The city had survived the night, and the few remaining buildings were hastily packed with structural reconstruction and the terrified people.

  “Yo,” said one of the guards. “I see that you two made it.”

  “It was strange to see all the monsters spawn only for them to bumrush this place,” Kenny said.

  A crew of Mundanes was busy digging ditches to store the dead chickens. Another crew was hauling the canines to a group of harvesters. A third crew whittled away at the Boars’ bones, hastily crafting instruments from the terrible monsters.

  “We’re still taking a census, but everyone knows in our bones that we’re one of the lucky cities,” the other guard said.

  The guards opened the door of the town hall. Inside was the controlled mayhem of disaster relief. Shouted demands for supplies echoed through the room like clouds in the sky before a storm. The crowd was centered around a large table with several notable people, such as the mayor and the local Matriarch.

  On the table were hastily made spreadsheets and documents copied from memories.

  “Even if we were lucky enough for the Star Spawn to have animal fats, we still need cotton or something else to serve as the wicks.” The Mayor said.

  “I have tasked my staff with delving into our archives to find an Enchantment-based solution to our problem.” Said the Matriarch.

  “Madams, I have something good to report,” Alexandra said.

  Serenity Jones’s eyes glanced up at her ever great granddaughter and then she looked at the man who she had given a shrunken spear to.

  “I see you have been Sparked,” she said. “I don’t blame you for not taking the time to cultivate your Qi just yet. I do recommend that you at least attempt to before nightfall, it’s going to make defending your home much more easier and potentially enjoyable.”

  Kenny nodded and raised his right hand. He dissolved his hand into a pile of Threads. “That was not the only thing that happened to me this morning. Our Empress had upgraded me with something called the Paladin Threads.”

  The mayor yelped at the sight of flesh dissolving into Threads. “It’s a good thing that my stomach settled!”

  Serenity merely raised her right eyebrow as she watched the Threads return to being a hand. “Well then, are you limited to your original form or can you acquire new ones?”

  Kenny shook his head and changed his hands into ones with three-inch-long claws, inflexible bone, and keratin that served as handy weapons to slice and dice through anything Kenny had encountered.

  “Unfortunately, I have been unable to synthesize new forms from nothing just yet,” Kenny said.

  “You can absorb the traits of others?” the Mayor deduced. “Is it limited to the Starspawn? Can you compile those claws into a single blade and then detach it? We need more swords and other base materials to convert into base Artifacts now that our factories are offline and show no sign of being restarted.”

  Kenny blinked and dissolved his right arm into the Threads before it solidified into a blade 25 inches long, made of black keratin reinforced by an internal skeleton. The blade’s edge gleamed in the sunlight as Kenny’s shoulder writhed with Threads, and the blade successfully departed from Kenny’s main body without dissolving.

  “Wait, hold on,” Kenny said.

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  His Threads reached down to the blade, forming a rudimentary handle and hand guard.

  “How many of those can you make, and what do you need to make them?” Serenity asked.

  “Luckily for us, I can make them from the Chicken Starspawn, so basically an infinite amount of them. Assuming that they continue to spawn from the darkness that is.” Kenny said. “Have we come up with a name for those, and the other new Starspawn?”

  “Hatchet Hen, Devil’s Cur, Greedy Bull, and Banshee Boars,” said an assistant while he was jotting down the new source of swords. “Specifically, how many of the Hatchen Hens do you need?”

  “Two of them,” Kenny said.

  “Does it have to be you?” The Mayor asked. “Can you make a digestive seed or something to eat with?”

  Kenny blinked and dissolved his left hand into Threads to make a four-inch-long spike.

  The new form only lasted for a second before it writhed away back into his arm.

  He glanced down at his reformed hand and tried again to make the spike, only for the Threads to reject it.

  “The Threads said that I need a small soul to operate the spike to harvest the traits,” Kenny said. But they will be able to absorb a single instance of the desired traits before they need to be emptied into a repository, which I need to design.”

  “Xiandao and Shendao?” Serenity asked. “Usually, it’s Xiandao and Badedao. Xiandao uses your internal Qi to create an exilir of life inside your own body to create miracles that can even affect reality. Badedao, on the other hand, is using the Qi in your surroundings to metamorphose your body to the point where you are strong enough to make mountains fall like raindrops. Of course, this comes at the expense of being unable to cast spells.”

  “In comparison, Shendao is about generating Qi from interpersonal relationships. If the Cultivator gives more than they take, they are labeled as Divine, and the ones that take more are called Devils. These are the Three Great Domains of Cultivation. The only ones that have access to all three are our own God Empress and the vile poser from the Stars.” Serenity continued. “In this instance, I presume that the Threads are absorbing the Hatchet Hens’ Souls, but something is preventing you from collecting them.”

  Kenny nodded, “Our Lady said that she is currently healing and that I could feed her items filled with Qi to accelerate her healing process.”

  Souls were made of Qi, a rare kind of Qi, but Qi nonetheless.

  “Internal and Communal, that is an odd combination,” Alexandra said. “How do you gain access to your Second Domain?”

  “You have to be above the Mind Realm, or its equivalent.” Serenity said.

  “Maybe he isn’t, maybe it’s the Threads that are in both Domains.” The Mayor said. “Perhaps he’s not limited to consuming the Physical-based Essences.”

  Kenny glanced down at his hands as he pondered her words.

  “Firstly, Essences are what the External Cultivation folks call the Qi they need.” Serenity said. “Secondly, that would mean that the researchers made an artificial way to gain all three Great Domains with the caveat of needing to track down and beat a person of each.”

  Serenity turned to Kenny. “Have you absorbed any of the Devil’s Curs? If you have, this would confirm that theory of mine.”

  Kenny shook his head, “No, I prioritized getting to the town over hunting down specific enemies. Though if the Curs had altered their organs, i hope we can harvest them to make candles or lamps.”

  “Well, then. I suggest that you go find a Cur.” Serenity said before she waved him out of the room.

  ==========================================================

  Miles upon miles away, there was another briefing set in the former human capital.

  “My Lady scouts have returned with news that 75% of humanity died last night.” Said a big bipedal monstrous lizard woman.

  “Only 75%?” An insectile woman scuffed. “It should have been 95%!”

  “By all means, go out there and hunt down the missing percentage yourself.” Said a cat-like woman.

  All that was needed to bring the meeting to order was a single tap of Sying’s talon on the former Goddess’s throne.

  “Thistle, you are granted a week’s leave to rectify the numbers. Rosemary, make sure that Thistle doesn’t get in over her head. And Sage, you are to have your scouts delve into all of the caves and Secret Lands to make sure that there isn’t a Region that we are not aware of.” Sying said.

  The Starspawn Generals all nodded.