Justin sat with him for a while, answering anything he might ask about Gem Dwellers and what he missed out on, sating much of his curiosity. True, Aloran had answered a lot, but there was never enough time and always more questions.

  What Justin told him actually came as a surprise to Dei. According to Justin, Dei wasn’t even full grown at “only” seven feet. He was now a clean match for his mother, who also stood at seven feet tall, but his father was nine and a half feet tall. Justin said he was probably going to grow one more foot, perhaps a bit more, to match the generally average height of Gem Dwellers.

  Justin really shocked him by telling Dei his direct biological age. “Yea, I’d estimate you’re perhaps fourteen by Gem Dweller standards? They mature quite a bit faster than Prime Humans. Your bone structure and height indicate you’re just barely finishing up puberty right now.”

  Dei thought he was like… twenty five by Gem Dweller standards. He wasn’t a child by any means, but he’d still be viewed as a bit inexperienced, which made him happy. He still felt like he had much to learn after all.

  “What Race is my father by the way? He’s taller than mom, but he looks like a regular Prime Human.”

  “He’s something called a Charging Goliath. A terrifying variant, if not for their tendency to be layabouts. They’re big and real kind, but tend to get a bit intense when pushed.”

  “How are different variants made? I’ve learned a little about monsters, and how they branch off to different variants without hesitation, but sapients seem to work by another system. I don’t get the option to change my human variation…”

  “Ah, I will preface this by saying the ‘variant’ system is wildly complex and not exact whatsoever. It seems like Monsters, the System, The Mother, or whatever controls what one's variant is, does not even try to standardise things. There are instances of new variants popping up after living a certain way for many generations, or from a person turning into a monster then back into a human. Lesser known cases are from monsters that share a close connection to a particular affinity or set of affinities turning into sapients.”

  The last part reminded him of Fendrascora. Apparently, she had the option to do exactly that, which sounded like an uncommon situation. Would she turn into a Flow Human, or something of the sort?

  “But,” Justin continued, “Lesser, singular variants tend to go extinct pretty quickly. There are tens of cases, closer to a hundred, of humans alone, but many are pretty small. Gem Dwellers are successful underground, Prime Humans are good above ground. Everything in between those can be a bit small. Charging Goliaths number only in the forty or fifty thousands, and they’re all concentrated in their own country, with your father being an outlier. Humans are in the upper reaches of how many variants there can be of something though, usually there aren’t that many at all. Kakei are a swamp-living lizard Race with two or three variants. Lenno are big, sapient, flying, island-sized creatures, and there are only two variants of them. And don’t even get me started on Elves” he said, rolling his eyes with a faint smirk on his face. “There's only five variants, but they’re all blood rivals. The only thing elves hate more than ‘lesser races’ are ‘lesser elves,’ but every last one considers the others lesser. I swear, each and every one has a dragon's ego and is twice as hot blooded.”

  A faint, chilly wind passed over the two of them, but he ignored it. Justin laughed at something Dei couldn’t understand, confusing him, but it was probably just Justin remembering some funny interactions with the elves.

  “Either way, human populations tend to fracture like glass, so don’t use them as a metric for how many variants a race should have. There are a few with equal amounts, but I don’t think you want to hear about genealogy for the next few hours and I’ve gone off on my tangent enough. Do you have any other questions about your family?”

  Dei nodded, but hesitated. “I suppose it would be for the best if I knew. How do you think they’ll react? To me growing, that is. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t think I’ll be treated badly but… I can’t picture them just forgetting about it.”

  Justin leaned over and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about that. If you think your family won’t love you, you’re sorely mistaken. They’ve long since figured out you’ve grown up faster than necessary, and they don’t mind. It’s hard to describe, because I myself don’t understand it fully, but your parents will always be your parents. No matter how old you seem, you’ll still be the little boy they know and love. I know that not every parent may think the same way, not all would be accepting, and there are many tragic stories of Slaughterers coming back and being rejected, but that isn’t something you need to even consider. Your parents in particular are weirdly well-equipped in understanding you.

