1-Born to be Wild

Being reborn as a kobold, a tiny, reptilian, sub-species of the dragon bloodline, was not among the plans of Magnus Blacksson.

But beggars can be choosers and after facing an entire pantheon and being toss into the deepest abyss of the Boundary between worlds, he could say that he had got it easy. It was that or the complete obliteration and somehow, Magnus was pretty sure that Pandora has something to do with it. Although, being reborn was not among his options, much less in a world that had something called levels, evolution branches, magic tiers, jobs that open evolutionary paths and things like that.

Back in the day; on a non-time place where time was non existent and things happen back and forth; one of his incarnations, Magnus Frostsson to be exact, living in an advanced world full of technology and things that an old Nordmanni like Magnus would have considered something akin to magic and the works of the gods. Among such things were these things called video games, among those games, one of the genres, the RPG, was surprisingly similar to how the things work in this new and unknown world.

Although Magnus would have loved to learn a bit more, before his "caretaker", a lack of a better world, picked him up from the warm nest on where him and the other dozen or so eggs where laying and tossed his newborn Kobold body into a dark cavern. Before Magnus could blink, another bunch of recently born kobolds was tossed into the cavern, in a similar manner, from a lot of holes in the ceiling of the cave.

Fighting to stand up, seriously unused to such a weak and fragile body, the former Campione, forced his body to move with his will, even if he was the weakest of the get, Magnus will be still the will of the Oldest Campione, the one that defeated the King of the End and brings end to an Era. Painfully slow, at last from Magnus perspective, he started to rise and adapt to the inner workings of his body.

Magnus was not the only one, practically all the newborn kobolds were struggling to get up, the grunts and moans of the reptile creatures echoed in the dark cavern. It was thanks to the good night vision of the race, that Magnus could see anything on the cavern.

Speaking of races and all that, Magnus knew, intellectually knew, that he was a Kobold, and at an instinctual level, knew a lot of things that his race was famous for. But, Pandora protects him, Magnus could not remember his name. It was kind the dichotomy, his mind and body knew things and his soul knew an entirely different set of things. Although, it was not the first time he found himself in such a conundrum, the [Authorities] that Pandora granted to her children was like having a second mind or soul inside you, sometimes that a seriously confusing state of being, especially with [Authorities] that belonged to gods of madness and the kind.

Raising to his knees, Magnus took a good look at his new body and almost feel back to the ground in despair. It was lame, pathetic even.

Magnus was about, three feet tall, skinny to the point of look malnourished; his limbs were skinny as straws, barely any real muscle in them; however, the tiny claws were a welcome natural weapon, giving the circumstances; his head was bigger than it should be, considering the tiny and fragile size of the body, and his legs were like the hind legs of an animal. A scale tail hanging from the bottom of his back, muscular but tiny, not really useful, but it was needed to keep balance. Magnus was bald, his eyes were a mystery until he could found a reflective surface and his body was covered in tattoos.

Magnus scale body was gray, metal gray, with golden markings; they were similar to the runes he knew; over his shoulders, neck, and back, reaching the tail, on the chest he had two red line markings that grow from the base of her neck to the bottom of the stomach.

Struggling to stand on his feet, but never losing any detail of what was around him; even if the other kobolds were as weak and pathetic as him, in his state, a mere lucky stone to the head would kill him for good; Magnus started to study the cave. Magnus didn't want to see if he was going to reincarnate again, enough dumbfound luck has been this one, to risk another one. Campiones can only put a limited number of miracles before they kicked the bucket as anyone else.

Finally raising to his own two feet, or claws would be more appropriate, the newborn kobold eyed the surroundings and try to move out of the speck of light that came from the open holes in the ceiling, the place where all of them had been thrown into this caverns. It comes as a surprise how Magnus could walk faster and nimbler in a crouching, almost at his fours, position, soon moving out of the light and founding a higher position on the cold and jagged texture of the stone. From that position, Magnus could observe all his surroundings and see if his eyes would adapt to a deeper darkness. If he had to move all around this cave system, he would have to adapt his eyesight pronto, especially, if as he suspected, this caves contains something more than Kobolds.

"Listen, hatchlings", thundered a voice from the ceilings and forcing his sight, the newborn kobold saw two figures looming on the hole, eclipsing the light from the fires that come of that room. "You have born as part of the Stormrage clan, only those worthy will be able to gain a name and a position in the clan". Announced with a voice that was grave and had a hissing quality at the same time. "Fight, grow, tear your enemies apart, survive for nine days and then you will be blessed with a name and a place among the Clan".

As soon as the words ended, the two figures gave a step back and close the hole in the ceiling, soon all the other holes were closed, leaving the newborn kobolds in the dark. As soon as the light vanishes, the sensitive senses of the kobolds picked two alarming sensations. The smell of poison and the sounds of something crawling and slithering in the floor of the dark cavern. As Magnus suspected, they were not alone in this hole. Spiders, snakes, and Pandora know what else was crawling here, ready to pounce of the weak kobolds that loitered the place.

Cursing in his mind, as Magnus did not want to call any attention to where he was, Magnus tried to make head or tails about what was going on here. Confident that his position was relatively safe; he could spot any menace from any position, and waiting for something edible to eat, Magnus focused on what he was now.

Playing with the cards you have was something that Magnus has done all his life. He could protest and grumble, but he will improvise, adapt and overcome; no matter how insane and irrational he could appear to be. Well, Campiones were the definition of irrational; err..now that Magnus thought about it, practically all the wise men and women he had met, always said that no matter what, all Campione are knuckleheads or complete morons, as no sane mind will ever think about facing a bloody deity and win.

A sound called Magnus attention; just under his position, a big ass spider was walking at a slow pace, clicking the sharp end of its mandibles and emitting a wet noise, when the poison falls to the ground, leaving nauseating spots in the floor. Even from the distance, Magnus could smell the odor of the poison and his senses rebelled against it. Sure thing, if he was bitten by that spider he will be done for. But Magnus was hungry and a little desperate, so, he did what he always did. Rip and Tear until the work is done. Unfortunately, Magnus lacked anything resembling his old powers and he will have to improvise with what he had.

Not even thinking about the stupidity of what he was doing, Magnus jumps forward, like a swimmer launching himself into the water; but in this case, Magnus was pointing his tiny but sharp claws to the head of the spider. Before the critter could even register what on earth was going on, the tiny claws of the Kobold entered into its brain by force. With a severe pang of pain, the claws buried themselves on the brain of the spider, smashing its head against the floor, and leaving a big puddle of poison, brain, and flesh, splattered over the surface.

Hissing and cursing his fragile body, the Kobold stood in the jagged and partially furred body of the spider, swallowing the pain and really wishing that he had not broken his own bloody wrists, with that trick. A golden light engulfed the body, surrounding it, into a golden symbol; he could not see it, but the energy, the sensation was so familiar that Magnus founded himself carving the sensation; in a second, something was passed from the spider to the little and pained kobold.

[Circle of Usurpation: Spitting Cave Spider: Spit Poison trait Usurped]

"Is that?!, oh, thanks Mother, you really never abandon your children", laughed in joy, with small tears falling from his eyes, the Kobold.

Magnus would never fail to recognize the power of Pandora, it was family for him, his adoptive mother; and all the other Campiones; the divine power that saved his life in the past, has come to him in his darkest hour. Even if he had no idea of what the heck was going on, the sensation was a very watered down version of how a new [Authority] feel when he defeated another Heretic god in his original world.

