Time passed quickly for Azotreh and the others. Nicholas spent most of his time breaking through solid stone through a combination of their Punch, Mining, Meditative Mining, and new Punch Mining skills. Fuzem had sent squads of soldier and worker ants led by a spawned champion each day into the territory of the other colony to battle other ants. She always held direct control over the champion to advance their resistances if it died and Subordinate Control if it didn't. Azotreh spent most of their time shaping either Astrum or Nightshade Gneiss while meditating, then getting Dur to help them learn to fight.
After getting Punch Mining, they'd also gotten their Skillful title to X and been warned.
[System Administrator HD7431 has calculated that your aspects can currently sustain one more skill. It has warned against going over the limit of 51.]
Unfortunate, but not unexpected.
Errazorrus finally managed to reoccupy his preferred form of the puma after it finished regenerating. The seven-day waiting period for champion monster rebirths felt far too long while within Azotreh's soul. He still couldn't understand how Nicholas so easily flitted between the orcish and slime champions. He couldn't imagine doing something of the sort.
But he had his form again as it emerged from the eye of their nexus.
Nicholas was still battering the wall to carve a space for their pile of materials. It wasn't a terrible dragon hoard, but completely unorganized. Nicholas wanted to organize, but Errazorrus didn't really understand why. He'd sleep on that pile.
But if he wanted to, then he was allowed to. Errazorrus had something else in mind.
He headed up to the now-empty space that was formerly going to be the homes of the rabbit-kin and made his way down again. The puma was simply too big to fit through the tunnel between the biodome entrance and the core room.
He stalked over to the secondary entrance, flooded with the dungeon's aura. The one they'd specifically made for this kind of thing. He followed it into the biodome, and instead of going to the poisonous zone, he made his way down. Down the same path Nicholas had used to hunt before they understood the punch skill.
He had a theory based on two of Azotreh's abilities. Two abilities under the name Black Dragon. They had two abilities that so far didn't have a black dragon alternative, so he assumed there were more.
As he made his way into the twisting labyrinth between biodomes, he searched for a monster. It didn't take him too long to find it, and with the assistance of their Stealth skill, he snuck up on it.
The monster looked like a wolf, but covered from snout to tail in curved red crystals. He wanted to try out some of the information Azotreh had gotten from the Slimy Harvesting skill as well, but his main goal came first.
He pushed the dungeon's mana harder through his body and concentrated it on his claws. The claws of a cat were sharp, even more so for the monster cat. Even retracted, he felt the power in those claws. He extended them and continued to push mana through them.
[Internal Mana Manipulation has reached Apprentice 21!]
He felt the channels of the monster's body around the claws burst, but he regenerated the damaged tissue immediately with some more mana. He kept channeling and channeling for what felt like hours until finally something changed.
[Your Bloodline: Rainbow Dragon has interfered in the acquisition of a new ability]
[New Ability: Claws of the Cerulean Dragon]
It wasn't the one he was hoping for, but better than nothing. So he left the corner he'd been hiding in, activated Claws of the Cerulean Dragon, and leapt at the monster.
His puma claws were outlined in bright blue energy as they struck out at the monster, shattering some of the crystals off its back. It snarled and turned, hatred exploding from its aura. But before it could take a first swing, Errazorrus locked his jaw around the wolf's throat.
He yanked, and the wolf let out a startled yelp as the powerful feline jaws tore out its throat.
Errazorrus wasn't sure why, but he knew that would kill the wolf. He spat something onto the ground as the flesh of the wolf dissolved into smoke. A small crimson gem bounced on the stone floor as the wolf died.
Before it could dissolve, Errazorrus used Gelatinous Body to create a circle around its corpse. He filled it with mana, and with a burst of aura, the circle lit up.
[You have used a harvesting ritual on a monster. Slimy Harvesting has reached Apprentice 2!]
[Notice from System Administrator I: You can use System Boons to reinforce your aspects.]
