I can't…imagine…what…that’s …for. My easy quickly darted towards the other boxes. Launch seems cool and exciting, but I’ll need to test it out to see how good it is. Tail whip strike baffles me a little bit. The attack is painful, but it does very little damage. How does that work? And is this skill actually useful? The low damage makes it useless in a fight. I don’t know if some experimentation is needed for this one. I dismissed all the other boxes and opened up my status.

 

Damn, that’s a big bump-up in stats. Also, what with that star next to my level? Is that how the system marks my evolution 1 star = 1 evolution? It must be seeing how it wasn’t there before the evolution. Either way, it doesn’t matter. All I really care about is the boatload of health and mana I just got. It is not something to pass up on. Prior to this, My attributes were sorely lacking. This was mainly my fault. Really now that I think about it, not putting any points into the body was a massive fuck up. It would have been nice to have a little bit more strength and health, especially in that fight against the assassins. Well, no matter, let's fix that right now.

 

<Yes>

 

All right then, so it goes up by 100 per 1 point. Let's increase both stats by 10 points if that's the case.

 

<Yes, please>

 

 

My entire body radiated with an old, familiar warmth radiated across my body.

<Oh god, this feels AMAZING!> All my muscles firmed up as  I felt my body get stronger.

<I am such a fool for not doing this earlier! Maybe a little more strength wouldn’t hurt>

 

Woah… what was that, a price increase? So does that mean the more I spend, the more expensive it will be? I guess it would make sense if it stayed that cheap forever. It would be ridiculous. With this in mind, I'll need to be careful of how I spend points and take advantage of them while they're still cheap. I swiped away the menu and took a look at my skill list. I had a lot of skills. Let’s trim the hedge, shall we? I focused on the skill grinder, and suddenly, a blue box popped up.

 

Well, this looks simple enough. I focused on the select skills section and an entire list of all the Skills I had. On a quick glance, 4 stood out to me as immediately grindable. Bestial call, climbing, painful recovery and rock throwing. I was also tempted to grind feasting, but I think that skill hasn’t had the time to shine. As for why I want to grind those skills, it's mainly because they're not useful anymore. Climbing is irrelevant now since I can fly, and nothing stops me from climbing without it. Bestial call is so situational I don’t even know where to start. If I could select what I'm calling, it would be more useful, and I'm sure if I put points into it, it could possibly do that, but I'm not gonna waste points to find out if it can, and frankly, I'm still angry at this skill for nearly getting me killed that time.

The other two skills, painful recovery and rock throwing whilst on paper, are good abilities but, in reality, are kind of useless at worst and situational at best. Painful recovery was very good when I first got it, allowing me to recover faster; however, now that I've got a healing spell and my pain resistances have gone up, this skill isn't being activated as often as it once was and is taking a lot more pain to be activated thinking about it this skill didn’t even activate once during my fight with the assassins. Do I have to be nearly dying just to get the benefit of this 1 ability? No, thank you. Into the grinder, you go.

Now, rock throwing is a victim of being a skill that is very useful in a very specific situation. It allowed me to easily dispatch those guys at the barn. Still, besides that, it’s in the same boat as bestial call, and it’s a situational ability unless I plan to make rock-throwing my thing which I wont.

I quickly selected the 4 skills, and a green button appeared at the bottom of the menu. I focussed on the button and was taken back to the previous menu.

 

38 points, huh. That’s harsh. That barely covers the points I spent on rock-throwing alone. I should be careful going forward when spending my points.

<Confirm>

Suddenly, the menu popped out of existence, and my body briefly glowed with a cold blue aura. The complete opposite of what I get when I upgrade or buy an ability.

 

Good. There were still a few skill I could grind but I decided ill give them a chance before removing them. This town just hasn’t been a good use for them. Now then lets take a look from the top.

 

 

 

I nodded and closed the menu to see my children had returned to digging the wall. Maybe I could give them a hand with this. I raised my hand, and black mana started swirling around it.

<This would be a good training opportunity, actually>

Looking back at my previous fight, I have realised that my use of null mana is very limited. At best, I have 3 spells, and all of them can be boiled down to release null mana in a wild way. This is not good and very limiting. Null mana is one of the key things I use in a fight, and having it be so crude is just not good for me. I need to improve, and this is the perfect opportunity. I want to help my children dig, and I think my null mana could be helpful.