So...that would mean that Magnus could spit poison now. Not precisely the most elegant of the skills, but right now, he was sure that it would do wonders for his survival in this hellhole. Speaking of that little tidbit, Magnus would have no name until he survived this ritual or whatever, and become part of a clan of Kobolds. Or something along those lines. Pandora protects him, not even ten minutes since he was born and he was already, neck deep, into an insane event and with blood in his hands.

But it was not the time to dwell in philosophies, Magnus needs food, water, weapons, a den on where he could rest safely. Sighing, Magnus took his hands out of the brain of the spider and still hissing from the throbs that the swollen wrist where sending to him, he started to dig in, in the flesh and blood of the spider, carefully avoiding any organs or inner sacks of anything that his nose and guts tell him that it was not edible.

Without any tools, Magnus made himself a dagger with the sharp and pointy end of one of the legs of the spider and used the muscles and tendons of the corpse to improvise a spear with one of the legs and a shield with a piece of her carapace. It would not withstand precisely a war; frankly, Magnus was convinced that it was going to broke as soon as he enters into battle with anything more dangerous than a worm; but it was all he had.

Taking extra precautions, Magnus moved into the shadows of the caves, always moving with his back against the wall; triple checking that there were no surprises like other spiders or snakes or whatever, in the walls or the ceiling; and looking for anything that could be called a fountain of edible water. He did not know much about the Kobolds, but like any other living species, they surely need three things, food, water, and breath. The last one was covered from now, food and water were not so sure. The blood and flesh of the spider have filled his tiny stomach; one of the few advantages of his small body was that he did not need much feeding, but at the same time, all his instincts tell him that food equals power.

It had some sense, the most powerful were the ones that could feed well and regularly, hunger was indeed a powerful motivator, but a starved and famished soldier would have difficulties to battle a well-fed and healthy soldier. Perhaps that was one of the hidden objectives of this trial or whatever, cull the weak and leave only the most clever, ruthless, strong and cunning of the hatchlings. It was a bloody waste of talent, as no one could guaranty nothing in this dangerous darkness, but perhaps the clan was in dire circumstances and had to look out for quality instead of quantity. Being honest, it was not so different from the drastic measure some clans took, back in Midgard when he was a mere mortal, looking for his place in the world.

Survival is never a joke, a Northerner, the old Campione lived his life as a mortal in one of the harshest environments of Midgard. Blood freezing blizzards, scarce food, dangerous hunts, violent raiders; the survival of the fittest was applied with cold and pragmatic efficiency if you wanted to live for another day. Those lessons were forever engraved in the soul of Magnus, and now, those same instincts and skills were passed to this new incarnation. Later, because he was going to survive no matter the cost, Magnus would have a new name, luckily it would be a good name. Magnus was content with his name, his last incarnations had the same name, and it was a good name, Pandora damn it all, he liked it. Magnus even called his twentieth kid like that. He saw him raise as a king of Norway for two decades, he was proud of the lad and lost no chance in saying it, when their worlds meet each other.

Another thing that Magnus was going to miss, big time. Campiones were respected, feared and worshiped, practically all of those at the same time; now, he was the weakest of the weakest, thanks Pandora for the [Circle of Usurpation] gift, that would do wonder for their survival, alas, it was never good to put all your eggs in the same basket, neither to be a one-trick-pony.

Magnus would have to find more preys, not only to eat but to obtain very needed skills, traits, etc, that would make him survive. He seriously hoped that he would not be forever trapped into this weak and lame form. After he killed the spider and got his first skill, especially after he ate, he felt his body grow stronger, not in the physical sense, but in a more deeper and complex form.

Somehow, he knew that he was a Kobold and he was Level 8, but apart from that, he was drawing blanks. All this level system was something deeply engraved in his mind and body, but for the life of him, that Magnus has no bloody idea what it was or how it works. If the scarce knowledge he had about games and the such, from Magnus Frostsson, was accurate, it would be a safe assumption that higher levels, equal higher power. Higher numbers, better things, it was not so preposterous, it was always better to have ten coins than one, but at the same time, sometimes quantity could not substitute quality.

Carefully advancing, Magnus slips into a tiny cave; near a meter wide subterranean stream of water, at first sight, and smell, clean of any pollution; pointing his spider-made spear into the darkness, trying to spring up any ambush or trap. Surprisingly, it works like a charm and suddenly, a snake bit hard into the chitin of the spear, cracking it under its fangs. Cursing for the loss of one of his two weapons, Magnus let the spear go and stabbed the snake a lot of times with his dagger. He stabbed, until the head of the snake, easily the size of one of his hands, fell from the mangled stump that was its neck.

Sighing, Magnus tossed the head and the broken spear far from the cave, he did not want to attract any possible scavengers with the remnants of his last victim, and he smiled when the circle with the golden symbol appeared again under the corpse of the snake. Now that he could see it, the emblem of Pandora was clearly visible on the circle. He would build temples in her honor, fuck, if she doesn't have representation in this world, she deserved it, period.

[Circle of Usurpation: Cave Snake: Stone mimetic trait Usurped]

Opening his eyes wide, Magnus´s skin started to take the appearance of the surrounding stones, not only the appearance but the jagged texture, cold sensation, and even the neuter smell. Oh, this was precisely the kind of things that would make him smile. Smiling widely, he proceeds to skin the snake; a big specimen, easily two meters long; and to feast on his flesh, who surprisingly, did taste like chicken. Magnus would have loved to cook the meat, but his Kobold stomach didn't care three dungs about the food, apart of put as much as he could on it.

Drinking from the water, the Kobold of golden markings took a moment to try to see his reflection in the water. Much to his surprise, he did have golden eyes, the same color of the markings of his neck, shoulders and back, reaching even his tail, as he could see over his shoulders by the reflection of the water. His red lines reached until the bottom of his stomach, not reaching the groin, speaking of which, he was a male, detail that he had not picked up until now. Releasing a mental sigh, as it would have been tremendously awkward to be a female, after thousands of year of being male, he noticed that his body has grown in size and muscle. It was not bulging with hidden power, far from it, but he had muscles now, and his body did not look like it was going to collapse from hunger at any second.

Tanning the skin of the snake as best as he could, and hanging it from a rock; he was going to make himself some clothes and a cape; Magnus took a position at the end of the cave, curled into a fetal position and closed his eyes after his body has imitated the stone around. One could think that sleeping was a mortal mistake, but it was a necessity, trying to be awake 24/7 was a bigger mistake, and the travel, between the landing point and this cave, has drained his mental fortitude, as Magnus has to be on alert all the time. A full stomach did not help of course and weighting the worse of two evils, he considered that a digesting nap was in the cards.

As soon as Magnus closed his eyes, he reopened them in alarm; Magnus had the sensation that he has not slept at all, but his body did not feel as sluggish as it was after eating the snake. A chitinous walk in the outside of the cave has awoken him, the sound was deeper and longer than the one that he listened at the beginning of all this ordeal, and Magnus quickly got his dagger ready. Fusing with the stone, he quietly made an exit to the entrance of his little cave and took a peek at what the heck was making that sound.

Suppressing a groan and swearing, Magnus observed how a similar spider to the one that he had killed before, was chewing with chitinous content, into the hanging snakeskin. His tanning has not been as meticulous as he has thought and the remnants of blood and flesh, has called critters to feed. The spider has already eaten a quarter of the skin, ripping with its legs and showing in its poisonous mouth, chewing on it without a care in the world.

