Mark of a Formidable Foe (2)

A semi-transparent textbox appeared once more, as if asking whether this was truly the best choice I could make.

There were two reasons I had chosen Illusionary Flame over Space Bacteria.

The first was the enemies I would have to face on this planet.

Galagons were the undisputed masters of psychic techniques. Even a White Gallagon was a monster capable of unleashing relentless barrages of Psychic Breath. To fight them, I needed a whole arsenal of weapons powered by psionic force.

But every psychic trait I currently possess is either a support or a defensive tool.

Illusionary Flame and the Psychic Breath I could fire through Monster's Tentacles were the only offensive psychic techniques I had — and both carried fatal flaws.

Illusionary Flame worked on Blue Galagons and nothing above them. Psychic Breath was devastating, but strictly limited in how many times I could use it.

In a situation this starved for offensive psychic traits, sacrificing Illusionary Flame to gain a new ability was clearly the better trade.

And the second reason had everything to do with the Vortex One.

If, as I suspected, psychic traits and perks fused together and manifested as the power of a Vortex One, the result would be an extraordinarily potent trait.

In the game, too, everything tied to those things was always useful.

Every trait a Vortex One possessed was a Unique Trait. Which meant that if I ever caught one and the Predation Effect triggered, I was guaranteed to walk away with a Unique Trait of my own.

Of course, the risk was there too.

To put it simply, the blessings a Vortex One bestowed were high-risk, high-return. Power received from transcendent beings was never free.

Like Psionium, whose duration shrank with every use, the ability might weaken each time I invoked it — or the price I had to pay might only grow steeper.

That was why Coldblood players who walked the heretic path tended to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fall off hard in the mid-to-late game.

If it's tied to a Vortex One's power, I'll save it as a trump card.

Just like God's Whip.

I selected Confirm on the semi-transparent textbox's question, and a new message bloomed into view.

The Trait Enhancement System.

It was one of the new systems that had arrived in a message the first time I opened the Space Monster type. I pulled up the full details.

Now that I thought about it, this was actually the first time I was using the Trait Enhancement System. When I killed Muriel, the system hadn't been unlocked yet, and the new Unique Trait hadn't appeared in the interface either — presumably because its conditions still weren't met.

It was my first time choosing traits to forge a Mark of a Formidable Foe, and my first time invoking the Trait Enhancement System.

...This really is the kind of crossroads that deserves the name.

The last time I'd felt like this was shortly after I first started playing Space Survival.

Curiosity about an unknowable outcome — and the dread and anticipation of the butterfly effect this choice might set in motion.

Wrapped in that strange, heady feeling, I pulled up the list of traits I could sacrifice.

The largest category among my current traits is physical.

I had eighteen physical traits in total. Fusion traits couldn't be used as enhancement materials, so subtracting those left thirteen.

Keeping Physical Enhancement Type requires ten traits.

Which meant I could afford to invest up to eight physical traits into enhancement. Not that I intended to burn all eight — I only meant to pick a few.

Let's use the aquatic traits.

Water-related traits contributed nothing to the fights ahead. There was a decent chance water existed on this ice planet, but the beings I intended to hunt had little to do with it.

Beyond that, I focused on traits I rarely used, or ones that were easy to reacquire.

From the physical category: Pheromone Enhancement, Tenacious Vitality, Webbed Digits, Fins, and Dexterity. Five total.

For the rest, I picked the least useful traits from my other types.

From the psychic category, Memory Tracking. From the infection category, Hallucination Grubs. From the nest category, Sticky Adhesive and Water Wraith Pustule.

With nine traits selected in total, I gave everything one final review in case any of it caused a problem.

This will do.

With the check complete, I designated all nine traits as enhancement materials — and at last, the Mark of a Formidable Foe system roared to life.

The moment the new Mark of a Formidable Foe was complete, semi-transparent textboxes erupted all around me. Then, all at once, my head grew heavy. I swayed slightly, steadied myself, and pulled up the description of the new trait.

What's this?

The finished product was nothing like what I'd expected.

This isn't an offensive trait?

Judging by the description alone, this one was closer to a support trait too. Of course, I couldn't say for certain until I'd actually tested it.

