A massive flayed tentacle of pure muscle, lacking skin, raised high into the air. Covered in a hundred eyes and teeth randomly dispersed throughout it, Dei watched the twenty foot long tentacle split into three separate sections, opening up to reveal rows upon rows of twisted teeth.

  When he looked closer, he saw that the eyes and teeth were not random. Instead, the tentacle was composed of many rotting corpses strung together and fused, several of which he recognized. For a fleeting second, he’d considered a fighting retreat, until he laid eyes upon one particular cluster in its mass: Lorpee Screamers. They were not part of the swarm he’d run into, but he braced himself for what he knew was coming anyway, the mouths of the Lorpee’s and several other creatures opened wide, unleashing the bellow of a sonic screech.

  Dei felt multiple organs rupture and tears open up across his skin as his eardrums exploded.

  Almost immediately, his body began shutting down. High Mind and Vigilance nearly turned his mind to mush as they utilized the full scope of his abilities to grant himself the maximum chance of survival.

  In a single moment [Growing Pains] was re-enabled, which he allowed to access the Wrath curse. Next, he revoked Homeostasis from Fendrascora. She wouldn’t run out of energy from moving for around two seconds at the speed they traveled, but that would be an eternity in his mindscape.

  Instead, he granted [High Mind] to Clever, bearing the brunt of the spiritual strain rather than making Clever tire himself out. Dei would only be conscious for a few seconds longer, he would be able to rest his soul while Clever wouldn’t.

  What he needed from Clever was for him to finally have a breakthrough with his time abilities, potentially using them to guide Fendrascora away from the Accipere and other dangers. ‘I believe in you buddy’ he tried conveying to Clever.

  * * *

  The Clever barely managed to blink before the entire world blurred, Fendrascora yanking them backwards. As quickly as he lost his sight, he regained it when everything froze midair.

  He tried looking over to Dei, but his head wouldn’t move. At first, he thought he might’ve accidentally stopped time, but he quickly sensed a presence connecting to him.

  Dei had connected with The Clever’s mind, boosting his thinking speeds. He could see clearly through their connection that this would not last. Dei’s soul wasn’t in a good state to begin with, and he was pushing himself further to give The Clever a chance.

  The Clever knew what Dei wanted. It was clear to him that the initial attack had dealt too much damage to Dei, and he was going to fall unconscious soon, so he needed Clever to guide them instead.

  It was time. The Clever had to form a future sight ability now.

  [Past the Strike] could look a little bit into the future, but that wasn’t good enough. Clever had to make sure they wouldn’t corner themselves either.

  Not wasting a second, he dove into the timestream. Normally it was a jumble of flashing images which he couldn’t sort through, and quickly overwhelmed him. With each use, his mind was becoming stronger and he gained Mental stats. When he did, the images became clearer, and the feel of time showed itself to him more. Now, with an incredible mental enhancement, some truths of his Time affinity made themselves clear.

  The future was uncertain, and his past had wiggle room, but he noticed that there were barriers to time. His Time affinity made his past unsure, but for everything else, it was already set.

  The past wasn’t what he looked towards though, he needed to find safety. He felt the five bonds towards future selves, five instances where they would warn him of danger to varying degrees.

  Three were already gone, their timelines dead-ends. Despite not warning him of danger, the lack of future in those instances provided him with valuable information.

  The other two he sent scouting for safety. It might doom their timelines, but Clever saw that they were not real in the truest sense. He sensed that anything outside of the main timeline broke apart quickly, returning to dust. There were no parallel selves, only he was real. All others of himself relied on his existence as an anchor.

  His two other selves were not enough. He tried singling out many living timelines, digging through each connection. The lengths into the future were varying, but any scout he could find to assist in his search for life was an important one.

  One string of time after another was tied to Clever, making them more real than before. They knew what they were, and each panicked at the thought of being fake. Still, they dutifully took varying routes, going down one random cave after another. There was nothing they could do to change it, and the existential crisis that each suffered made them more likely to not question what The Clever told them to do.