The Kobold was in quite the conundrum, he could ambush the spider, stabbing it from its blind side, and getting some extra pieces and food to make a living, on the other hand, this spider was different from the one that he has killed before, so he didn't know what to expect. Of course, Magnus wanted to know what kind of powers he could usurp from the spider but for the moment, it was a sucker bet. He had one chance to deliver a killing blow, and contrary to what happened before, he did not have the high ground, instead, he would have to move silently as best as he could near the spider and stab it, in what he thought it was a weak spot.

Slowly, carefully, climbing the rocks over the place where the spider was eating, he tried to make an encore of the ambush to the Spider cave, however, this time he had a dagger, and it would mean that he was not going to risk breaking his wrists like the last time. It was quite an effort for his new body, to slowly climb; in absolute silence; the stone, always trying to pass under the senses of the spider. A thing that few comprehend, is that the beasts, critters, all animals, are way sharper than they look. They live in a world of predator and prey, dumber senses, equals extinction, and the spiders have never been in the prey column.

Still, and much to his inner chagrin, before Magnus could do anything more, a sudden light blinded him and hit the side of the spider, making it hiss in pain, with a nasty burn on its side. The chitin of the legs was charred and it was clear that the legs were out of commission for the foreseeable future. Rubbing his eyes and cursing under his breath for the sudden blindness, Magnus listened how the spider turn around and hissed to the new menace, spitting a big glob of venom to whoever has attacked it.

Seconds later, he blinked back to sight and saw how the spider was engaged in a long range duel with another Kobold. The spider keeps sending globs of poison, leaving splattering puddles of stench all over the walls and floor, meanwhile, the Kobold was sending volleys of sparks to the spider, with little accuracy, but the charred marks on the carapace and legs of the spider spoke volumes of the power that the sparks hide. In any other situation, he would have found the situation quite hilarious, but right now, he was way more worried about any missing projectile. Be it poison or the sparks, Magnus knew that one of those would cripple him if it hits in chest or heads. Taking cover behind a rock formation, he keeps peeking the battle, safe in his camouflage and seeing how was possible for the other Kobold to keep sending infinite sparks to the spider.

The other Kobold, another male, as he wore no clothes, was a bigger specimen than him; more muscular and with snow colored scaled marked with lightning-like blue markings all over his body, his eyes were deep blue and his claws larger and sharper than his own. In all, it was clear that either it was a higher species of Kobold, or it has been well-fed; not out of possibility as his infinite sparks was a useful tool of hunting; or he has a blessing of some kind, pretty much like his own [Circle of Usurpation]. Anyhow, the other Kobold was either a dangerous foe or a powerful ally, and despite the chill in his spine that tells him that the bluish Kobold was his superior and he should bow to him.

Campiones bowed to no fucking one, except mom, and Pandora would skin him alive if he bowed to another deity, much less, their possible champion.

In the end, the battle started to turn uphill to the bluish Kobold, he may have infinite sparks, but they could not kill the spider in one hit, and the fumes of the poison everywhere was starting to affect him. Unless something happened soon, the bluish one was going to fall under the poison and be devoured by the spider. As Kobold, he knew that the weak die and the strong survive, but at the same time, they were part of the same Clan and abandoning the Clan was a death sentence to any Kobold.

Instincts versus logic battled in Magnus' head. Having another Kobold at his side would be beneficial in the long run, but at the same time, it was dangerous as hell, as the other Kobold may just kill him, devour him and stole his dagger and snakeskin. The cold, brutal way on how their "caretakers" had toss newborn babies into the caves suggest that all relations in the Clan were under the prism of strength. The strong do whatever the fuck they want and the weak had to obey and die.

Mentally rolling a dice, Magnus moved and climbed the rock, waiting for the adequate moment on where he could wait for the perfect strike, once again making an encore of his first kill. Always go for the head was a good strategy ninety percent of the time. Waiting for the spider to move under his position, he jumped and used all his body strength to impale the head of the spider with his dagger, clumsily making it stop and nail its head to the stone floor. Regrettably, the dagger snapped and broke inside of the head, puncturing the already butchered brain of the spider a bit more. He quickly recovers and massaged his wrists, even with the dagger, it has been quite the stab and he has pushed all his body weight on the attack.

The other Kobold, blinked a pair of times, sparks already moving in his fingers, but when he saw him, recognizing him as another Kobold, he lowered his arm, but did not lose his alert attitude.

"Food, mine". He growled menacingly, sparks flying on his hands again.

Magnus blinked surprised for the munched words, do they not speak?; Magnus was thinking clearly even the moment they landed on the hard floor of the cave. Perhaps it was a unique trait of Magnus. The golden glow of the [Circle of Usurpation] made him smile, and with no little surprise, realized that the other Kobold has not reacted to the glow. Perhaps only he could see it?, or it was something akin to the [Herectic gods] only those with magic could see the truth.

[Circle of Usurpation: Spitting Cave Spider: Wall Walk trait Usurped]

By Pandora!, that was a fucking useful ability to have, especially with his mimetic and poison-spitting skills, things started to get good.

"We can share the food, lad". Replied Magnus to the bluish Kobold, still standing over the corpse of the spider, massaging his wrists, he may have lost a dagger but he could always make more from the new corpse. "There is enough food for the two of us".

Sparky, as he mentally named the bluish Kobold, blinked, grumbled and sparked a bit more. Those bolts of him could be dangerous, and he was prepared to jump behind the spider, mimic with the stone and spit poison to Sparky, just in case he decided to play rough.

"You...Clan?". The way he said it, it was like he has serious difficulties with the words but at the same time, it carried an importance beyond the mere significance.

"As soon as we get out of this hellhole, sure, Stormrage if I am not mistaken". Chuckled Magnus, jumping from the corpse of the spider and moving to where his chewed up skin was if all, the vapors of the venom of the spider had dried up faster the skin and he could tie the rest of it around his neck, turning it into a comfortable cape.

"You Stormrage? but you grayscales". Said Sparky with confusion clear in his features, although he lost no chance in ripping a leg from the spider and chew on it with ferocity.

"And?", really, he would have loved to raise an eyebrow, but Kobolds did not have fur and instead he just open an eye more than the other, surely making a funny gesture for any witness.

"Stormrage blue, white and dark cloud". Said Sparky with absolute conviction, he may not be able to conjugate a bloody phrase but he could say that like it was heavens mandate, something that it could be for what Magnus knew. "You metal gray, red and golden; no Stormrage...but no else, no Clan colors".

"So, I am unique, aye?". Chuckled Magnus with humor, this world was fun.

"Unique?", answered Sparky not really understanding. Sometimes he had a lot of understanding and the other was dumber than a sack of bricks, how curious.

"Aye, that means there is no one like me", explained Magnus to Sparky, the bluish Kobold may be strong and that sparking thing powerful, but he was far from being a strategist and deep thinker.

"I Unique too!", proudly said Sparky with the mouth filled with spider bits. "I Storm", shouted, with electricity running through all his body in a display of strength, although, he soon shut it off; it has left him with a jagged respiration.

"I see", said Magnus with a wide smile, Storm may be dumb, but he was definitely an asset to have at hand when the things went south. "Well, Storm, now that we are Clan, why don't we feast on our prey, made some good weapons and look for other Clan, aye?".