I held my hand out, and inky black mana started to flow randomly around my hand. What can I do with this to make it more useful in a fight? Maybe if I focused and pulled it, maybe?

The mana shook for a moment, but soon it started to pull itself together Into a thin line.

<Better, but a straight line of black mana isn't what I'm going for….. But it could be a start. Now if I could bend the line and shape it, that could be useful>

I forced more mana into the line, but all that did was make it bigger and longer. I tried to make the line move like I once did before, but nothing happened. It was too stiff and stubborn to move.

<This is hopeless!> I yelled as the line dissipated, and I slumped onto the ground. Andre and Apollinaris make this look so easy! They wave their hands around, and shit happens. No matter how much I try and force it, the mana won't do as I say!

<Mother? Is something wrong?>

I looked around to see the same worker who helped me get into the assassin's cell.

<No, well, yeah. I can't get this stupid beam of mana to bend. It's too damn stiff no matter what I try to do to it>

<it won't bend?>

<Yes. I want to make a spell that will help dig the tunnel.>

<Mother, have you tried softening the beam. The wax we use is usually very hard, making it great for building foundations and walls. But sometimes, we need it to be pliable so we can mould it into other shapes. We usually do this by warming it up slightly. If I had to bend a metal beam, I would warm up a section of it so it was soft and bend it there.>

<I see.>

What he is saying makes sense. And I think he has given me an idea. I stood up and tried again. In no time, the black beam came out in front of me, and I was back where I was. Now, to achieve the same effect as bending the beam. I need to slow the mana flow at certain intervals along the beam. These will be the points we have softened. I closed my eyes and adjusted the flow. Changing the flow like this was tricky, but it wasn’t impossible. Eventually, I got the desired effect. Now, all I had to do was start manipulating it. However, instead of trying to bend the entire thing, I only focused on the bits I slowed down. I watched as the beam started to wobble at specific points as I tried to follow my will.

<Come on, bend, dammit, BEND!>

And then, as if on cue, the. The beam started to flex and curve to the right.

<Yes! That’s it. Now we're going somewhere!>

 

I continued to manipulate the beam, bending and twisting it until it Eventually landed on my desired shape, a pitch-black, inky spiral around the diameter of the tunnel.

 

<Mother. What is that>

<Why don’t you take a look>

I ordered the other workers away as I slowly started to rotate the spiral, and with each rotation, it picked up more speed. Soon, it turned into a black blur. I pushed my arm forward against the rock wall, and with ease, the spiral cut through the stone and dirt

<Hahaha, with this, the. The tunnel will be complete in no->

<MOTHER STOP! STOP!>

The spell instantly dissipated as I turned towards him.

<Whats wrong?>

<Mother. You can’t just dig a tunnel into the ground without supporting the surrounding walls! if you don’t support them, the ground will just cave in on you!>

<I see. Thank you for telling me.> dammit, he’s right.

<What do you suggest then?>

His 2 antennae started twitching as he was joined by his brothers. Once they were close enough, all 4 of them butted heads and suddenly, their antennas started twitching rapidly. I was tempted to listen in on what they were saying using the hive weave, but I restrained myself. My children are entitled to a little privacy as well.

After a few seconds of antenna twitching, he came back

<we won’t be able to fully reinforce the tunnel as you dig because it’s simply too fast, and we can’t keep up, however. What we can do is build is temporary support struts from wax that will hold the tunnel and stop a cave-in. Once the tunnels are complete, we will be able to go back and properly reinforce everything>

<Hahaha, yes. Let’s do it!>

Before he could go back to his brothers, I quickly swept him up into a tight hug.

<I didn’t say it earlier, but Thank you for helping me! You are such a smart boy. Mmmmmmmwah>

He started squirming as I held him tight, but I didn’t let him go.

<M....mother! I.... too..  much… Let…go!>

<But I just love you so much. Let me squeeze you a little longer>

He squirmed a little bit harder and managed to escape towards his other brothers, who glared at him with jealousy.

