That's what it was? Leo swallowed, the adrenaline and bloodlust finally leaving his body. Yet, even as the battle came to an end, the plete uanding of his body and its potential remained. He flicked one of his tails, and it listened right away, raising to meet his hand mid-air. There was no dey, nue motions...

  It feels almost as good as when Focused Bloodlust was activated... Leo shook his head lightly. No. That's wrong. It's so much better. No longer do I need an ability to feel like my body belongs wholly to me. Now, it's really mine, and nothing ge that...

  The notification still floated before him, and Leo raised his head, giving the thing his full attention. He had expected a level-up. It was high time for it to e. But the message?

  Leo frowned. No, he didn't foresee such a thing appearing out of nowhere. Seems, I'm finally getting the expnation I wanted... Though, really? Mortal Tier? I don't know about you, System, but I stopped feeling like one when you gave me this body...

  The System didn't react to Leo's thoughts, and only the fshing notifications showed that it was still there. He sighed, giving the powerful entity the a wanted. Better to get it over with fast before more Ameists came. Not that he worried, but still...

  Choice Aowledged. Dispying standard information package.

  Ever sihe birth of the System, it was decided to divide attribute growth into Tiers. trary to what many thought in the beginning, these Tiers aren't just fanames to describe the current power of a User. Instead, they are used to signify the breaking points, the current limits of a User, and their ability to asd to higher realms.

  While attributes grow with eaew point added, assion forces an evolution of the corresponding aspect of the User, breaking its hard limit. Each time, this breakthrough brings forth a very noticeable boost in power. Of course, it is important to hat assion might not be possible if the User's current form ot hahe spike in strength. Those cases are rare and are often caused by particur circumstances.

  Additionally, it is wise to remember that Limit Break er an assion. It will still grant increased power when the User is close to the breakthrough, but the boost will never reach the strength of a newly asded attribute.

  With that, the System message ehe ehing just tinuing to float in front of Leo. He tried waiting for more, hoping for more information to appear, yet it was all for naught. When the System decided to stop, there was nothing anyone could do about it.

  I guess it's still more than I should have expected. Leo sighed, a hand on his head. All in all, it's pretty simple to uand, even if I would have liked to know when the breakthroughs happen... Suppose I will find out iure...

  A quick swipe of his cws disturbed the message, f it away. However, the level-up didn't fade; still waiting for Leo to aowledge it.

  Where to assign you now? He hummed, eyes closing just for a sed. He could, of course, just throw them into Mind like before and be doh it. But now that he had regained all the lost trol and more, there was no reason to spend so mu oribute. Besides I'm getting two points in Mind with each level anyway, thanks to css and race...

  Leo quickly brought up his status and nodded after a moment. Yeah, I think this should do. Two into Soul and oo Might. More strength will probably e in handy soon, and I really need more Essence. Devour won't always be there to save me.

  Just as the System accepted his sele, another message appeared. This one almost as surprising as the attribute assion.

  Thanks to yrace asding to Supernatural Tier, your Assassin's Grace trait has advanced. gratutions! Cloud Walker trait gained.

  Cloud Walker (Unon)You have asded past the basic training of an Assassin aered the realm of true experts. May you remain unnoticed by your enemies.Effects:Your movement bees lighter and almost silent. Every stealth ability is now more effective. Grace Effectiveness: +10%

  Oh...

  Leo blinked, eyes just a bit wider than usual. To be pletely ho, he had almost fotten about this trait despite the thing giving him a slight boost trace's effectiveness. It wasn't that noticeable, especially in the beginning, though now the five — no, ten — pert really proved its value.

  Nice, I guess? Anything that further helps with stealth is wele. Besides, now I know why I'm so light on my feet. It seems not everything came from the assion.

  With a shrug, all the notifications disappeared, leaving Leo in the almost pure darkness. At once, Essence shot into his cws, the crimson glow again filling the chamber. A single and had his two Warriors stopping close, and he frowned as his gaze fell on their bloodied forms.

  The aken-over ant didn't look that bad. It possessed some cuts here and there, but it wasn't anything that would slow the Voidling down. At worst, those were just slight inveniences for the beast.

  Now, the sed Warrior was in a much worse dition.

  From what Leo noticed, the ant had to limp toward him. A quick check of its legs firmed that one of them couldn't even rise from the ground. Then there were the dozens of cuts littering the beast's body, which didn't give the Warrior a high ce of survival. Hell, even now, the ant shook every few seds.

  Yeah... I think that's the end of the road for you. Leo thought, approag the beast. "Thank you for your service." With those words, he plunged a bde into the monster's head, Devour following right after, ing the now-dead Warrior.

  Sighing, Leo turo his st minion. Well, it's just you and me now. Hopefully, I fill the ranks again before we reach the Queen. The remaining Warrior chirped, its ruby eyes darting to the exit.