"We-a-pons?". Blinked Sparky and Magnus sighed.

Of course, it was too easy. Well, they still have about eight days ahead of them, so teaching his newfound kinsman or kinskobold? will be a good way to pass the time they would not be using in surviving. Something tells him that it was going to be uphill from now on.

As the day passed in such a way, Magnus soon discovered several things and had a long ass list of questions to made as soon as someone has the decency to explain some basic bloody things to him. On the first day of their alliance, Sparky shows remarkable talent in combat and his sparks, surely some form of electric magic, but Storm was far from being a thinker. It took two days for Storm to learn to speak in more than infinitives and even then when he was excited about something, he reverted to his more simplistic form of speech.

They defeated a couple more of those spider things, quite easily, perhaps that's why the [Circle of Usurpation] did not activate and secured their little cave with all the traps that Magnus could muster with the lack of materials he had. In a sense, their race seems fit to survive in this kind of environment, they knew how to move, how to hunt, how to pick up trails and smells and recognize when they are over their heads...kinds that took time and effort to develop when Magnus was human.

Both of them had an instinctive knowledge of some things, like who and what they are; unfortunately, Sparky could not teach Magnus about the sparky thing, as he did it and that was it, it was like trying to explain how to walk or breathe, you do it, period. That lead to the question of the levels and what means once you reached the top, would you level up? or something different will happen? Magnus was eager to discover, but alas, they would have to concentrate on surviving for the time being.

Armed with spider stinger daggers and spears and with a badly stitched armors; after they started to fought together; they become bigger examples of their races, growing to a four feet mark and with muscles in their bodies. Like it or not, the two days that they have been hunting the two spiders have turned them into solid combatants, although Sparky was a more berserker type of fighter, surrounding himself in sparks and slamming his opponents by brute pure force. Magnus, on the other hand, would have loved to have some of his old powers back, a good sword, heck, a good ax would be a bloody godsend, but he had to make the best of it with their spider made weapons. Pure crap by any sane definition, but way better than barehanded, even with their claws.

On the third day, they found another set of Kobolds, this time, however, it all ended in blood.

Sparky and him, were hunting down another spider; well, Magnus was hunting down spiders as he could turn practically invisible against the stones of the cave and move like a spider, climbing walls and stalking their preys from the ceiling, not to mention how Magnus has grown quite adept and spiting the venom.

Judging from the reaction of a couple of lizards that he has used it on; without gaining any boon from the [Circle of Usurpation], validating his theory of how it must be a battle and not an execution or taking advantage of others victories; Magnus´s poison could be lethal for tiny species like him, but not so lethal with big things like another spider and the such.

With luck, they would found something better than the usual lizard, spider or snake critters that they have found so far.

As Magnus followed the trail of a big spider, he realized that another set of Kobolds has taken care of the critter and when the smell of roasted flesh reach his nostrils, he salivated in surprise. This kobold has managed to get fire in this dark and damp caves. Following the enticing smell, but never lowering his guard or his camouflage, he continued crawling in the ceiling until he found the place where the smell came from.

There was a trio of red scaled Kobolds, all of them looking well feed; two males and a female; who were roasting the carcass of the spider that Magnus has been stalking for the last hours. Over the legs and jagged fur of the spider, little fires can be seen, burning the flesh inside of the hard chitin. Immediately, he thought of Sparky and his electric powers, perhaps this was from a different breed, a different kind of Kobold. Survival of the fittest?, there was something else going on here, otherwise, wasting talents such as Sparky and the red loot over there would be a terrible waste and a stupid idea, especially if the Clan was under times of crisis and needed quality over quantity.

However, when Sparky asked if he was Clan too, that would mean that the Stormrage were not the only Clan using this caves as a quality test of some sort, perhaps other Clans were doing the same, putting their hatchlings to the test and see how many of them are able to survive, in this hellish conditions. Fortunately, Magnus has found an ally in Sparky, even if the bluish Kobold was convinced that he was the Alpha. Nothing farther from the truth, but Storm was not clever enough to recognize sarcasm.

Anyhow, this three could either be allies or foes. As they feed on the carcass, Magnus could easily see the hierarchy among them, the bigger male was the alpha, the other male was kicked by the female and the female was the beta of the pack. Big Red Alpha, Red Beta, and Red Omega, they did not differ too much from a wolf pack, and somehow he was convinced that this was a common theme among the Kobolds. Submit to the strongest, unfortunately for them, Magnus was cut from a different cloth and trying to dominate a Campione, even if he was lame as hell right now, was a futility effort.

They will never surrender, never give in, never give up. They have slain deities, and by so, become partial deities themselves, under that prism, trying to impose any kind of will over them was a futile effort, if gods couldn't do it, who was arrogant enough to believe that they could do best?.

Knowing that the trio of three Kobolds would still be there, Magnus opted for a retreat and look out for Sparky, perhaps they could join the three reds and increase their chances of survival for the six days they had left, until whoever was the upper caverns finally get them out of there and gave him a name. Magnus would be lying if he did not admit that he was eager to get a blood name already. Being nameless was not fun.

It didn't take long for him to found Sparky, waiting in alert in the corner of a room, ears, and nose open and catching any detail, even with their night vision, the eternal darkness of the caves was like being blind half of the time. Not a pleasant sensation. Quickly reuniting with the bluish Kobold, he told them about the red and for his surprise, Sparky did not react in a good way. He snorted violently and sparked with violence for a second, lightening the cave with his brilliance, and making him squint his eyes for the sudden brilliance.

As Magnus recovered, Sparky demanded to go and hunt down those other Kobolds, there was violence and hate in his eyes and body language. Something that greatly surprised Magnus, if they were both Stormrage, Magnus should experiment such violent emotions too, unless, it was something deeper and related to his idea that perhaps Storm was the chosen of some Deity/Clan and had an ax to grind with the Clan/Deity that sponsored the red Kobolds.

If it was the latter, would Magnus usurp that blessing?, widening an eye more than other; hated lacking eyebrows; Magnus just followed Sparky into the battle, guiding him through the caves, until they found the still festering Kobolds, Sparky screamed a war cry and charged ahead, raising his spear and his body covered in electricity. Meanwhile, Magnus has already fused with the stone and was flanking the corpse of the spider. As Magnus suspected, as soon as the red trio saw Sparky, they reacted with their own hissing and screams of hate and rage, tossing little pebbles of fire at the charging bluish Kobold.

In Sparky´s honor, it must be said that his electric trick did endure the first volley, the second one, however, sent him to the ground, smoking like a well-cooked filet and with a lot of his scales already charred and reddened from the impact of the fireballs. Truth to be told, Magnus was far from impressed by the tiny red balls that the Kobolds tossed, surely, they would be dangerous for a Kobold like him, but only through sheer number looks like they have survived so far. Not a bad tactic, especially with a dangerous element like fire, an inhabitant of the frozen mountains of Midgard in the past, he could recognize and respect the power of fire, it has saved him and his kinsmen lives more times that he would like to count.

The first spit of venom hit the biggest of the red trio in the eyes, making him scream and fall to the ground, trashing as the poison filtered inside his eyeballs and bloodstream, somehow, Magnus knew that, that must be seriously painful and unpleasant, but he had a job to do and nailing the biggest foe was always a priority. Falling from the top of the cave over the female who was sending fireballs in the direction of the poison, a show that she was the beta for a reason, Magnus buried one of his daggers in her brain, killing her instantaneously, but as it happens every time, the dagger cracked under the pressure and got stuck inside the head like a gory trophy.

