Three days of travel went by without incident. On the first day, my pride as Swarm Alpha and khatif demanded that I approach Sybil about our last conversation.
"I apologize, Alpha. I was curt, when I should have been more deliberate in my communication. I will ensure that I more clearly communicate in the future."
The pride and demands I'd subconsciously prepared died out at Sybil's formality. She'd taken a deliberate emotional step back from me, and I felt her solidifying that distance with her words.
"I shouldn't apologize. It isn't my place as the leader I am. Even so, I was wrong. I should have listened." Sybil nodded, her stony facade cracking, but her true forgiveness was obvious in the flirtatious twist of her hips as she turned and walked away. I couldn't help but smile widely as I walked forward, happy with the small reconciliation we'd made.
The plains opened wide and somehow even more featureless before us, the grasses swaying in the wind. Far behind us, I imagined I could see the barest hint of the Sheer Pass shadowing the horizon, the only visible mark of our passage beyond the impermanent path we'd worn down in the grass. Whenever we saw them, we avoided the sand lakes, given that the possible dangers presented by the ishabaak wasn't worth it unless we were truly hungry. After all, the prey was present even if not abundant, small rodents fleeing before our passage as well as large flightless birds faster than any of the regular keelish while smaller than the terrorbirds of my home, deer-like animals with feathered wings as well as snakes with two heads.
Initially, I didn't want to hunt any of the weaker prey for the fear of getting a much lower bonus to my Stats once I completed the [Quest], but I'd already realized that, either because of what I was or for all things in this world, I would continue to grow stronger the more things I killed. And so, I killed and ate one each of the birds, deer, and serpents. The bird, called an axebeak, according to my [Status], was surprisingly tasty, with fatty flesh and tender meat while the peryton and serpentine duality were gamey and tough. With Joral, Shemira, and Sybil, and to a lesser extent, Farahlia's assistance, we captured several dozen of the birds and herded them ever onwards while only hunting the others whenever the opportunity arose.
As the days had passed, I made sure to consistently review my [Status], and had found a surprise..
[Status:
Name: Ashlani
Race: Sonic Khatif Swarm Alpha
Titles: Disciple of Nievtala (Advanced)
Killer of Redael
Fahvalo of the Moonchildren
Current quests:
-Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +5. Progress: Ishabaak Matriarch, Ishabaak Concubine, Axebeak, Lesser Peryton, Serpentine Duality. NEW QUEST: Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic, +6.
-Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty.
-Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8.
Stats:
-Constitution: 141+5+7+3+1+3+1=160
-Strength: 154+5+8+4+1+2+1=175
-Agility: 147+5+4+2+4+4+1=167
-Intelligence: 144+5+6+3+0+2+0=160
-Magic: 151+5+10+5+0+4+0=175
Skills:
Adversary: 7/10
Combatant's Bloodlust: 1/4 (Imperial Bearing)
Conqueror's Rebuke: 1/5
Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve)
Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve)
Fanatic's Fortitude: Unqualified
Fathomless Sonilphon: 0/2
-Crippling Cry: 0/5
-Debilitating Diatribe: 0/1
-Innervating Address: 0/1
-Nurturing Enunciation: 9/50
-Quaking Claw 0/1
Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve)
Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve)
Pack Tactics: 5/10
Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve)
Raptor's Eyes (Cannot Evolve)
Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve)
True Dominance: 1/5
Evolutionary Possibilities
-Sonic Keel Zak'Tal: Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Progress: 0/1 Have a Swarm Leader level race. Completed.
-Khatif Heretic–Requirements: learn how to bend the world's governing laws and compel the divine to follow your will.
Other evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.]
I hadn't expected to complete the [Quest] again so quickly, but I had, and for the first time in quite a while, I thought about what the numbers of my [Status] meant. I'd started with a range of 2-6, and now I was nearly to 200 with each. A normal keelish's baseline stats were 10, though I couldn't quite understand how that could be so low, I'd never seen one so weak in this life. Then, a human's were around 50. Was I, then, three times as strong as a human? Or was that not how it worked?
[The benefit given by each stat point is linear. The System's method of measurement is hidden. Regardless, the growth acquired by the User, and every other creature under the influence of the Administrative Body and the System can continue to grow throughout their existence.]
The surprise, though, had come when I'd realized that a [Skill] I'd feared would never show progress did: [Adversary]. The only possibility for that, so far as I could tell, was the Ishabaak Matriarch, which must have been the massive one I'd killed first, but that couldn't have been the case. It was so easy to kill!
[Due to the location and way that they live, ishabaak are immensely powerful, but specialized in ambushing and movement and hunting within the bounds of the sands in which they live. Outside of the sands, their bodies are not capable of exerting much of their strength.]
But even so, if the ishabaak were so much higher in stats than keelish, how had we been able to kill so many of them? The Administrator instead of the [System] answered me.
[The cruel and cutthroat nature of keelish's upbringing tends to lead them, as a race, to develop skills and tenacity beyond their physical limitations. Additionally, your original swarm was, as a whole, more developed and aggressive than others, even at the lowest level. The Ishabaak are not usually hunted or killed by anything other than one of their own, and have no need to learn how to fight and kill, only to hunt.]
So if they had worked as hard as us, then they would have been much stronger? Obviously so. I should have thought of that, I hadn't realized that my perception had been so twisted by my new body. I knew that keelish were small and weak, but because I had become one, I'd begun to forget just how wide that gulf was. Considering how much stronger I was than a standard khatif, an outstanding High Speaker must be at least twice as powerful as I was. Not a comforting thought…
Around me the swarm continued our march east, happy and excited noises echoing over the plains, dwarfed by our surroundings, while I felt dwarfed by the realization of my own inability, the fallibility of my mind, and the weakness of the swarm. The hope of killing Viilor was gone with him, getting revenge on the High Speakers that had destroyed the swarm was unrealistic and foolhardy. Even if either were currently achievable, neither came close to the absolute, burning need to find Nievtra and, by extension, the totality of the Keel Words of Power. Nothing would be sure until I got my swarm onto at least the same level as the rest of the peoples that we'd made enemies of, but if the increase in standard status from keelish to khatif was to be believed, then we would take the place of a higher people even than humanity with our evolution, just as I'd been assured by the Administrator before.
Finally rousing myself from my inwardly focused stupor, I looked out from myself and truly saw what was before us. There was a slight downward slope, allowing me to really notice the slight difference of life in the land before us. The previous numbers of the wildlife swelled to more than three times that of just a few miles behind us. In the distance I could see a herd of huge grazing beasts I didn't recognize, their horns curling over themselves and spreading dangerously forward. Other birds of prey large enough to carry away an adult keelish or a smaller Sik'Tal khatif flew and swooped down near the creatures before us. To the north was a river that flowed towards where we came from, to the sea in the west.
The air smelled different, almost reminiscent of the jungle where we were born. It wasn't the moisture, the plains were arid, but instead there was an indescribable vivaciousness to the air that only a few minutes of travel had brought. Somehow, I knew we had entered a new land, even without a sign, [System]ic or otherwise.
One step closer to Nievtra, one step closer to evolution, the next step towards answers.