While Layla and I drank our drinks, the Cabold having spilled their drink within mere seconds of being within reach of it, I was having dinner with mom, Kaity and James.
I’ll save you the details, observer within my mind I pretend is real, because it was incredibly awkward.
Lots of long silences disrupted with the occasional question related to Kaity and her boyfriend James. Which basically made me correct in calling him boy toy.
Besides that awkward experience, I was hanging out with Layla on another planet in a different universe. It was more tolerable than the dinner at least.
“So what’s the deal with the whole ‘Great Ancestor’ talk the cat people keep calling you?” Layla asked me while assisting the Cabold with drinking its new mug of milk.
“No idea.” I took a swig from my own wooden mug, and what do you know? It tasted just like it smelled. Burnt bread.
“I shall explain it to you, Great Ancestor.” The bartender Jipio suddenly spoke, turning around from his cleaning or whatever he was doing behind the bar to look at us.
The next 15 minutes were the most confusing and hard to understand description of a religion I have ever heard. Not sure if it was him or me, but I understood almost none of it.
Layla was different though.
“I see… So you share genetics with monsters and aliens huh? I always knew you weren’t normal.” Layla teased me, somehow sensing that I didn’t understand what the bartender had gone on a tangent about.
“What the hell are you talking about? You understood what he said?” I asked, annoyed that my several thousand points in Intelligence were only good for protecting my sanity from my busted senses.
“God, I knew you were bad at following the lore to games and shows, but to think you would suck at it when it involves you specifically.” She sighed then got serious as she got ready to go on her own tangent.
“The Jipio see you as a being to worship, a Great Ancestor. The Jipio believe that they are descendants from powerful beings, beings that no longer exist. There are two… religions you could say, that the Jipio follow. One worships monsters, seeing them as the proper lifeform or whatever. The other believes that either you are one of the powerful ancestors, or have inherited more of their power than they have. Which puts you in a special spot where you are the only living tangible example of a Great Ancestor.” Layla spoke, and I still didn’t really get it.
“So they see me as some sort of God? Or does one side hate me and the other worships me?” I asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the idea of being worshipped.
“No, and no. Something to worship sure but not a God. That’s reserved for what they call the First Ancestor. They see you more of a demi-god. Also, both sides worship you or at the very least view you with reverence, but one does so more than the other.” Layla explained, and I sort of understood it better.
“Okay, but what does it mean that they worship me? Do they give offerings at an altar or something?” I asked while focusing on my senses over the planet. I didn’t find any altars or temples.
“No, but they do things to earn your favor and pray to you.” Layla answered and I felt less bothered by it.
It was still bothersome, since I hated the idea of being seen like some kind of divinity, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
“Well as long as they don’t sacrifice anything or anyone, then I guess it’s okay.” I muttered as I drank more of the very yellow alcohol.
We drank in silence for a bit, the only sound interrupting it was the constant noise coming from the Cabold as it banged the now empty mug against the counter while gnawing on my arm.
Layla had moved it from my shoulders to her lap earlier, but it refused to stop trying to eat me. Which reminded me of the Kuppens, who were still playing with another instance of me. Though they weren’t really Kuppens anymore, since they had grown pretty big.
The Kuppen trio were showing signs of independence, spending less time with each other, and I think they were still wild at heart. Which makes sense, because it’s only one generation, and I didn’t have any proper taming Skills. So even if the System claimed I had tamed them, it probably meant that they wouldn’t seriously try and eat me. I might have to release them into the wild soon.
While they were growing, I had also spent some time observing their species in the wild. To see how they would develop.
The species, while they did operate in packs, actually sent their young out of the birth pack. Where they would either make or join a pack, but never with the same siblings from the previous pack.
The trio was actually slightly past the stage where they would be sent out, but since they were the runts of the pack I would hold onto them a bit longer.
“So? Can we go kill some monsters now?” Layla brought me back from my other instance and I nodded as we got up from our chairs.
Well, I got up and used Telekinesis to lower her and the Cabold down.
“As long as you don’t try to adopt any more of them. What is mom going to think when you get back with that?” I asked, gesturing to the Cabold running circles around her legs.
“What do you mean? You’ll be keeping it safe for me~!” She smiled up at me, and I just stared at her flatly.
“Seriously? You expect me to take care of this thing by myself?” I asked and she waved a finger.
“Only when I can’t.” She said and crossed her arms, a pleased smile on her face.
“No.” I denied and she snapped her head to me.
“What? Why not?” She asked, sounding way too upset about it. I could tell that she wasn’t though, it’s like she knew I would give in. Ugh.
“...Whatever. Fine, I’ll take care of it. But only until you can convince mom to let you keep it.” I sighed as I gave up on the losing battle. I knew it as well as she did that I would fold eventually.
“Boo, you’re no fun.” Layla jabbed a finger into my side, now actually miffed that I didn’t let her fight me on it.
Small victories.
“Going out to slay the monsters?” The Jipio behind the counter, of whom I completely forgot existed, asked and Layla nodded with a smile in response.