  “Your mother has an active Love affinity, and she’d kill anyone who tried to claim you weren’t her son. I don’t mean that as a metaphor either, she wants Iora dead. Your father was a soldier in his younger years for the joy of it, and is more battleminded than many Slaughterers I’ve known, only tempered by your mothers fiery personality. I think he loves you more now that you’re a Slaughterer, and draws immense enjoyment from your antics, the same one's that scare your mother…”

  Then, as if realizing what he’d said, he quickly clarified “Not to say that he wouldn’t love you the same either way, whether you were a Slaughterer or not. And I’m sure he doesn’t pick favorites out of your siblings, but, uh, yea he loves you. That’s what you should get out of this.”

  Justin's awkwardness made Dei chuckle, and he got what the man was trying to say. His parents would welcome him with open arms, which lifted a heavy burden from his mind. The mention of his siblings brought them to mind as well. “What of my siblings? Rena and Ben. What will their reactions be?”

  Justin winced, “Ah, well, kids can be very cruel sometimes, and they don’t have enough experience with the world to understand complicated matters like this so… I can’t say for sure, but, uh…”

  Behind Dei’s ear, he heard a faint whisper tell him. “What Justin is trying to-”

  Before they finished though, he wheeled around, throwing his entire body into the punch, hitting only air- which was noteworthy itself. Usually air flowed around his fist, he didn’t punch it and push it back.

  “OW! You BITCH!” he heard a much angrier breeze, before getting hit in the chest with a harsh gale, flinging him past Justin and down the tunnel, Fendrascora reacted quickly, clawing at the ground and slowing his momentum before he hit the wall. Perumah still sat comfortably in his grip and Clever was tight against his neck, so he refocused back on whoever snuck up on him, seeing nothing.

  “Damn. I forgot you’re a Slaughterer too, little freak. How the fuck did you even hit me?”

  “Woah woah!” Justin tried cutting in “Let's not get into a fight here! Whisper you can’t scare a Slaughterer who we just found. He’s bound to be jumpy!”

  Dei was already releasing pulse after pulse, looking for anything out of the ordinary and coming up blank. It was Clever that found their first lead, saying “She’s the one messing with my timelines!” directly into Dei’s head. A second later, Clever corrected “I shouldn’t have said that out loud… I can’t detect a difference anymore…”

  ‘Whoever this is, they’re sneaky. Whisper, Justin called them? Clearly feminine. She said “Slaughterer too,” which implies that she is a Slaughterer. Justin brought one along, perhaps to converse with me? No, she’s sneaky, insurance? Just in case I went berserk? Hmm.’

  Justin looked at Dei assessing the situation and quickly assured him “She’s not an enemy! Whisper is the Slaughterer I brought along to help me track you. I never would’ve found you without her, so can we please calm down? And Whisper! You of all people know that we shouldn’t pick fights with new Slaughterers. I vividly remember you telling me of when you were recently found, and killed a Slaughterer who picked a fight with you right out the gate! I swear, it seems like none of you consider that other Slaughterers are your own weaknesses. Dei is probably strong against magical enemies, which makes sense when I realize he managed to repel my own subtle magic. So, let’s not risk a fight please!”

  Dei was still tense, but he understood the folly of trying to battle another, veteran Slaughterer. He might win, but he probably wouldn’t, so he begrudgingly relaxed a bit and started walking towards Justin again.

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  Angrily, she said “I’m not stopping until I know how he hit me! I didn’t even detect any mana imbued into the punch!”

  ‘That’s my Voidwalker Achievement kicking in. Twenty percent damage to intangible enemies, she must be made out of magic like the Trosks.’

  “Like hell am I telling you.”

  A low rumble in his ear said “Oh you will.”

  Justin cut in again. “NO Whisper, he won't! Please, please don’t.”

  After some light grumbling, he got the feeling that she begrudgingly agreed, then went quiet again. She hadn’t said anything until she surprised him, and it seemed she would be sulking in silence once more.