More troubling was the P.S. Unlike the usual system flavor text, that line carried an ominous weight that snagged on my mind and wouldn't let go.

Uncontrollable, is it?

Space Survival did occasionally feature equipment and traits the player couldn't control. Some of them were tremendously powerful; others were awkward to find any use for at all. They varied wildly, but the common thread was that everything hinged on how you overcame that limitation of non-control.

In my experience, uncontrollable traits were every bit as troublesome to handle as the Revenant Organ.

I'll need to run some experiments to figure out how to operate it, so... huh?

Absorbed in my new trait, I only just then noticed that something around me had changed.

Where's Mother of the Sky?

She had been right there with me while I interrogated Jason's Human-Faced Beast, but she was gone. When I focused on my auxiliary organ, I sensed her presence in a small clearing a short distance away.

I abandoned my review of Color of the Abyss and walked toward her.

What is she doing... oh.

In the clearing, she stood wordlessly staring into empty space. Her amber eyes, luminous even in the darkness, brimmed with tears.

When she saw me coming, she wiped at her eyes with a forepaw.

｢Done already?｣

Seeing her act as if nothing were wrong, forcing that strained calm — I couldn't bring myself to say anything at all.

...That was a mistake.

While questioning Jason, I had also asked him why he'd set his sights on Mother of the Sky in the first place.

His motive had been utterly petty, and utterly simple.

He had intended to toy with her like a plaything — and once he grew bored, to turn her into a perk.

He could have picked anyone for that, but there were two reasons he'd chosen Mother of the Sky specifically.

He wanted a Wolf sex slave. And...

The belief that playing with a fellow player made it all the sweeter.

Because of Jason's pathetic little desires, Mother of the Sky had lost the one she loved, and her family besides.

I shouldn't have brought her along.

I'd brought her thinking that hearing the reason might ease her heart, even a little. Instead, it had become a case where not knowing would have been kinder.

Without a word, I walked to her side and crouched down. Then I leaned my body lightly against hers.

There was nothing special in it. She hadn't yet gained the Wendigo's power, and the cold was not easy for her to bear.

Ordinarily she'd have shot me an awkward look, but right now she was so drained that she simply stayed still.

And so the two of us remained pressed together, in silence.

I wished I could offer some words of comfort, but unfortunately I was never any good with them.

More than that, I had never known the same pain she had — the experience of losing everyone precious to you in a single instant. If No. 26 and Adhai were to die at Jason's hands, I doubted I'd keep my sanity either.

Just imagining it made my blood boil; she had lived through it for real. Nothing I said would comfort her.

Keeping her warm was the only thing I could do.

How much time passed, I couldn't say.

After a long silence, she finally sent out a thought-wave.

｢I met him ten years ago. Five years after I fell into this world.｣

There was only one "him" she could mean.

Father of the Earth.

In the game, he was a fixed NPC tied to the quest for the High Priest's Golden Spear. He had the horns of a goat on the body of a male lion sheathed in metallic scales. He wasn't especially large, but his defenses were extraordinarily high and he moved fast. To put it simply, he felt like a miniaturized Ice Horror.

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had already told me before how she'd married Father of the Earth and served as guardian deity to the Volfs. And how she'd resolved to live out her days with the family she'd found in this world.

｢Honestly, when I first arrived here, I couldn't adjust at all.｣

[Zzzzz (Is that right?)]

｢Yeah. If I hadn't met him, I never would have survived this long in this world either.｣

Once the dam broke, she began talking about her experiences with the one she'd loved.

｢We'd fight, then make up by bringing each other gifts — he once dragged home a Gray Centifeed in his teeth, and you can imagine how I felt about that. You know ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that thing, right? It looks just like his head.｣

[Zzz zzzzz zzzzzz zz zzzz (I do. People used them a lot to troll the community.)]

｢Exactly. Honestly, it was enough to sour a thousand years of love.｣

Memories of their fights and reconciliations.

｢When the young Volfs tried to tuck flowers into his mane, he'd get so flustered. I never knew a lion could make a face like that.｣

[Zzzzzz zz (I'm curious, I'll admit.)]

Memories of the good times they'd shared.

She dredged up memory after memory, sparing nothing. And because of that, her story jumped around with no order to it, its threads hard to follow.