[Notice from System-]
[System Administrator HD7431 has been terminated.]
[Notice: You currently possess five epic system boons. Would you like to spend them to reinforce your Aspects of Existence? Y/N]
Errazorrus felt something being held down. Something suppressed by an outside force. He remembered Administrator I. It had granted them the Infinite System.
The suppression was starting to turn to pain as it continued. Every moment the administrator waited for their choice, it became a greater and greater pain. He accepted the use of the system boons.
[You have used five epic system boons to reinforce your Aspects of Existence.]
Errazorrus blacked out as overwhelming pain flooded his body.
Errazorrus awoke in the body of the puma again, with an ache across his body. He felt the bond to the core trembling and realized it wasn't just his body that ached, but his soul as well. His mind was foggy, and his core was still.
A system message flickered into existence.
[Your title Cheater has become Cheater II]
[You have gained new skills: Ritual Magic (Apprentice-1), Harvesting Ritual (Apprentice-1)]
[You have forcefully exceeded your limits with the assistance of the Skill System.]
[The Mistress of Gluttony has offered you a new task: {Attain the Glutton Title (0/1)}]
He knew he'd done something stupid. He hadn't been that deeply unconscious since the day he was formed. He wanted to speak to the others, but he still had his own task.
So, after giving himself a couple of minutes to even his mental state, he once again began his hunt through the caverns.
Unfortunately, it seemed his spoils had been snatched up by something else, as he couldn't find any of them. Not that he was sure what he would have gotten.
The winding tunnels seemed strangely absent of monsters, but he knew he'd find one eventually. And find one he did.
He located a large beetle monster. Its face seemed to just be a ring of mandibles with no antennae, and its hard shell glistened with some kind of fluid.
He felt his body protest as he used Claws of the Cerulean Dragon again. The body of the monster still ached like nothing he'd felt before, but he pushed through it.
His instincts screamed that he'd reach his goal rather easily against this monster. So he leapt from his darkened hiding spot and dug his claws into the back of the beetle. It didn't move, didn't let out a sound. It simply collapsed. But it didn't die, didn't dissolve.
Instead, it began to release more of the fluid that coated his claws.
[You have gained Poison Resistance: Ringmouth Stag Bytel Poison (0.01%)]
[Poison Resistance has reached 0.05%!]
Poison. He was taking damage; he felt the poison seep into the mana of the claws and up into his body. It ravaged its way through him, burning at his insides. He activated Scales of the Black Dragon, which only helped a little with the poison.
Every centimeter of his body felt like it was melting or dissolving, but he felt himself getting closer and closer to what he was after. He dug the claws deeper into the body, getting a jet of poison right to the face.
The monster wasn't dying. If anything, it was getting stronger. He was right on the edge of his goal. But it wasn't enough. He couldn't make the final push.
He used Gelatinous Body to extend his jaw forward, right into the shell of the monster. The sharp teeth bit into its carapace, and more poison was released straight into his mouth.
[Dungeon Devouring activated]
He ignored the voice in his head and bit again. More damage. More poison. More pain.
He drew his claws free and ripped into the shell again. He ripped and bit at the oversized bug. He felt a second set of ripping claws emerge from his back. Like when they'd fought the elymental, his natural wings turned into another set of attacking limbs.
The body was dissolving. Chunks were falling to the ground and turning to blue smoke. Fur fell out in thick clumps as the poison continued to ravage his system.
One of the new back limbs dropped like a rock off his back as the body did its best to keep attacking. A monster had no sense of self-preservation, no instinct to survive. Only to kill.
[Record complete: Ringmouth Stag Bytel Poison]
[Quest: Records of Existence completed!]
[Quest: Records of Existence reactivated!]
He was so close, but the puma's body couldn't handle any more of this. He felt its eyes dissolve under the continued damage of the poison.