  Most died, but some reached further. Some sent back information on what the monster chasing them would look like, and it sent shivers down Clevers spine.

  In all realities, the wall of muscle and teeth chomped at their heels, pulling any creature it could get its hands on into its mass, growing with each consumption.

  The Clever felt the despair in each, as they only prolonged their deaths through certain random evasive maneuvers, but he continued searching. He sensed a boundary to how many timelines he could look through, but for some reason, it’d drawn itself back, giving him full access to infinite timelines. He would not question his good fortune, only take advantage of it.

  When he made a parallel Clever more real, they suddenly became aware of what they were, and knew they would not live past their timelines, so they wanted to ensure that this flesh wall would not either. Slowly, some focused more on finding ways of killing the creature, rather than simply running, but it was difficult. Clever served as the hub of communication, sharing ideas through all of them. Some attempted to incinerate it with fire breaths and reversals, but he did not have enough spiritual strength to manage that.

  Others attempted to lead the moving wall of flesh through hazards and into stronger beasts, but their hunter was the strongest of them all. Several tried leading their enemy back into the Convection caves that The Clever first grew up in, but failed. Fang refused to go in, and she refused to die. As soon as they got too close to the Convection Convergence and she sensed his intent, Fang would blast Fendrascora with a command to throw Fang down a side tunnel, then run into the monster in order to distract it. Clever found that this was how many timelines ended, with Fang giving up on the group and attempting to save herself when death became too close.

  The Clever was enraged at her future betrayal, as she would be able to survive if Fendrascora stored Fang away in her blood to protect her from the heat, but Fang did not want to risk such a course of action.

  While promising, he considered the Convection Convergence a dead end. Instead, he sent multiple of his future selves to the opposite of the spectrum: the waterfall caves.

  It was not as immediately lethal as cooking their enemy, but The Clever remembered Fendrascora telling them once of dangerous creatures in the Great River.

  It was here that The Clever finally found a chance. As they ran down the stone boardwalks, several of the timelines were scooped up by a massive creature, the same massive creature in every single timeline.

  If they could get their hunter eaten, but escape the large fish, then Clever and his group might finally be safe.

  All attention was focused on this task, yet try as they might, there was no instance where they escaped both their hunter and the river beast.

  Tens of iterations lost their lives in this task, The Clever sensing every single one. He felt his mind and soul take damage from the continuous deaths, he saw Dei’s soul sputtering under the weight of its own Skill, and knew he was running out of time. In a last ditch attempt at survival, The Clever told all of its iterations to go in random directions, including up, jumping down from the boardwalk, and even straight through the falling rivers.

  It was in one of the timelines that Clever found salvation. Only moments later, the world sped up as Dei revoked access to his Skill.

  * * *

  Dei pulled his Skill back, quickly giving [Homeostasis] to Fendrascora. A darkness blurred his vision and the ringing in his head deafened him, but he pushed as hard as he could to not pass out.

  Dei knew that willpower was required to make Skills. There was no guarantee that he would survive if he fell asleep and let his healing Skill take over. He had to push for something. Something that would save him. Something that would let him live another day.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He didn’t know if his soul could even withstand another Skill, or if it would kill him anyway, but he just wanted to live.

  His mind teetered on unconsciousness, but he focused on anything to stay awake. The hatred flowing through his veins from the curse, the pain across his body, the rumbling feeling of Fendrascora beneath him.

  Second by agonizing second, he refused to rest, but his body was pushed to the limits. He couldn’t wake up, and he wouldn’t go to sleep. It was in this state that he felt something gently connect to him.

  Normally, the formation of a Skill was immediate and hard to notice, but there was nothing distracting him now. There was a new sensation for him to lock onto in order to keep himself awake, and he did so immediately, desperately tying himself to the next lifeline.

  There were two parts to the creation of this skill, one was the source, the other was the purpose. The source, as he found, was his own body. This Skill would be SP based.

  There was an intelligence behind it, like an affinity but… more personal. Like there was an infinite entity that linked to his Stamina, but that entity was the very idea of himself. It was the core aspect of who he was.