  Justin sighed. “Sorry Dei, I thought it’d be rude to tell you she was here. She likes being an unknown variable so I left it up to her whether to reveal herself or not, but I hadn’t considered how she’d reveal herself. But yes, this is Whisper, a good friend of mine and a Slaughterer from the surface. She’s a good person, if a little quick tempered, so I would appreciate you trying to get along with her.”

  “His blessing isn’t helping either…” Whisper complained.

  “Blessing?” Dei asked. He had like four or five of those at this point, some from affinities and one from a God, so she’d have to narrow it down.

  “Yes! Your Wrath blessing. It’s irritating as shit and incredibly pompous.”

  ‘Damn, I remember worrying about this when I first got the blessing. If I can’t turn off the effect, it will make being around me awkward for those of the Wrath affinity.’

  “Ah, sorry, is there any way to hide that?”

  “I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise you don’t know,” Justin told him. “Hiding Presence is just a courtesy in society, but you’ve been out here on your own for a while. Animals wear Presence like a badge of honor. You can hide your presence by withdrawing it into your soul more tightly, making it harder to see but not impossible. Before you hide your Presence though, I’m curious, would you mind if I looked through it some? Searching another's Presence in society is much less rude than Identifying, it’s what you want others to know about you, but I wasn’t sure how you’d take it if I did. I can detect many moving parts to your Presence at a glance, but you may or may not feel it when I actually initiate the greeting.”

  “Can anyone greet you with Presence? And will I be able to see your presence?” he asked curiously.

  “Yes. If two people have Presence, they can greet each other to get a polite assessment. I intend to use a specific Skill though, one that will let me get much more information on you, depending on how you’ve fleshed out your Presence”

  “Sure, this sounds interesting and it seems I’ll have to learn control over my Presence anyway.”

  “Very well, I’m beginning in three… two… one…”

  Dei felt a slight nudge at the edge of his soul, one that presented information to him about Justin. It felt like a handshake, and after studying the motion for a few seconds, realized that he was supposed to reciprocate by pushing a small portion of his Presence at Justin.

  ‘What I’m doing is like when someone has a limp wrist, ha! This is cool.’

  For a moment he debated what to show Justin, but decided “a little bit of everything” was good enough for him, and stopped thinking about it as he studied the greeting he received.

  Justin’s greeting said “I am a Shaman of the Shamanic Council. I am dedicated to Thinking Forward, please do not accidentally say something about a secret or hint at secrets. I am very good at figuring them out, and understand that others do not like this.”

  There were three parts he could tell were customary: Profession, Position, and Personality. A presence was supposed to show what your job was, how well-achieved you were in your particular field, and what your defining trait as a person was. There were also a few words in there that were enhanced by Achievements, giving them significantly more weight and backing them up as undeniable truths. The second part of the presence, the warning, seemed to be a special courtesy given by Justin himself, likely because he’d gotten in trouble a few times for knowing things he shouldn’t, to the point that he just started giving people a heads up.

  He laughed. My Presence is going to be a mess compared to this.’

  * * *

  POV: Justin Tabrey

  Justin mentally prepared himself as Dei finally figured out how to move his Presence around. This was his first time being the one to greet a Slaughterer back to society, but he’d heard tales of them. Everything about them was wild, including their Presences, and he guessed that Dei’s would be no different.

  “Union - Highest Level is in Class, Level 140

  I tend to be very caring for those I consider my friends. I am willing to hinder myself to help someone if I can. I love my mom and want to be more like her, using her as a role model to guide me in protecting others. I am a very violent person, and will rip others limb from limb without blinking if pushed. Once I decide someone is an enemy, my moral compass becomes quiet and I stop considering them a person entirely, though it will reactivate if I calm down and think logically. I only sometimes regret my morally ambiguous actions. I look up to my father as a protector, and use him as a guide for my more aggressive actions. I really like bugs and follow a God who also likes bugs. I am connected with the world around me and use that connection to hide myself when I’m sneaking. I am deeply connected with my sword-plant. I love Clever, my best friend. I will protect the Embodiment that takes shelter in my blood to the death. I am immensely powerful for my level and follow in the footsteps of the Worlds that Walk. rock-inconspicuous-bug-plant-neutral…” The string of random ideas went on for hundreds of words, so Justin cut the Skill off there.