Magnus really needs to put his hands in some real weapons and pronto.

The last of the trio, jumped at him, claws ready and jaws open to rip him to shreds, but Magnus just simple ducked under the enraged charge of the red Kobold and delivered a lethal uppercut to the red kobold´s chin with his other dagger, stabbing and closing his jaw in an uppercutting stab, that pierce jaw, inside of the mouth and brain. The red Kobold corpse falls limp immediately, as his brain was nothing but a mush of minced meat. Tossing the corpse aside, Magnus walked to the last of the red Kobolds, the poisoned one, who was in the floor foaming from the mouth and spasmodically twitching, and with all the strength Magnus could muster, ripped his throat out, making him go limp in a second from the shock and the blood loss.

Much to his surprise, three golden circles appeared under the corpses of the Kobolds.

[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold: Pyrokinetic skill Usurped]

[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold: Fireproof trait Usurped]

[Circle of Usurpation: Brimstone Clan Kobold, Red Chosen of Tiamat Blessing Usurped]

His smile vanished when a sudden pain made him bend over, losing breath for a second as he felt like his souls were being rent to tears and sewn together again with fishing string and a rusty needle. He has done something that he should have not, for what it seems.

[Circle of Usurpation] has Usurped a blessing that has interfered with the destiny of the Brimstone Clan and the Tale of the Consort of Tiamat. Would you accept the destiny of the Red Chosen?.

YES?/NO?

[We Want Grandbabies] trait from Pandora has activated and forced you to accept

YES, DAMN IT/no?

Message from Pandora and Epimetheus: We want Grandbabies to spoil, damn it, and yours and Tiamat babies are going to be bloody adorable.

"Bloody hell, Mom!, are you out of your mind?!",screamed Magnus in loud voice, although it sounded like a gurgling moan as he was still recovering from the shoveling that the [Red Chosen of Tiamat] has done to his soul.

Magnus did not remember anything about Tiamat, apart from the knowledge that she was some kind of Babylonian goddess/monster and had a deep connection with monsters and the Ocean. Without access to the infinite knowledge of the Boundary between realms, all Magnus had was half memories and sensations of all the knowledge that he had in the past.

Magnus was going to miss the blessing of the Kvasir, the enhanced cunning that the mythical beverage granted was more than welcome, especially in a situation like this. However, the discovery of the second gift from Pandora, the [We want Grand babies] was something that Magnus did not expect at all. Pandora was forcing him to participate in a bloody tournament to win the right to be the boy-toy of a bloody goddess, Pandora protect him...errr, well, okay, not the most adequate prayer right now, but the sentiment should be clear, what on earth was she thinking?, Magnus was the lamest thing ever right now, and, wait a second.

Sparky, this red kobold, it somehow was fitting, the clans were already doing a culling of the weak, they know that their Chosen ones had born and they had to toss them in here to, A) Made them grow absurdly fast, B) Eliminate the competence, convinced that their Chosen was the stronger one.

If it was the case; and somehow, Magnus was pretty sure that it was; Magnus has become a rival for Sparky, in more ways than one, and he would have to fight with Sparky at the end, not to mention that Magnus didn't want to even think about what could happen if he becomes the Chosen of all the possible colors at once. Tiamat would rip his soul to shreds and without his [Authorities] he was pretty much defenseless against that possibility. Uh, exactly like the first time he killed a deity, he was a mere human who managed to kill the White Bear god Nanook.

Talk about a blast from the past.

At the end of the third day, Magnus has discovered that he was now part of a bigger destiny; as possible Consort of a Goddess; and Pandora was making all she could to make sure that he could survive and gave her and her husband grandbabies. Magnus would have laughed at the absurdity of the situation if he wasn't the star of the show. Well, it was not the first time that he had courted a supernatural being.

As Campione he even had a harem of sorts, as modern people would have understood it, mind you, it was nothing like the Arabian painted it, as seraglios of women who were there only to sate his lust. Magnus´s women fought at his side and have voice and vote in the actions of the Clan, they practically governed the Clan Hall and took care of a lot of things that Magnus never had the talent for.

But first Magnus would have to survive, still pained from the brusque, whatever has been done to his soul, he picked up the smoking body of Sparky; after checking that he was alive; charred and pained, but alive; and drag him to the little cave that they had transformed into their den. Once there, Magnus toss the body inside, closed the eyes again and prayed to Pandora for a better next day, it was the first third of the nine days and he was already neck deep in a problem that was way over the head of his actual body.

He should have know better, but hope was the last thing that was left in Pandora´s box, right?.

The beginning of the fourth day was relatively bright, Sparky was exultant that they have killed the Brimstone Clan Kobolds, even if he just took two shots and fall to the floor like a potato sack, but Magnus was not in the mood to contradict Sparky and just let him enjoy his moment of glory. Magnus suspected, Sparky must be one of the Chosen ones, possibly the white, blue or dark colored one, as Sparky said it was the colors of the Stormrage Clan. Curiously, until he becomes part of the Chosen debacle, Magnus was part of the Stormrage Clan, yet, he did not have any of their colors. His scales were metal gray, he had golden runes like markings all over it and two red line markings over his chest and stomach. No idea what Clan could have something of the sort.

On a side note, eating Kobold flesh from whatever was left of the remains of the trio after the critters and scavengers ended with them, was surprisingly tasteless and bland; it would be needed a lot of species and cooking to made something palatable of that, however, it may be a form of preventing Kobolds to become the main source of food for their Clans, making them cannibals. On a time of need, Magnus was sure that this reptilian race has done something similar, but seeing how unsatisfying the flesh was, it would be hardly a surprise if it was only done, under the direst of the situations. On the other hand, spider and snake flesh were very tasteful and the occasion on was he hunted a couple of lizards of some kind, the lizard was tastier too.

They pass the day by patrolling the surrounding caves and crevices of their little home, seeing that the cave complex was surprisingly big, they could get lost in this caves, so they decided to keep it close to the original place where they were tossed to the caves. Just in case they wander too much and they get lost and could not get back to the "Stormrage Clan hole", on a ninth day. Magnus knew that if they were not close by the ninth day, the "caretakers" would shrug and think they were dead, lost in the caves below or in the stomach of the multiple critters that made a living in the caves.

Good thing, they have not to meet anything more dangerous than the Spitting Cave Spiders of the Cave Snakes, the lizard that gave nothing but taste meat were not a threat, but Magnus was sure that there was something odd happening in the caves.

All his instincts as Campione were telling him that there was something odd going on here and there was something incredible dangerous stalking them in the darkest corners of the caves. But without any proof, it was just his own bloody suspicions and paranoia acting. It was like an itch that he could not scratch and it was making him jump at the lesser of the sounds.

Despite having established a good base in the cave over the little underground water stream, Magnus was not comfortable with the idea of waiting for whatever is out there, to hunt them as they were sleeping, so he decided to go hunt it, instead. Sparky didn't like the idea, but he understood that they were sitting ducks and he had the biggest chances to found and survive whatever was out there.

Sparky, of course, has no idea of his power over fire now, the last thing he needs, was to Sparky to call him a traitor and trying to kill him in the name of the Stormrage Clan. Sparky was a very nice test dummy, he was dumb enough to wholeheartedly accept the destiny of the Chosen ones and he could observe him, see what happens to him and what to expect, as he was part of the same bullshit too. In all, Sparky was his personal coal mine canary, if Sparky starts to choke, he would look out for the nearest fresh airspace.