  The second aspect of the Skill was the purpose. Dei guided this one subconsciously, but he could see his soul reaching out now. It begged for continuance. It was willing to give up everything else for Dei’s continued survival.

  Taking advantage of his own natural processes, it would force him into a fugue state, one where he teetered on the edge of death, but stayed alive. It was the ultimate conservation of energy. Dei likened it to extreme hibernation, where his body would become so efficient, that it was almost anaerobic. He wouldn’t need to breathe for days, nor would his blood need to pump frequently. At its current strength, he had a heartbeat every five minutes.

  Right as it was about to connect to him though, a new presence made itself known. This one, he recognized. The System interposed itself on his Skill for only a moment, delaying its connection to him. It… communicated with his SP? Shortly afterwards, the connection SP had with his Skill was severed, and Dei watched the System take control of the Skill. Once it had taken control of the Skill, it sent another tendril to SP, reconnecting it with the Skill.

  The System had changed nothing about the Skill, but it was now thoroughly integrated with it, a middle man between Dei and SP. For what reason, he knew not, but that didn’t matter to him.

  The Skill formed, Dei felt his trance-like state lock into place. He could see and perceive the world around him, he felt his injured body, but he could not move. From watching the process of Skill creation, he knew a bit more about this Skill than he normally would, and he knew it would take hours to fully wake himself up from the state once he’d dropped into it.

  His [Growing Pains] Skill worked overtime to try and heal everything. Oddly, the curse was actually helping him, albeit unintentionally. It wanted out of the box, so when [Growing Pains] offered a potential escape route, the entire curse attempted to squeeze through and escape, throwing itself at Dei’s wounds, healing him faster than the Skill could on its own.

  His Skill did not exactly pull mana out though, only filtered its concentration. There was no opening for the curse to escape through. Dei remembered that, throughout his previous life, Growing Pains had taken advantage of Wrath concentrate the entire time, but the Skill was not cracked at the time as it had been when he first started using it in his new world. Despite the Wrath mana being sealed away, Growing Pains was the only Skill that could still use it freely.

  This was good, because Dei still sensed his body taking damage.

  Fendrascora had pulled his body into her mass and made water flow around him, muffling the sound. Still, a small amount of Vibration mana made it through.

  ‘Clever if you get us out of this, I’m making you the official leader.’

  * * *

  Gone was Clevers bubbly attitude or fearful demeanor. Moments after time resumed its normal flow, he spontaneously formed a communication Skill to relay his orders to Fendrascora.

  Not even the slightest quiver ran through his body, steadfast and clear with what he wanted her to do. There was no room for discussion or argument. If he said to do something, she did it, because the wall of screaming teeth and eyes was far faster than them. Time and time again, it came within inches of Fendrascora’s body, but Clever instructed her on the exact movements she had to make in order to survive.

  If Fendrascora had a heart, it would be pounding. Clevers communication Skill worked by connecting their minds together, allowing for her to perfectly understand his every order. Not only this, but it shared a large portions of their emotions with one another.

  Fendrascora was panicked, erratic, and fearful.

  Clevers emotions were nothing more than an iron wall of grit, determined to succeed, to win. He saw not the present nor failure. It was as though he did not even consider it possible.

  It was only because of their shared emotions that Fendrascora did not hesitate. The slightest pause meant death, but Clever was the rock to her already fragile psyche in an oppressively tense dance with death.

  Though the wall of flesh was faster than them, it had too much mass to move dexterously. They could latch onto walls and turn sharply where the stone would break under its grip. Only by taking advantage of specific twists and turns were they able to continuously stay ahead of it.

  Despite their lower mobility, the distance between them slowly widened, bit by bit. Dei’s shared Skill kept Fendrascora’s stamina up, and Clevers harsh orders kept her more agile than she ever was on her own, moving the liquid in her body in such ways she’d never considered possible before, using twisting in odd directions to spin, then spreading herself thin and forming pseudo-wings to catch air in order to help make her turns in even narrower margins than she had before.