But I listened quietly all the same. I understood that this was how she mourned her dead.

｢Haha, he really was such a funny one. But when he died? What then? He told me we'd be together forever, and then — heh, that rotten bastard...｣

She, who had been chattering away without pause, at some point could no longer string words together. All she could do was repeat the word "bastard" through her sobs.

At that pitiful sight, the small arms on my chest moved before I could think.

Soft, downy fur brushed my fingertips. Gently, I stroked her snow-white mane.

Whether overwhelmed by emotion or simply too far gone to notice, Mother of the Sky didn't seem to register that I was petting her head.

We're not exactly that kind of relationship, but...

Maybe it was because we'd crossed the line between life and death together so many times. At this point, pulling my hand away felt more awkward than leaving it, so I kept stroking.

She wept out every tear she had been hoarding. It was around the time her tears had frozen cold against her forepaws that she finally managed to calm herself.

｢Whew.｣

Barely composed, she turned her head aside in embarrassment. I withdrew my hand in kind, matching her reaction as naturally as I could.

｢Didn't think I'd still be crying at my age.｣

[Zzzz zzzz (How old are you, exactly?)]

｢...Did you really have to ask that, here of all places?｣

[Zzzz zz (You've got nothing, huh.)]

｢There's something I want to ask of you. Would that be all right?｣

[Zzz (What is it?)]

｢Jason's Human-Faced Beast. I want to smash it.｣

I took it for a joke to paper over the awkwardness, but one look in her eyes told me she meant it. Her forepaws had already sprouted vicious claws, poised and ready.

[Zzzz (No.)]

｢Come on, just once. Hm? Can't I hit it just once, really, really hard?｣

[Zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz (Once your stamina fully recovers, I'll consider it.)]

Truthfully, even if she destroyed Jason's face, I could regenerate it as many times as she liked — it was a part of my body, after all. And if it eased even a fraction of her grief, that was a bargain from where I stood.

Mother of the Sky fell silent for a moment, then looked me straight in the eye.

｢Thank you.｣

Short words, but genuine ones.

I answered with a nod. There was still a residue of sorrow in her smooth amber eyes, but far less than before.

Thank goodness.

｢S-so, anyway, you've changed a lot, haven't you?｣

Perhaps meeting my gaze had become too embarrassing, because she changed the subject.

｢Is it because of the new trait?｣

I'd come straight to her while reading Color of the Abyss's description, so I hadn't yet examined my own body.

[Zzz zzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz (A few of my traits are gone, so probably that.)]

｢Really? Because it feels like a lot more changed than that would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explain.｣

Mother of the Sky tilted her head, running her gaze over my body.

The webbing between my fingers. The fins hidden in my tail. Trait after trait had been stripped from my body by the Trait Enhancement System.

That said, just as she said, there was undeniably a subtle change that couldn't be explained by the missing traits alone. As I began surveying my own body, it didn't take me long to find what had shifted.

Monster's Tentacles?

The tentacles that had trailed down from the rear of my carapace to my neck — like hair, or a sparse mane — had changed somewhat. They were now longer and thicker than before, and there were more of them, far fuller than they used to be.

The whole of my neck now fell within the tentacles' reach, down to the joints of my jaw.

Is it because Color of the Abyss carries psychic effects?

And it wasn't just the volume of the tentacles that had grown.

The Monster's Tentacles on my body now shimmered with a dangerous intermingling of green and violet. "Shimmered" was generous, in truth — the effect looked less like light and more like foam or mold crusted into the flesh, deeply unnatural to behold.

｢Must be from that new perk of yours.｣

[Zzz zzzz (Looks like it.)]

｢Not that it's my place to say, but those tentacles give me a bad feeling. No idea what trait that is, but you'd better be careful using it.｣

Whether she'd caught it with a Wolf's peculiar animal senses or with a ranker's instinct, Mother of the Sky had flagged the danger of Color of the Abyss the instant she laid eyes on my altered tentacles.

I'll check in the morning.

I was planning to go foraging come daybreak anyway.

Color of the Abyss — the spoils reaped from Jason.

Tomorrow would have to be spent learning what this unknowable power could do.