Taking advantage of his camouflage and his wall-crawling abilities, Magnus went deep into the caves, trying to pinpoint the sensations he was feeling. Once his mental alarms raise the volume, Magnus understood that that means he was close to the origin of fear sensation that he has had in the back of the neck for the entire day. It was mentally exhausting, especially considering that he was armed with nothing more than a couple of improvised daggers, made with the legs of a killed Spider and his snake cape. Magnus was depending on a little too much in his stealthy skills when he knew that it has never been his forte. With the addition of the domain over fire, he was expecting to change the tendency but Magnus was not arrogant enough to believe that he was not the bottom of the food chain.

Kobolds are not a strong race, period. Indeed they could be cunning bastards and thanks to their size and bodies, they could be a terrible menace in confined spaces or caves like this, but their bodies are not ready to withstand any kind of prolonged battle, much less carry heavy weapons or armors. They were lithe and fast, their jaws and claws could do a lot of damage and a bunch of them armed with spears and shields could be made a bigger prey bleed to the death with a continuing barrage of debilitating strikes.

But all those advantages took into consideration that they had numbers in his favor. And Magnus was alone, in the middle of a cave that he has never seen before and tracking down something that possible would eat him alive and spit his bones to the nearest crevice. It was irrational and insane but somehow, Magnus was happy, he was exhilarated.

Only when he was facing another Campione or a Heretic Deity felt like this, the uncertainty of your destiny, you can live or die in a second; his blood was pumping, his heart was drumming and he had a wide and wicked smile in his face, even if his mind was screaming bloody hell and get the hell out of there, his soul, the part of him that was and would forever be a Child of the Fool and the Witch was roaring in joy.

This is what Magnus was born for, tracking a worthy enemy and claim his life in battle, no tricks, no underhanded tactics. All of him, against all of whatever was in the shadows and the price, was the highest of all. Walking out of the battlefield alive.

Tracking the elusive prey was one hell of a task that he was not expecting, the entire fifth day of the hellhole has pass, and Magnus has done nothing but to hunt clues, that lead to nothing, or directly to little nests of Spitting Cave Spiders, the food and the extra daggers were welcome though, and even if it was not water, the blood and poison of the spider; tasting like rancid vomit, mind you; were enough to keep him pretty well feed and nourished.

Magnus was starting to grow accustomed to spider flesh and blood, he really needs a change of diet; a snake or a juicy lizard would be very welcome. As soon as Magus managed to get out of this hellhole, he was going to feast in boar, beef, chicken, beer, mead and all the fruits and desserts he could find, by Pandora, he really wanted to eat some bloody real food and not this nasty critter grub.

At the begging of the sixth day, his prayers were more or less answered and Magnus managed to found a different critter in the dark caves, well, to be precise, he managed to find a spider cocoon rip open and a beast feasting in the corpse of the spider that has tried to trap it.

The only description that did come to his mind at seeing the thing, it was a fat mole, with huge ass claws. It was easily the size of a pony but moved and walked like a fat baby seal. It was furred and had some kind of stone like armor over the spine and the padded claws, each one of twelve inches long easily. Its long snot was buried in the abdomen of the spider as it feasts in the creature, ignoring the little Kobold that was sneaking behind him, trying to find a weak spot in his big body. The fur may be a good protection against cold and water, and the stone like armor was actually doing a great job protecting the main body, alas it was almost a weak point itself.

Carefully drooling poison over the spider dagger Magnus had in one hand, he slowly crawled to the side of the fat, armored mole and in a sudden sprint, Magnus stabbed the place between the armor and the flesh with all his might, burying the poisoned dagger deep into the weak spot. The sudden jerk and back-slap of the mole, send Magnus flying several meters and slamming against the stone wall. By Pandora, all his bones rattled and cracked like the toys of a baby after the impact, and Magnus was lucky that the claws have not actually touched him, otherwise, instead of flying against the wall in one piece, he would have done it in five slices. The mole screeched, and the sound was like a knife over a chalkboard; with his sensitive Kobold senses, it made him cringe and clench his teeth.

Magnus took the appearance of the stone and pick another dagger, but before he could do anything, all his mind screamed for dodge to the right, and acting by muscular instinct, Magnus could saw, with wide eyes, how the mole has followed all his movements, even camouflaged and has almost chopped him to pieces with a violent swing of his long and sharp claws, that had need little effort to cut deep into solid stone.

Spitting poison to the face of the mole, Magnus quickly makes a distance between the slow but powerful beast and him. Screeching again for the poison to the face, the mole shook his head to the sides, cleaning as much as he could of the poison. Magnus was not deluding himself, the poison was not strong enough to kill the beast, if it were the case, the spider should have been feeding on the mole and not the other way around.

The mole did not lose sight of him, even if Magnus was camouflaged with the stone, it was clear that the mole can easily saw him; more than seeing, as the moles are blind for what he could remember of his past life; the beast had an impressive sense of hearing or something like that, something that allows the beast to track all his movements. If that means that all his stealth and backstabbing tricks were out of the options, then Magnus would have to made use of the other resource he had.

Taking a deep breath, Magnus opened his jaw and exhale a stream of fire directly against the face of the mole. For his perspective, it was a stream of orange flames, but considering that he was a four feet tall, skinny Kobold, it was not precisely the fiery breath of a powerful dragon, but it would do his job, that it was distracting and harm the mole. Even if it did not need his eyes, his nose was still a very sensitive point, and he has just smashed it with a hot fire, making the mole screech in pain and thrash around with his claws. Even if Magnus did all the could dodge it, one of the claws left two deep gashes in his chest and side, making him bleed over the stone floor.

It was painful, but with the rushing of the battle running through his veins, Magnus ignored the gashes and showered the mole with venom and little fireballs, running around the beast in circles and always making sure that he was at the sides of the beast or behind it. With his size and weight, the mole was a professional digger but it was a nightmare to turn around and attack a, way faster and agile beast than him.

Ignoring the exhausting and the bleeding, Magnus keep attacking the mole with fire and poison, at some point, the fur finally caught fire and the mole screeched unable to keep up with the assault, the poison would have been a nuisance in any other circumstances but weakened, "blinded", pained and exhausted, the mole body finally give up and with a gurgled screech, heavily lumped into the floor.

Magnus fell face front directly to the floor too, with the pain and exhaustion of the combat finally catching him, breathing in ragged breaths, he hissed from the pain, trying to close the gashes of his chest and side with a hand. He was bleeding too much.

The golden light of the [Circle of Usurpation] made him smile, it was the proof that Magnus has managed to beat the bloody thing. His corpse was a big one, so much was sure, and it was a nice change of diet, surely, under all that fur and stone armor, there must be red and glorious meat; as soon as Magnus recover his bloody breath he was going to butcher the bastard and devour his heart. Magnus needed the food now, healing consume a lot of nutrients, and mole flesh was exactly what the healer recommended to make up for the lost blood.

[Circle of Usurpation: Dire Mole: Blindsight Usurped]

[Circle of Usurpation: Dire Mole: Stone Carving Claws]

Ha, two for one, nice. It was like those times on where a powerful Heretic Deity was taken down by a less powerful Campione, sometimes Pandora allows her children to steal more than one [Authority] from the gods that they have slain, but only if they deserve it.