  Her mind began to relax as they put distance between them and the creatures, but she sensed Clever only doubled down on the harshness of his orders. At one point, he made her twist in a certain way that made no sense, but she was far past questioning him, and did so.

  From a hole in the ceiling, a second wall of flesh dropped down in an attempt to grab her, which would have succeeded if not for Clever

  ‘There’s two!?!?’ she screamed mentally, yet again relying on Clever to guide her.

  There were not only two though. Through the fight, a third, then a fourth made themselves known. None of them were able to catch them under Clevers commands though, and no matter how they flanked or attempted to corner their group, Clever was always ten steps ahead.

  He continued to push Fendrascora to her limits, always forcing the maximum out of her body, then easing off moments before she said that she could push no more, like he knew her limits better than she did.

  Behind her, the continuous thuds of their enemies slamming into each other resounded, the sonic screams dealing small amounts of damage to her form that quickly healed.

  * * *

  Almost six hours after the start of their hunt, the enemy had still not given up the chase, though Fendrascora could not fathom why. There was no possible way it was worth it any more, yet still, the hunt persisted. It would soon be coming to an end though, she could sense it from Clever. The loud rumble of titanic grinding ahead tipped her off to how close they were to whatever their destination might be.

  When a wall of flesh appeared before them, blocking the way into the watery caves, Fendrascora was ready to dodge and find another entrance, but Clever told her to dive straight into it.

  Oddly, her panic did not spike. She did not doubt his words.

  She trusted him.

  Her narrow centipede-like form dove headfirst into the wall of flesh… that evaporated under the force of concentrated fire stemming from the top of her head, Clever himself.

  There was not one beam though, but three in rapid succession, each drilling just a bit further into its body.

  After the third, there was a perfect hole in the wall of flesh, and Fendrascora slipped through.

  A beautiful scenery of falling waterfalls and spider webbing boardwalks opened up between them, but she had no time to appreciate it. As the explosion of three flesh-walls colliding with their injured brother sounded behind them. Clever told her not to run down the stone walkway, but to jump clean off the side and into the waterfall, protecting him, Fang and Dei from the force.

  As best she could, she formed a protective bubble as the four monstrous beings jumped after them as well.

  The force of the waterfall slammed into her body, pushing them down rapidly, but Clever continued to direct her on the best way to hold herself together, taking less damage as she broke apart under the mass of it.

  Traveling hundreds of feet downwards in seconds, they quickly broke out to the other side of the waterfall, where a stone walkway was just barely within reach as they passed by it on their way down, and Clever demanded that she grab it, swinging the force her entire body up and over.

  Landing on it, she was tense and ready to run, but Clever gave her a most unusual order.

  To stop.

  She froze, not willing to move a muscle as she held Clever and the rest in her body. Behind her, the wall of water exploded as a threatening mass of flesh and teeth landed on the stone walkway, shaking it violently. Yet still, Clever demanded she not move a muscle.

  The four creatures began to merge together, forming a larger whole, growing. It opened its mouth to let out one more rattling scream.

  When a winged serpent flew up from below the stone walkway, snatching up the entire fleshy mass.

  Fendrascora saw its head for only a moment as it burred by, but the body that followed behind it was long enough for her to get a good look as it just kept going… and going… and going…

  It moved faster than she could see, perhaps hundreds of miles an hour, but it took a full minute before the last of its tail slipped away below the falling wave of water, letting out a whip crack as the final scale descended below.

  “Lets go.” she heard Clever say in her mind, directing her down a little side pathway that led into the wall, and she followed numbly, not even able to appreciate the blue grass and glow of the water in the cave around them.

  Slowly, the blue grass transformed into blood red, and she came out to a small mini-cavern with few bugs and a pond containing small fish.

  She felt feelings of nostalgia flow across the bond between her and Clever, making her focus her sight on his tiny form.

  At one time, she thought he was something of a wild creature, as his thoughts were much more muddied than hers, Fang’s, or Dei’s.

  Not so anymore.

  After guiding them through certain death, pushing her well beyond what she thought her limit was, and remaining calm the entire time, she felt a foreign sensation of pure respect within her towards the Korgonda