  ‘This is exactly what I expected to see’ Justin thought, smiling. ‘It’s all about himself, mixing both a description of himself as well as the consequences for betraying him. There are random facts in there that are completely unrelated, and some that tout him up as impressive. It’s also interesting to see that he declares how he’s following Leviathans, but there is no Achievement to back it up. I’m sure other monsters simply do not believe him if they can see enough of his Presence to notice that little tidbit. What an interesting experience, to see an unfiltered Slaughterer's presence. I definitely need to teach him how to rein almost all of that in though.’

  Without delay, he started describing Dei’s Presence to him, and walked him through the process to greet others normally.

  * * *

  POV: Dei Grrata

  When Dei was told what he’d been declaring to the world, he couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Especially about that moral compass part, because it was accurate. It was interesting to see the part about being connected with Perumah though, as he’d forgotten about his initial experiment in getting Perumah connected with his Spiritual stat, when he Meditated heavily on her, showing her in his presence more. He stopped doing that after he’d gained the ability to share his Spiritual stat from Fendrascora, but that part of his Presence had never gone away, and he didn’t think it was necessary to dissipate it.

  Pulling his Presence deeper wasn’t difficult. He normally visualized it as a fog around his soul, but he could compress it to a soul-tight layer that made it harder to see. When it was mostly hidden, he could release various parts of it that he wanted others to see, and he could reword the specific parts to say what he wanted to. With Justin's help, his Presence took on the standard format.

  “I am a Slaughterer, fairly new to society, and generally kind unless challenged first.”

  Justin told him “Your state as a Slaughterer will scare people, but that Kindness Achievement will really help allay some fears. If you’re ever challenged though, I’d recommend suppressing that message and declaring your Wrath Achievement, really pushing out the message that you’re a killer. It’ll get you more respect and out of trouble from people who think you might be exploited. Slaughterers can sometimes be easily tricked, so if they think they can get away with it, swindlers will try. Hit me with your most aggressive greeting.”

  Dei thought back to Edward's incredibly aggressive Presence, one that tried to suppress him fully but failed because of this Wrath blessing. He wondered if that was possible and closed his eyes to try and pose himself as a threat.

  He made no attempt at words, simply conveying the idea of his Wrath and pure aggression, backed up by the gallons of blood on his hands and the hardship of survival he’d been forced to endure.

  It exploded out of him, stating his fury and the desire to kill his enemies, but there was a quality it lacked. He knew for a fact that it would not be able to freeze someone in their tracks like Edward’s had tried on him.

  “Very good!” Justin nodded approvingly.

  Dei reined it back in and asked “The concept isn’t super complex, but it feels a bit insubstantial. Is there any way to make it more solid, other than a Skill evolution? I think there were some when the Skill relating to my Presence evolved last time, but it felt like such a waste when there were tangible benefits to some of the other evolutions. I ran into someone, actually just before you got here, that almost paralyzed me with theirs. Can I learn to do that?”

  Justin made a rocking back and forth motion with his hand. “Maybe, but not easily. There are some things that declare you as an objective threat to anyone around you, but most just take an evolution to their Presence Skill. I agree with you though, it usually isn’t worth it because anyone who’d be affected by it would be weaker, and at that point, why use your Presence? It’s interesting that they nearly succeeded in causing you, a Slaughterer, to freeze up though, what kind of monster was it, and what level?”

  “Not a monster, a human. They weren’t a lot higher level than me, just one hundred and forty two, but when I both Identified them and killed them, they popped up as ‘Edward of Rage’ rather than ‘Human.’”

  Justin’s brow scrunched. “Edward of Rage? The Elite that lost his family to monsters?”