It seems that the [Circle of Usurpation] works in a similar way, not sure of the criteria, but it was clear that this has been a battle for the ages, from his perspective of puny Kobold. The two Usurped traits activated as soon as he felt the touch of Pandora over him, granting him perfect sight in the middle of the darkness; quite a surprise considering that he had his eyes closed from the pain; and had to get his hands out of his wounds, as his nails suddenly grow to a six inches, sharp as hell, claws. Well, that would be useful, to the hell with the spider daggers, although he was about to make himself a spear with the legs of the spider and one of the claws of the mole.

Crawling over the floor, Magnus rested against the burning fur of the death mole, thanks to his [Fireproof] trait, he did not have to worry about burns, and the fire will possible scatter any critter or scavenger. In this darkness, the fire must be the wrath of the gods, as it brings pain, light, and heat to a cold and dark world. Using his new claws, Magnus chopped pieces of the roasted flesh of the mole and with tears in his eyes, he started to feast in the body of the mole, greatly enjoying the taste of the red meat.

The rest of the sixth day passed as Magnus recovered from the battle and used his new claws to skin the mole and built himself a nice, warm and resistant fur kilt and cape; using pieces of the stone like armor, who was cartilage of some kind in truth, to reinforce shoulders and groin. All of it tied with dried tendons of the spider and the mole.

In all, he looked like some kind of barbarian Kobold. But for the first time since Magnus has reborn in this world, he felt dressed again, although his kobold mind didn't seem to mind much the matter. The scales of his body were cloth enough, and the only real worry was to protect the groin sack where his penis and testicles were protected when they were not used for reproduction. Kobolds have a big reproduction rate, once the heat hit the races, each female can easily make half a dozen of eggs that will grow to the three feet, skinny kobold Magnus was once.

Still, Magnus liked his new clothes, as crude as they were, and the fur and shoulder armor made him feel a lot more confident than before, especially now that he had claws to fight his enemies; real, dangerous claws that could cut stone, and no doubt could cleave the bodies of any of the critters that lived in this caves.

At the beginning of the seventh day, Magnus resumed his hunt, after engorging himself in the roasted body of the mole and look out for a pond of underground water. Blood and poison from the spiders were good and all, but it tastes awful and he was sure that only his [Spit Poison] skill was granting him resistance to the effects of the Spitting Cave Spiders venom, that he was drinking to keep the thirst away.

As he continue trailing the sensation and the fear, he battled more spiders; not really getting anything from them, as it seems that between his claws and pyrokinetic skills they were no longer a threat for him; getting deeper into the farthest caves, caves that started to make him wary of the slightly wet and humid surface of the stone. There was something on the ambient, something that made his scales shiver. Not only for the sensation that there was something seriously wrong going on here, but for the fact that he was feeling actually sick. His eyes were watering, his nose itched, all his scales were almost shuffling themselves trying to get rid of the sensation that assaulted them.

However, Magnus persevered, killing all the spiders that he found in his way with his claws; from the occasional spider to kill a dozen of them that were shuffling around a cave filled to the brim with lifeless husks of their previous victims; and seeing the remnants of their meals, noticing the large number of Kobolds corpses; not really a surprise considering how dozens of them were tossed into this slaughterhouse when they were little more than babies; and the occasional large beast that he did not recognize but he was happy to do not have faced it in battle.

The rest of the seventh day was a tense alert, killing any spider that came close to his crawling spots of the few times that has taken refuge in a crevice trying rest a little and recover from the sickness that seems to affect him inside the lair of the whatever was preying on the kobolds of this test. Frankly, Magnus considered it a waste of possible talent and disposable meat and cannon fodder, but without information about the world outside of this bloody cave, there was little that Magnus could do about it.

Barely catching any sleep, Magnus awoke to the eight days of the trials, hide behind a thick thread, using the silk of the spiders as his blanket; somehow, his wall-crawling skill allowed him to walk on the threads as the rest of the spiders do. Surely because his skill comes from those very same spiders and it would be ridiculous for a spider to be caught in his own thread, that would be awkward.

Munching an egg from the sack that he had at his left; he has been collecting the occasional egg sack of Spitting Cave Spiders for food; Magnus crawled over the surface of the stone, camouflaged and always careful of do not disturb the threads were lots and lots of spider seems to be working on something, or simply cocooning more victims into food for the future. So far Magnus has seen Kobolds from all kind of colors, blue, red, dark, white, yellow and one of them was of similar metallic color like him, but in lighter tones.

The biggest surprise, however, was how Magnus almost swore, when a trio of green colored Kobolds riding spiders came from one side of the cave where he was, along with a swarm of fist-sized spiders of black and red color. Hugging the ceiling where he was hanging, Magnus kept himself as silent and immobile as possible, observing with attention the newcomers who were Kobolds like him, but he seriously doubted they were newborns like he was, barely seven or eight days ago. The spider riders were carrying spider made weapons too, but this one seems way better than the crude weaponry Magnus crafted in the past. In fact, they had leather, chitin armor, rope and other indications that pointed out to an outside supplier or this trial was seriously rigged.

The curiosity took the better of him and made him follow the Kobolds inside the caves, following them as they guide him through a set of caves, where another dozen or so of similar raiders were preparing and feeding spiders with recently captured Kobolds of all colors. Quickly doing the maths on his head, if this bastard has already killed twenty of so Kobolds from the new batch and had a dozen riders, they could easily kill whatever was left of this batch of youngsters and basically exterminate a generation of Kobolds in one swift strike.

And, if Magnus was not mistaken, that would left Tiamat without any Chosen Ones, unless there was a Green Chosen of some sort, something that would have sense, however, this spider plus Kobold alliance was not exactly what he could think about the domain of Tiamat.

Tiamat sure has ties with monsters; the reptilian kind if all her Chosen Ones were Kobolds; and the Ocean, spiders were not precisely what Magnus would have pictured Tiamat with. Anyhow, this was pure speculation by his part, without more knowledge about the world and how it works, Magnus was working practically on instinct, and it was telling him that this was really wrong. Nor that he cared three troll dungs about the other Kobolds, but simply because like it or not, Magnus was a Kobold and they are going to hunt and kill him as much as the rest.

When they reached the main cave of the little cave network, Magnus finally saw the architect of all the paranoia that he has been suffering the last days, and as soon as he saw her, Magnus had to suppress a loud groan and crying out loud for Pandora´s protection. This was not what he was expecting, surely a big ass monster was in the cards, some kind of cave king that had all this place as his domain, a big lizard, the queen of the snakes, something along those lines. Unfortunately, it was a Queen of Spiders kind of thing.

Like a queen in the middle of her web, the hybrid of an immensely beautiful woman and a Spitting Cave Spider was hanging from a node of threads, smiling to the cavalry of Kobolds and spiders that was slowly preparing to strike the unfortunate bastards that were left in the caves where they have been dropped.

She was astonishingly beautiful, at last, from the waist up; her lower body was the chitinous body of a large spider, but instead of the jagged fur of the Spitting Cave Spiders, this was black and red, with an hourglass symbol in the middle of a web, proudly displayed on the chitin of her abdomen. She had eight legs, all ending in sharp and pointy stingers, and where the head of a spider would be, there was a woman´s body, from the waist down.