“Yep! See you later Thret!” She said and I raised an eyebrow.
“Thret? Was that his name?” I asked and she turned to look at me slowly, a… sad look on her face?
“You… really weren’t able to process any of what he said didn’t you?” Layla asked, teasing me by insinuating that I am incredibly stupid.
“I’ll have you know I have an Int Stat above four thousand… But yes, I was not able to comprehend anything he said besides a few key words.” I relented and she just laughed at me.
“Oh sure, the guy with ‘an Int Stat above 4k’ couldn’t comprehend simple words. Get real~.” She teased me, and I felt pretty dang dumb.
“Whatever, let’s go kill some monsters.” I sighed and we finally left the tavern.
The place was mostly empty, the previous customers having filed out while we were too busy talking and drinking. They were all outside, and went back in nearly right after we left. Weird.
“How does it feel to be infamous~?” Layla asked, and I sighed.
“You know that makes you infamous now too right? Since you’re my sister?” I tried and failed to tease her, as she visibly got more excited at the prospect of being both revered and feared.
“You’re right! I’m totally infamous now! With aliens to boot!” She clapped happily and I groaned inwardly.
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I just can’t win against my sisters, even after gaining a bunch of absurd powers.
“Where will you go next?” Keji asked, still nervous about interacting with us.
“We’re actually going to hunt some monsters, so we’re leaving. Thanks for showing us around Keji.” I waved and my sister joined in.
“Thanks Keji!” She echoed while waving.
The Cabold did that gross hyena-like laugh, while climbing back onto my shoulders. That little shit.
“S-sure! No problem!” Keji smiled a real smile, aided only by the fact we were leaving.
Opening a Gate on our location, I deposited us deep into the forest. There weren’t any monsters around, but that’s what I wanted anyway. A secluded area that would serve as a good place to fight monsters one at a time.
“Alright~, so what are we fighting first? Something large and scaly? Or maybe something invisible~?” Layla asked, gripping her axe like a serial killer.
“I don’t know. We’ll just see what pops up.” I resisted the urge to sigh, because she was getting way too into this.
It made me feel like I helped raise a psycho.
Snatching some random creature from the other side of the planet, I made something vaguely the same height as my sister stumble out of the bushes.
Layla just looked at it in disappointment.
“What’s wrong? It’s a monster like you wanted.” I asked and she just looked at me.
“...That’s just a big cat.” She said flatly and for the most part, she was right.
The monster looked pretty generic. A big beefy jaguar looking thing that was nearly the same height as Layla looked back at us.
However! I knew something that she did not.
“You might want to focus on the fight.” I offered cryptically and she looked back at the monster in confusion.
Just in time to see it swipe the air, and send out a magic attack. Some kind of ghostly white slash split the air as it traveled towards her.
She dodged thanks to me slowing down the attack, but she was excited now.
“It’s magic! It’s a magic cat~!” She squealed and I knew that sound.
“No! Do not tame that thing!” I demanded and she just smiled.
“But it’s sooo~ cute~!” She said, purely just to fuck with me.
“What would, ugh, ‘Lil Lay’ think if you just adopted every monster you came across?” I asked, using that god forsaken name for the Cabold.
“She would understand! Maybe she would like to have a boyfriend that can cast magic~.” Layla was talking nonsense. The Cabold and this monster weren’t even the same species.
“Just kill the damn monster already.” I practically begged and she finally swung her axe at the monster.
She had been chasing it the entire time we were talking, and I was starting to understand why she got a Skill called ‘Friend of Foe’.
Layla just could not help herself when it came to monsters, apparently. She thought they were all cute.
So far anyway.
Maybe I need to drop a giant octopus on her head. Then again, I had fought a giant octopus squid cat thing on this planet before, and it did have a feline-esque face. Chances are she would put it in a massive fish tank. Or make me do it for her.
Layla was strangely competent, and I was reminded of how terrible I was when I fought the bush cat thing so long ago.
“Where did you learn to use an axe? Why are you so good at this?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“I participate in medieval battles! The ones where they use real steel armor and weapons and fight!” She called out happily, and I winced.
Those fights were brutal. Yet my little sister, small as she is, partakes in such a thing?
“...Freak of nature.” I muttered under my breath, and she shot me a look.
“I heard that!” She called while dodging a swipe from the magic monster, not even looking at the passing ghostly slash.
The Cabold hopped off my shoulders, landed perfectly, then started helping Layla fight the monster.
Layla was weirdly competent with the axe, and dealt with monster attacks easily enough. When did she get so… violent?
“Ah, I miss my innocent younger sister. She’s been replaced with this brute!” I teased, and she kicked a rock at me.
“Shut up, or I will keep this kitty as well as Lil Lay!” She glared at me, and I knew she was being serious.
I zipped my mouth shut because if she was to keep this monster too, then it meant I would be housing it.
I watched in emotionally muted horror as my sister laughed, her axe chopping into the monster's skull.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked and she just kept giggling.
“What? It’s just a monster, we’ve done this our entire lives.” She said and I shook my head.
