Familiar of Zero, Tristaine
Adrian's stomach growled. He was hungry, but he didn't really want to waste any of his supply in the Crystalline Minecraft Pearl… Maybe he could ask one of the servants for directions to the kitchen?
He followed the stairs down, and spotted a girl with black hair standing close to a boy with blonde hair in the hallway. The boy held a red rose in his hand.
"I'm good at making souffle," the girl said shyly.
The boy gestured out with his free hand. "I'd love to have a taste of that."
"Really?" The girl's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together.
"Of course, Katie. I would never lie to your eyes." The boy's gentle smile seemed rehearsed.
"Guiche..." Katie's voice was filled with adoration.
"There's never a hidden side of my affection for you-" The boy cut himself off as Adrian approached. "Oh, it's the tall plebeian that Louise summoned."
"Right, at today's ceremony." Katie nodded, then blushed bright red as her eyes drifted downward.
Guiche noticed her reaction and frowned deeply. "Hold it."
"What?" Adrian glanced back, already walking past them.
"As a plebeian who caused trouble for an aristocrat, shouldn't you say a word of thanks that our academy provided you with clothing?"
Adrian scoffed and kept walking.
A flick of Guiche's rose sent Adrian floating into the air. His body went rigid as he fought against the magical restraint, but he was stuck like this as Guiche dragged him back and forth through the air.
"I told you to apologize, didn't I? Plebeian."
"Put. Me. Down." Each word came out as a barely controlled snarl, Adrian's eyes blazing with murderous intent.
Guiche smirked and pulled Katie closer. "See how uncivilized these plebeians are..."
Adrian's free hand snapped up toward Guiche, trembling with rage as he fought the urge to impale the smug bastard right there. His breath came in sharp, angry bursts. Before he could give in to the killing impulse, Louise ran down the stairway and paused at what she saw.
"What's going on here?" she demanded.
Guiche shrugged. "Your familiar acted uncouthly. He's just like his master, it seems."
Louise let out a small growl. "Put him down!"
He let out an exaggerated sigh and released the spell. Adrian crashed to the floor.
"Come with me," Louise ordered. "I have something to say."
Adrian slowly stood up, his heart pounding with rage. Every instinct screamed at him to tear Guiche apart, to consume his Essence and gain his magic. But once again… the original Adrian's memories held him back.
Murder would have consequences on his stay here...
"Lead the way," he told Louise, keeping his eyes locked on Guiche until they turned the corner.
Louise led him through the hallways, slammed her door shut behind them, and spun around to face Adrian. Her pink hair whipped through the air as she jabbed a finger at his chest.
"What do you think you're doing? Running around the academy like some... some wild animal! Do you have any idea how this makes me look?"
Adrian just stood there with a blank look on his face, massaging his wrists where the spines strained against his skin.
"Everyone already thinks I'm a failure!" Louise paced back and forth. "The Zero who can't cast proper spells! And now my familiar won't even listen to basic commands!"
She stomped her foot. "Are you even paying attention to me?"
Adrian kept rubbing his wrists, pressing harder as memories of being helplessly floated through the air made his blood boil.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Louise marched to her bed and yanked two items from underneath, a long black whip with metal spikes pierced into the leather, and a silver collar covered in glowing runes. "Take off your shirt. Now!"
Adrian's fingers dug deeper into his wrists.
"You need to be disciplined as my familiar! You need to listen to your master!" Louise cracked the whip against the floor, leaving a mark in the stone. She held up the collar with her other hand. "This is a magical restraining device used to tame wild creatures. It's even got water and wind spells on it. At the master's signal, it gives out electric shocks. I think this will work perfectly after you've been disciplined!"
The spines under Adrian's skin pulsed with each heartbeat. His hands moved in slow circles, massaging harder and harder until his knuckles turned white.
Louise's voice faded into background noise as Adrian struggled with two very different mindsets warring inside him. The original Adrian's memories had changed him in ways he never expected. Before consuming that human on Zerus, he had been pure instinct.
Hunt, kill, adapt, survive.
Now? Now he questioned everything.
The human part of him understood patience and long-term planning. It whispered that he could gain more by playing along, by letting these 'nobles' think they had power over him.
He hadn't cared that much about the raiders in Minecraft, because they respawned after death, and that made them fair game. But these people?
One wrong move and they would be gone forever.
At the same time, his Primal Zerg nature screamed at the indignity of being floated through the air like a helpless prey animal. On Zerus, such a challenge demanded immediate response. Show weakness, and competitors would press their advantage until you lost everything.
Territory. Resources. Life itself.
The human perspective suggested gathering allies, learning the rules of this society, and finding opportunities to grow stronger without drawing attention. It was the smarter path, the optimal path.
But it felt wrong. Every second he stood here, letting this small pink-haired human wave a whip and collar at him, felt like submission. The Primal Zerg didn't submit to those weaker than themselves.
He couldn't submit to anyone. He didn't want to.
The memories of the original Adrian showed him countless human cultures and societies. They built incredible things through cooperation. Through accepting hierarchies and working within systems. Through strategic thinking rather than pure instinct.
And yet...