In fact, and with a curious thought on the back of his mind, it does seems that this spider-woman had the same reproductive organs like any other female human, if the strategic position of a long piece of cloth and how she dressed in a very revealing, spider themed, black and purple dress that left nothing to the imagination. She had four eyes, completely black, and a long white and silky hair that reached her arachnid abdomen; as she smiled, the fangs inside her mouth were clearly visible.

Patiently waiting, as none seems to be the wiser about his presence in the cave, Magnus waited to see what they were planning and preparing his attack. There was little he could do, but by Pandora, no one was going to hunt him like a bloody dog, Magnus was going to fight tooth and nails until the bitter end, taking with him as many of these bastards as possible.

However, something sends it all to hell. When the spider-woman got closer to the Kobolds and raising her hands, started a chant that made his blood boil. It was a divine chant, it was a calling for the aid of a deity; Magnus may have picked up the name Arachne, but he was not sure as he was in the verge of foaming in rage; in order to empower the Spider raiders with the blessing of a deity.

[Divinity´s Bane] was the name of the skill that was making Magnus feel like this.

In an ironic way of things, what Magnus was feeling, was pretty much like the instincts that every Campione had whenever they were close to a Heretic God or a Divine Beast. In this case, Magnus was burning with the desire to kill this spider-woman and rip her to shreds. Considering that Magnus was now part of a thing called the [Chosen Ones of Tiamat], Magus really should do all he could to temper down that sudden rage, just in case it activates in the worst moment and left him with the ass in the open, like the time he faced an entire Pantheon, situation that ended with him tossed into the abyss.

But this was not that time, and with all the rage and power that the mysterious gift was given to him, Magnus impulsed on the stone with all the strength he could muster and calling for the [Stone Carving Claws], he clawed the chest and face of the spider-woman who shrieked in pain and agony for the sudden attack, cutting her enchanting short.

From then on, it was a blur for Magnus; a red haze, a lot of screams, clicking and hissing, the fire burning, blood being spilled and the echoes of a battlefield. Somehow, Magnus knew that he has unleashed a massive fire in the middle of them; how could not be otherwise; a very inflammable web of the Spitting Cave Spiders, sending fire in all directions and turning the caves of the little spider covenant into a blazing fire. Magnus may be [Fireproof] but he was not [Smokeproof] and the black and acrid smoke of the inferno could choke him as good as it was doing with the rest of the spiders and Kobolds. Especially the spiders were in a panic for the sudden fire, that spread quite rapidly by the threads, burning down spiders and egg sacks with equal easiness.

Magnus claws rend Kobold and spider flesh with equal easiness, and even if Magnus knew that they were hurting and wounding him; quite grievously too; Magnus did not care and continued butchering anything that gets in his way, in the end, he stood over a mountain of corpses and coughing his lungs out. But that was not important. What was important was that the spider-woman and he jumped at each other, ready to tear the other apart.

Magnus survived.

That much he was pretty sure as he could still remember the voices and the boxes that appeared in his closed eyes, the golden light of the blessing of Pandora was filling him with the rewards he has earned for the enemies that he has killed. And it has been quite the loot if he could be a bit cocky about it; still, Magnus was way beyond any protest now, his body was a bloody wreck. [Divinity´s Bane] was a double-edged sword, sure it has given him the power to tear these bastards to shreds, even the spider-woman, although, even if it makes the pain disappear, once the boost was over, his body has to cope with the consequences.

[Circle of Usurpation: Swampmist Kobold Clan: Poison-proof trait Usurped]

[Circle of Usurpation: Swampmist Kobold Clan: Green Chosen of Tiamat Blessing Usurped]

Oh, for Pandora´s sake, another one, and as Magnus feared, the bloody trial was rigged. The Swampmist Clan had the aid of the Spider-woman and her deity, to made sure that only the Green Chosen was the one that got out of the cave, with all his or her; as he did not remember who was among all the corpses; kin at its side and exiting triumphantly with a cavalcade of the spider with them. Speaking of which.

[Circle of Usurpation: Arachne: Spiderkin trait Usurped]

[We want Grandbabies to add Allure to the effects of the Spiderkin trait]

[Circle of Usurpation: Arachne: Webbing skill Usurped]

Well, that was nice, not sure what the heck was those two traits, but anyhow, all powers were welcome even if the alluring part was something that made him want to groan for the shenanigans of his adoptive parents, sure Magnus loved them, but sometimes they were a little too much for anyone.

"Ha, look at this little bastard, he is quite the killer, what a carnage has he made here, with the Arachne bitch and these rotten bastards of the Swampmist Clan". Echoed distantly a voice near him, it was a voice that had the tone of one that is accustomed to gave orders in the battlefield and demanded instant obedience.

Carnage, now that was a fitting name, all things considered.

"Carnage, uh". Replied the voice, he must have said the last thought out loud. "Ha, definitely, I see why, so be it little one, that would be your name, along with Rune scales, it has been decades since I saw such wonderful markings as yours, they are like golden runes, quite the lucky fellow aren't you?".

Carnage Runescales of the Stormrage Clan

Is this your name?

Yes/No

You have reached Level 100

You can evolve into a higher species.

The requirements for a unique variation has been met.

Do you wish to evolve into this unique variation?

YES!, This is perfect for you, ohohoho, Grandbabies incoming for sure/No

With the last strength Magnus had left before the darkness claims his conscience, the recently baptized Carnage Runescales, sighed in defeat and just went with the flow, these last nine days have been a bit too much, and a bit of rest will be welcome. Still, Carnage was curious what he was going to evolve into, was this part of the natural cycle of this world? it was different for sure, alas, it has been quite the adventure since the beginning.

Now, if he could only find some mead, his life will be complete.

End Chapter.

Character Info:

Name:

Carnage "Carn" Runescales of the Stormrage Clan.

Race:

Kobold lvl 100- Evolving into Unique Variant

Unique Skills:

-Circle of Usurpation: Much like the Authority, Carn can steal a Skill/Authority/Trait from the body of a defeated enemy, but only if it has been defeated by him.

-Divinity´s Bane: As former Devil King, Carn is the bane of any divine spellcaster or divine creature.

-We want grandbabies!- Pandora and Epimeteo, wanted grandbabies to spoil, like it or not, Carn would have a harem.

Usurped Skills/Traits/Abilities/etc:

Skills:

-Pyrokinetic: Carn can create and manipulate natural fire.

-Webbing: Carn can generate natural webbing of three colors steel, gold and red, he can project it from fingertips, mouth, tail tip and ass.

Blessings:

-Red Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the red head of Tiamat, Carn domain over fire, is way superior to the rest of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

-Green Blessing of Tiamat: As chosen of the green head of Tiamat, Carn is the best poisoner of his race. He has to participate, by force, in the tournament to see who is the Chosen Consort of Tiamat.

Traits:

-Spit Poison: Carn can spit poison of varying virulence.

-Poisonproof: Carn is immune to all natural poison and highly resistant against magical poisoning

-Walk Walls: As a spider, Carn can walk barehanded/footed over non-slippery/wet surfaces

-Spiderkin: All Spiders considers Carn one of them, thanks to the effect of the [We want Grandbabies] bless, all female Arachnes found Carn specially Alluring.

-Stone Mimetic: Took the appearance, texture, and smell of the surrounding rocks, but not his hardness.

-Fireproof: Carn is immune to all kind of natural fire and highly resistant against magical fire.

-Blindsight: Perfect, 360º sight at 10 meters, no matter the conditions.

-Stone carving claws: 6 inches long nails capable of cutting and carving stone with easiness.