<Now, don’t be like that. All of you come here>

I held my arms out, and the 3 of them tackled me to the ground

<Hahahha, very good children.> We enjoyed our time together. When was the last time we just spent time together? It feels like forever.

<As much as I would like to keep playing, we need to build that tunnel. Will you help me?>

<Yes!> They all said in unison.

I nodded and stuck my arm out towards the wall, and created the spiral. Now that I had created the spell, it was a lot easier to call forth. I quickly opened up my status, and I had 1200MP out of 1800. I'll have to watch it and see how much I use it. The spirals started spinning, and soon enough, I started digging.

Some time later…..

<How far are we from the basement?>

<Around 400 meters. If we stay at this upward angle, we will hit the basement>

<Good. One more break before the final push. > I sat down and crossed my legs. We had been going at this for around 16 hours now, according to my children. And let me say this right now. Tunnelling is hard work. I can't believe I expected the four of them to dig a tunnel this far. How cruel of me. I'll have to reward them properly after this.

I took a deep breath in and then out.

 

This skill I picked up ages ago has been beneficial. By simply meditating, I can boost my recovery speed by  10 per cent, which is not a lot but has helped a lot over a long period of time. Due to this one skill, we have built this tunnel 10 per cent faster. I took another deep breath in and then out. I could hear the workers' soft rustling as they were also taking a break. These breaks have helped with the fatigue, but I can tell they are getting quite tired now. We have to finish this last stretch of the tunnel, and then I can give them a few days of rest. I inhaled and exhaled one more time. Again and again. I could feel my body sinking with my breathing as it started to relax. My muscles loosened as they released all the tension they had. This is nice. I need to meditate more in the futu-

<Mother>

I opened my eyes and was met with the eyes of a worker.

<we are all rested. It’s time for us to go>

I gently nodded. And there was the other part of that ability. It alters how I perceive time. I didn’t even notice that 2 hours had passed. It really is a great ability

<Alright, children. One final push>

I created the spiral again and started digging upwards. Dirt flew past me, and the spiral easily cut through and erased any dirt it came in contact with.

<mother adjust the spiral 5 degrees upwards!>

The spiral shifted slightly upwards, and we continued to dig upwards. It turns out my children were great navigators. Every now and again, he would chime in, telling me to adjust my angle of attack, Whilst also guiding and supporting his brothers in the building process.. I guess that makes sense, as he is the oldest of the 4 here. I'll have to reward him properly when we are finished.

We kept going up and up and up. Every now and again, there would be small corrections of the angle of attack of the spiral.

 

<Mother, keep going 100 more meters to go!>

I nodded and pushed through. This was hard, monotonous work that felt never-ending; it was nothing but brown dirt and stone. There has to be a better way to do this. There has to be.

<20 MORE METERES, 15,10,5..>

Suddenly, the dark tunnel exploded in an array of light, and I found myself in the 1^st level basement.

<We finally made it!> I turned around and opened my arms and was instantly tackled by my children.

<Hahaha, good job, all of you. Very good job. I'm so proud of all of you. you've all worked so hard.>

<Mother? Is that you??>

We all stopped as we looked towards the door where Sally was standing watching us.

<Oh, Sally. You're here. I was just helping my children dig the tunnel>

<I see….>

Her eyes glanced around the mess made in the room before letting out a sigh.

<It’s nice to have you back, Mother. If you are not busy, can you come downstairs? We have some “guests” that need to see you..>

<hahah, yeah, coming> I slowly pushed away my children. Who started making sad cries.

<I know, I know. I'm sorry, but I have to go. But you all have been good boys today. Especially your big brother.>

Before he could react, I swept him up into another hug, causing him to squirm.

<Mother….>

<Tell me, does he look after the 3 of you>

They all looked at each other briefly before nodding in unison.

<He always checks to make sure we are okay!>

<He always made sure everything was built correctly>

<And he always made sure we took breaks>

<HAHAHA good,> I said aloud <Youre quite the leader aren't you.>

I placed him back on the ground And patted his head <If there isn't any disagreement from your brothers. I want to fully recognise you as the Construction overseer for the workers. You will oversee your brothers behind you and many more and help me with any future planning. Do you accept this role? If you don’t want it, it's fine.>

He looked between me and his brothers. His brothers didn’t have much expression, but from the positive feelings I was getting from them, I have no doubt they wanted him to do it.