Adrian's fingers pressed harder into his wrists where the spines were poking just the slightest bit out of his skin. The human part of him might understand patience, but it also understood pride. It understood anger at being treated as lesser. The original Adrian had memories of bullies, of people who abused power simply because they could.
Both mindsets agreed on one thing.
This treatment was unacceptable.
"Listen to me when I'm speaking!" Louise yelled, swinging the spiked whip toward Adrian's face.
His body shifted in an instant. Bones cracked and reformed as scales replaced human skin. The borrowed clothes seemed to magically disappear as he shrank down to his true size, eight feet long and three feet tall, a mass of Primal Zerg muscle.
The whip cracked harmlessly above him. Four spines launched from his back in rapid succession - two pierced Louise's eyes, one penetrated her throat, and the final spine went straight through her forehead.
The pink-haired girl was forcibly slammed against the wall with a wet thud. The spines pinned her upright like a puppet, blood running down the stone from all four points of impact.
Adrian felt... satisfied.
His instinctual side nearly purred at the swift execution of a threat. He wouldn't tolerate being treated as lesser, wouldn't accept being someone's pet to be disciplined.
It didn't matter that it might be the optimal path.
It wasn't his path.
He approached Louise's corpse, stored her wand into his Crystalline Minecraft Pearl, and tore into the flesh. The meat was still warm as he swallowed it down. She had to contain useful Essence, right? The original Adrian's remnant memories spoke of her importance as a 'Void Mage', whatever that meant. It wasn't long before nothing remained of Louise except bloodstains on the wall. Adrian's stomach churned as it began breaking down the biomass.
But he couldn't stay here. The encounter with Guiche proved that even a single student could render him helpless with magic. An entire academy of mages?
He had to escape. Now.
Adrian crashed through Louise's window, glass shattering around him as he fell three stories to the ground. His claws dug into the grass, and he sprinted toward the academy walls. He knew that it was possible to initiate an emergency jump towards a new world, and that it would activate quicker than the standard teleport. His only option in that regard was Minecraft, but he hoped to stay in this world a little longer. It would always be better to have more options available.
Most students were heading to the dining hall for dinner, paying little attention to the gardens where Adrian ran. His reptilian form blended in well with the growing darkness as he moved beside the green hedges.
The wall proved no obstacle. His claws found purchase in the stone, and he scaled it in seconds. The surrounding forest seemed to go for miles in every direction until it passed over the horizon.
Adrian dropped to the ground on the other side and disappeared into the trees. The thick canopy blocked most of the sunlight, creating deep shadows perfect for staying hidden. He maintained his sprint for several miles, putting significant distance between himself and the academy.
No sounds of pursuit reached his ears. No magical lights lit up the sky.
They probably hadn't discovered Louise's body yet. It would make sense, the students seemed to have individual rooms, and servants wouldn't enter without permission.
He slowed his pace and began searching for suitable shelter. It felt odd to be in nature without any other Primal Zerg around. Whether it be prey or predators, there was always danger present. Here the only sounds were birds and small animals scurrying through the underbrush.
A steep hillside caught his attention. Water had carved out a small cave near the base, partially hidden by hanging vines. Adrian cleared out the rotting leaves inside and widened the entrance enough for his body to fit comfortably. The cave extended about fifteen feet back, with solid rock walls that would be easy to defend. He dragged fallen branches across the entrance, creating natural-looking cover.
From outside, it looked like just another section of hillside. The cave would serve as a good base while he figured out his next move.
Adrian curled up in the back of the cave and closed his eyes. He needed to focus on processing Louise's Essence while staying alert for any signs of pursuit from the academy.
The moon rose higher in the sky as Adrian's digestive system fully absorbed Louise's Essence.
The first discovery surprised him. The Dimensional Travel Node informed him that his attunement to this world suddenly reached 100%. It seemed consuming someone deeply connected to the world bypassed the need to gather specific materials. That could be useful information for future worlds.
A tingling feeling drew his attention to the back of his front leg. The familiar runes that had engraved themselves onto his body during the summoning ceremony had disappeared. Without Louise alive to anchor them, the familiar bond had broken. Adrian flexed his claws. The Gandálfr runes might have been useful in human form, instantly mastering any weapon he held, but his true body relied more on natural weapons than tools.
It wouldn't have been that useful anyway.
The most interesting discovery came as his brain began incorporating a new adaptation from Louise's Essence. A new structure started forming, spreading tendrils of specialized neurons through his brain. But something felt... incomplete. The connections reached out in three different directions, as if searching for matching pieces that weren't there.
Adrian focused on this.
The structure seemed designed to interface with something larger, like one part of a greater whole. He knew she could cast some kind of Explosion, Illusion and Teleport spell, but not much else. Whatever this new adaptation was, it was unable to reach its full potential without the missing pieces it sought.
Wait.
Wasn't there supposed to be something within Tristain that could give him knowledge on Void Magic? He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but maybe it could give him a hint on this neural structure.
The sound of wings overhead made Adrian press deeper into the shadows of his cave. A griffin flew past, barely visible through the branches covering the entrance. Probably just a regular patrol, not searching for him specifically.
The best move might be to explore the capital of Tristain while he wasn't widely known, and see if he could gather any useful Essence or information. He felt it wouldn't be long before his human face became infamous...