[You have gained one Uncommon System Boon]
[+10 Depth to Node Poten]
[New Titles: Questing I, Quest Repeater I, Uncommon Quester I, System Quester I]
He blindly kept striking, even after the puma's spine dissolved, splitting into two halves. One of the vertebrae was simply missing, and the back half of the body fell away.
He didn't care. One front paw dissolved. Without the entire body to sustain the damage, the already escalating attack only escalated further.
It didn't take long for the flesh of the head to finish dissolving, leaving only a skull behind. He kept biting with it. Even as the paws finished dissolving, he bit and bit. Even as the teeth dissolved, he didn't stop.
When the puma's body died, and he returned to the nexus, he knew he hadn't managed to kill the monster. No kill notification, no EXP. He'd gotten very little from it, but had an idea on how to continue from here.
Azotreh awoke in their training room, both Dur and Kurdan standing over them with worried expressions. They stood up with aching… everything. Their aura trembled as their soul ached. Their powerful heart beat inconsistently as it ached, and their thoughts were foggy as their mind also ached. There was a new sense of power, but also a sudden absence. They didn't know what, but something was missing.
[Your title: Cheater I has become Cheater II]
[You have forcefully exceeded your limits with the assistance of the Skill System]
[The Mistress of Gluttony has offered a new task: {Attain the Glutton Title (0/1)}]
The system messages seemed to flicker a bit before they dismissed them. They were tired.
They hadn't needed to sleep in seven months. Even when their body had forcefully entered a dormant state, when their core was damaged, they hadn't really been sleeping. Their thoughts had been clear and their ego mobile. But right now, their entire existence demanded sleep.
They were pulled from their thoughts by Dur, "You alright, Azotreh?" She asked.
"Fine. Something happened. I'm going to sleep."
"Sleep? I haven't seen you sleep since I got here." Kurdan said with a curious look.
"Haven't needed to. But I need to now."
With that, Azotreh collapsed and rapidly expanded. Despite only being around four feet tall, Azotreh's unformed mass expanded out to be a pool more than thirteen meters in diameter. Kurdan leapt up and used some basic wind magic to remain aloft. Dur wasn't so lucky, but the slime didn't dissolve her feet.
If anything, it was cool and a little comforting. But she still left the training room, stepping over a sudden doorstop between it and the living area that Atu, Mukurric, and Anthei spent most of their time in.
Anthei had joined in the training of Azotreh on the third day, but hadn't made much progress. Azotreh simply didn't have the mindset right now to take in her training about being a hero.
Mukurric was still figuring out less traumatic ways to train Azotreh than the forced aura suppression. So she hadn't joined in.
"What happened?" Mukurric asked, "The aura of the dungeon retreated completely into the walls for a moment."
"System-imposed sleep," Kurdan responded, "likely some kind of aspect reinforcement by the system itself."
"Like what happens during a species maturation?" Atu asked.
"Exactly like that. But without the maturation." Kurdan replied as he sat on the wool seat Dur had created.
"What about now?" Anthei followed up.
"Regular sleep. Should be proper. Don't expect to see the others that occupy Azotreh's soul either. This should be a deep rest. Not like the sleep we need normally."
"Why is it different?" Atu asked, visibly becoming worried.
"They've been working around the clock without the bonuses of higher rank." Mukurric explained, "Even a zinc-ranker like you can go without sleep for around three days without any adverse side effects. But Azotreh's barely stronger than a normal-ranker of their species. I assume slimes don't need as much sleep," she turned to Anthei.
Anthei nodded, "So far, the colony hasn't seen a slime stop moving since it was spawned. It seems to ultimately have an adverse effect, since those that aren't swiftly killed die of seemingly natural causes after a couple of days."
"Azotreh hasn't slept since the time the lich of nightshade paid you a personal visit, Atu," Mukurric continued, "They've been going for seven months without a break. I don't know how they didn't collapse months ago. Even a dragon of their rank would have collapsed after a couple of weeks. That, combined with the sudden strain, is likely causing them some heavy onset exhaustion. Don't expect them to get up for at least a couple of days."