<I accept mother.>

<Hahaha, good. Thank you. As another award, let me give you a name…..I think….Azuura would be a fine name. Are you happy with that?>

He nodded, and suddenly, another blue box appeared in front of me.

 

Well, that’s…… new. I quickly flashed my status up to look for the ability, but it was not there at all. Weird. I looked at Azuura, and he looked at me in confusion but in those confused eyes was something else, a sort of admiration I couldn’t ignore. Of course, I'm gonna bless him. He is my child. A quick check of my status showed me that I had just enough mana left to bless him. I wrapped my hands around his face and gave him a kiss on the head.

<Yes of course I want to bless this child>

In an instant, the blue box disappeared as a sharp pain went through my stomach, causing me to buckle over.

<MOTHER!>

I raised my hand up to stop them. <I’m……FiiiiiiNEEEE>

I was not fine. My stomach felt like it was turning itself over; just what the hell was happening in there? My arms wrapped around my stomach in a vain attempt to ease the pain. I felt a pressure build up inside my stomach as something felt like it wanted to come up. Instinctively, I brought my own hand to my mouth to try and stop it, but it was no use whatever it was determined to leave.

<Mother. Let me get Sally. Maybe she can->

I shook my head again.

<No point there won't be enough to EUGHHHAAAAAAA>

Without warning. A thick golden-yellow gloop came out of my mouth and into my hands. Just what is going on here. What is this stuff? I wanted to drop this goop onto the floor, but every one of my instincts screamed at me when I even entertained the idea.

 

The last of all, the gloop slowly came out of my mouth and into my hands where it was slowly solidifying into a more jelly-like structure. I looked up towards Azuura, who was transfixed onto the jelly. I raised the jelly towards him.

<Come Azuura. Come and get it. Come get your blessing.> Azuura walked over to my hands in a zombie-like trance and started devouring the yellow jelly.

<That’s good Azuura eat. Eat and grow strong. Mother is counting on you>

He quickly devoured the golden yellow jelly, leaving not even a single bit of it in my hands. Azuura staggered backwards slightly. The effect of the jelly taking over.

I sent a command to the nurses, and soon 2 nurses were watching over him.

<Mother...I feel.> His legs started to wobble like jelly before he finally collapsed onto the ground.

<look after him till he wakes up>

The nurses wordlessly and quickly carried him out of the room.

I looked over to his brothers, who looked concerned.

<Dont worry, he will be okay. You guys go rest for a few days whilst your brother recovers>

<Mother... Can we get names?>

I looked at them all and patted their heads.

<Mother would love to right now, but she used all her energy on your brother. But if you work your hardest, I will be okay.>

<Okay!> He chirped happily before going away with his brothers.

<BUT MAKE SURE YOU REST FIRST BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE OKAY!>  If I don’t say this, I feel they will go and start working right now, so I let out a tired sigh. Today has been a long day, and it isn't even over yet. I looked around and found myself back in that old library where I had the fight with the golems. In no time, I quickly navigated my way to the back and down the original entrance where I used to get down. In no time, I was down on the second floor where Sally was waiting with 3 very familiar people.

“Oh my, so this is the trouble you’ve brought me here to see..” Two of the three girls turned to face me. They were the nuns I “acquired” at the orphanage that day.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that…” I said toward one of the silver-haired nuns. She was the one with the ice magic, wasn’t she? Sister Friede, I think, was her name; the other nun was called Theresa, if I remember correctly. Ah, yes, it's all coming back to me. That delicious, fearful expression was. It's nice to know she is still scared. And the 3^rd and final one was the girlfriend of that guy I killed in the barn. Her eyes were completely vacant. Don’t tell me her will’s already broken before I've even managed to have some fun with her.

“Mother, these strays were dropped over here earlier by Andre. Should we kill them?” I don’t think she realised it, but her blade slipped out of her arm. Was she always this bloodthirsty?

“No, Sally, leave them with me. I can think of a perfect use for their bodies….”

A smile crept on her face as she backed away to the far side of the room.

“Now then, who should I have fun with first….”