  In a moment. First, I have to do something with this. Leo grimaced, his gaze falling on the Cloak of Flowing Darkness covered in spit and blood. There was no way to return this thing to its inal state, but leaving it like this also wasn't an option.

  Leo took a seat on the ground, taking off the cloak. Reag into the still mostly fine backpack, he took out a small cloth and got to work. The dark material didn't fall victim to the power of the acid, but he still wiped it off to the best of his ability. Once he got out of this pce, there should be a small stream nearby that could help further. Until then, this simple -up had to be enough.

  That's if the water there is even safe. Which I highly doubt. Not that it hurts to check... Leo snorted as he folded the cloak and pushed it into the backpao reason to destroy it even further with this fug acid.

  Time to go. Leo stood up, the Warrior perking up at the a. A quiand had the creature moving once more as the duo left for the exit, ready to tiheir jourowards the Queen.

  An hour. That was how long Leo and his new minions had been traveling through the byrinth of tunnels. Sometimes, during the journey, he even wondered if Minor Takeover's trol wasn't as absolute as he had thought and the ants were just leading him in circles. At least that was until he and three fresh new Warriors arrived before a vast opening iunnel.

  The entrance could easily fit Leo if he grew twice as rge, and wheook a quick peek inside, all the walking and killing tless of Ameists finally became worth it. One of the Queens was waiting inside, and now the time to begin the final part of this dive into the unknown had e...

  Still hugging the side of the tunnel, Leo gnced into the enormous chamber again. Unlike any other pside the , this room was wholly made out of Vetilim, the veins of the dark matter illuminating the pile of bck eggs in the far-off er.

  This wasn't the first time Leo had seen those objects, but each time, the eggs were in the care of Minions, dozens of them. Here, only two Warriors and the Queen stood watch over the geion of their kin.

  Good. I have had enough of sughtering creatures that probably don't give me any experience. Waste of fug time... Leo huffed, his eyes passing over the defenders and the Queen.

  The Warriors weren't anything special. Just two standard, level thirteeures. Leo's own minions might be slightly weaker, but they had the number advantage and could hold the stronger duo for a bit.

  The actual danger here was the Queen.

  The massive creature, easily thrice as rge as the biggest Warrior, didn't belong to this world. It possessed the form of an ant; that was true. Yet there was so much more to this beast.

  White as snow chitin covered the monster's entire body, the armor looking at least twice as tough as any other Leo had seen before. Then there were the Queen's legs, the limbs b more resembo that of an Inferior Crawler than a.

  However, the six legs weren't the beast's only limbs. No, far from it. Two ioid wings grew out of the creature's back, while at the front, the Queen gained four additional arms, all ending with a wicked scythe-like bde.

  This was by far the best-equipped monster Leo had the displeasure of meeting. Hell, even in overall strength, the Queen was close to the top.

  Ameist Queen (Voidling) | Rank: E- | LVL: 16 | Type: Underworld, Poison, Armor, Special

  Well shit. Leo grimaced, hiding again. I got what I wanted, but this thing? It's fug dangerous... If it wasn't for that assion, I would already be on my way back... Leo shook his head, summoning a part of his own status.

  Name: Leonardo BrownTitle: Nikra's LegacyEvolution Stage: II - Prime Night HunterCss: Assassin | LVL. 14Job: HunterRank: E-

  Might Tier I (22) | LB: 24Grace: Tier II (7) | LB: 20Vision: Tier I (26) | LB: 24Mind: Tier I (44) | LB: 0Soul: Tier I (27) | LB: 14

  E minus. Finally got there, so we should be about evenly matched. Taking in a deep breath, Leo closed his eyes and reached out to the beast slumbering in his mind. What do you think, Hunter? We will definitely o work together to kill this thing.

  The beast growled, bloodlust spiking and slowly seeping into Leo's veins. There was no mistaking what Hunter wao do . However, the final decision still had to be made.

  Alright, let's say I go inside. I need some sort of a pn first... And more informatioiary.

  Race: Voidling | Subspecies: Ameist Queeed Potential: E- to Eon of choice: Poison, Scythe Arms.Known weaknesses: Wings, Gaster ArmorThe peak of Ameist early-stage evolution. There only be one Quee in eaest, and the appearance of another either lead to a civil war or the creation of a y. The Queens, despite their task of produg eggs, are the best batants of a , the final line of defehey possess all the advantages of their subordinates but almost none of their weaknesses. It is also important to hat all Queens are ected to the on a much deeper level, and without them, it will destabilize.

  Not much I couldn't figure out by myself, but I will take it... Although, what the fuck is a Gaster? Leo thought, eyes widening as a tiny bit of knowledge rushed into his head. The back part of the ant's torso? Huh. Guess you learn something new every day...

  As the Bestiary entry faded away, the bdes upon Leo's arms extended, Esseirring inside his soul. The light ing from his cws died in an instant, repced by a bck fsh. Bloodlust also spilled out of the depths of his mind, Hunter following, the merging of the two beasts already underway.

  Let's do it.

  Chaos65