“In videogames. We did that in videogames. This is reality Layla, relax.” I scolded her but she just pouted.
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought her to kill monsters. I hunted out of necessity, besides that one time I nuked a planet to extinction, but that was a way to relieve stress. Layla isn’t stressed, at least from what I could feel.
“No more monster hunting.” I ordered and she looked at me shocked.
“What?! Why?” She asked and I shook my head.
“Monsters are basically more aggressive animals. This was essentially a hunting trip, right?” I asked and she nodded.
“What did you just do when you killed that monster?” I continued and she thought about it.
“Oh.” She said, looking a bit surprised.
“Yeah, you look insane.”
I was worried about her earlier, but now I really am. Using her eyes, I could tell that she saw the same censored reality that I did when things got bloody, so I wasn’t worried about that. What did was the fact that she wasn’t taking this seriously at all. Like it was a game.
If what I said is true, how monsters are basically hyper aggressive animals, then that can be applied to how she acted when fighting that monster. To a lesser extent.
She wasn’t full of malice, but she enjoyed it too much.
Her Skill, Friend of Foe, made it easier for her to befriend monsters. Perhaps that is changing her slightly instead of changing monsters to be more like her. It would explain this pretty well, if she acted normal before she got the Skill anyway.
From what Layla had told me, she partook in those brutal medieval fights while I was gone, so maybe she’s been getting more violent since before she got the Skill.
“Are you like that when you do those battles? The ones you talked about?” I asked and she shook her head slowly.
“Not really? I mean I am pretty aggressive, but it’s all in good fun, and I’ve never seriously hurt anyone before…” She trailed off, and I nodded.
It wouldn’t be strange for the Skill to change her slightly, I also had one that changed me. It still changes me, making it harder to feel negative emotions, to the point it’s basically impossible.
The System also wouldn’t give her a Skill that was so different from her nature or personality that it would make drastic changes to her in the 5 hours or so she’s had it.
“Your Skill is changing you.” I spoke my observation out loud and she gave me a quizzical look.
“Changing me? It’s… changing me?” She repeated herself quietly, seeming to come to the same conclusion as me.
“It’s doing its job, making it easier for you to befriend monsters, but it’s also making you more aggressive. Or at the very least, more of a battle junky.” I rubbed my chin, ignoring the Cabold as it loudly ate the corpse of the monster they had killed.
“That sounds really bad.” She said, and I felt that she was slightly scared and mostly disturbed.
“I suppose. I hadn’t thought about it before, but Skills do change us. Remember how I told you that I can’t feel negative emotions anymore? That’s likely due to a Skill.” I told her and she just looked at me as if I was stupid.
“You told me that just earlier today. I’m not dumb like you.” She teased, but her heart wasn’t fully in it.
I hadn’t given it much thought before, but all Skills end up changing the user in some way. If not mentally, then physically or magically.
My Telekinesis is due to a new organ/addition to my brain that normal humans don’t have, but what about the others?
What else has been changed about me that I hadn’t noticed or forgot about?
“What do we do?” She asked, hopeful that I would have an answer.
“I don’t know. I honestly have no clue.” I replied and she immediately felt worse.
“But! But if we remain aware of the changes, then maybe we can just counteract them consciously?” I continued quickly, trying to make her feel better.
“So we just… pretend to be normal?” She asked in a deadpan voice, not impressed with my suggestion in the slightest.
“You know what they say, fake it till you make it.” I nodded sagely, and I could tell that Layla felt slightly better.
“You’re such a loser.” She sighed, but I saw the faintest twitch of a smile.
“Which makes you the sister of a loser.” I replied and she giggled, still upset but not as much as she was.
“Alright, oh great sage of loner wisdom, I just need to be careful about indulging myself too much?” She asked and I thought about it.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. As long as you choose not to, you know, laugh like a crazy person when killing a monster. You’ll be fine.” I nodded and she seemed to think about something.
“What did you do? When you killed your first monster?” She asked, and I tilted my head.
“You know… if I’m honest, I wasn’t much better. I was still struggling to accept that what I was experiencing was real, and I acted and reacted in ways that were less than sane. I never went full on crazy though, maybe a bit of 8th grader syndrome, but nothing crazier than that.” I replied and she laughed.
“No shit, Dark Lord Azurath~.” She teased me and I groaned dramatically.
“Don’t worry about the laughing bit too much. Just try to control yourself so you don’t go on a murder spree.” At my words, Layla nodded. Feeling much better.
It was a little strange that she mostly moved on from that pretty fast, but I didn’t know if I should be worried or grateful that she wasn’t that bothered by it anymore.
“Well, now that you’ve banned me from monster hunting, do we try and do some Quests?” She asked, and I suddenly remembered that I have been putting off looking at my Quest list for the longest time.
“Right! Quests! I uh… can’t do any Quests right now.” I responded a bit lamely.
“Huh?” Layla looked confused.
Yet another quirk of mine I have to explain.
possibly getting accepted means I would get access to an editor, professional art, and all that jazz, so hopefully the quality will increase.
Should we try publishing this?
