I once again found myself alone in the corner, but I could feel the fear of all the other spawn directed towards . I knew that I didn't have to worry about them attacking, because I was the only one keelish (ie, unhinged) enough to brutally murder another. Now, that's a thought...
While I was thinking, I certainly wasn't lost in thought. I watched as the rest of the victors were presented with so at scraps, all of which were quickly devoured with gusto. The losers looked on with envy, but, under the watchful gaze of Greel, they didn't dare try anything.
As I looked on the feeding of my broodmates, I tried to reconcile my feelings on my killing of a keelish as a keelish with my previous thoughts. One of my foremost responsibilities in my not-so-distant previous life had been the absolute eradication of any keelish nest the tribe happened upon, yet here I was, thinking of killing a single spawnling as murder. As I mused over this, two spawnlings approached.
They both bore wounds from the recent "test", and looked miserable. One, a male, spoke up.
"Will... will you be our boss?"
"What now?"
"Can we be your... udderlings?"
"Huh? Underlings? Of course not." I retorted.
In response, the two recoiled, and began to slink away. However, I took notice of a new [System ssage] appearing before my eyes.
[(2) Keelish spawn desire to serve you. They will count towards the evolution requirent "Young Keelish Alpha". Do you accept their request?]
"Wait." The two stopped, and turned around.
"You may serve ."
"T-Truly?" the male spawn that seed to be the spokesman for the two spoke up.
"Yes."
[Young Keelish Alpha requirent, 2/10 complete]
"Then... can we eat?"
"Well, of course you can eat...? What does that have to do with ?"
Happily, the two ran over to the corpse of the spawnling I'd slain. They tore into its fleshy belly, and, blood coursing through their teeth and into the dirt below them, they devoured the innards.
I can't just keep thinking of them as "them", can I?
"What are your nas?"
The spawnlings looked up, cocking their heads slightly. The female (slightly larger than the male, who had spoken already)
"Us? We too weak and small for nas." Hopefully her thinking is better than her speaking.
Unwilling to put too much thought into it, I just decided to base the nas off of "1" and "2". "All right, I'll call you Oncli and Took then." Oncli (the male) seed unconcerned, but Took again cocked her head, then seed to happily nod, before setting back to the devouring of the carcass.
As my stomach began to turn at the barbaric sight, I caught a whiff of the splashing blood and... sothing snapped inside . Next thing I knew, I was burying my snout in the exposed viscera of my prey. In so corner of my mind, I rembered snarling at my two new subordinates to "leave the good parts to ", and they gave be space after that.
All I could rember after was pulling back, completely satiated, from the guts of my prey. However, once I ca back to myself, I tasted what was in my mouth. Imdiately, I tried to hold back the gags. Successfully, may I add! It did not, in fact, taste like anything other than gummy blood, and, regardless of how easily my teeth tore through the flesh, it was both an unpleasant texture as well as flavor.
As I half stepped and half stumbled away from the carcass, I looked for Oncli and Took. They had seemingly respectfully stepped away while I had eaten my fill, and, now that I was done, resud their own ssy feast. As I morbidly watched my underlings, I finally noticed a gently blinking light in the top right of my vision. Now that I had a bit of ti, I wanted to finally try to understand this [System] thing.
[Dominance Skill Acquired]
Ok, and what is that"
[Skill: Dominance--the skill user has demonstrated their ability to force others to obey them. The skill user will now find it easier to dominate and subjugate others. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Dominate and subjugate 100 creatures. Current progress: 2/100]
Nice, I guess? Wait... didn't I have a couple of other skills too? How do I see those again?
[Skills:
-Bloodlust
-Evolutionary Foresight]
And what are those?
[Skill: Bloodlust--when incited by certain triggers, the skill user will find themselves enveloped by rage, thus heightening their battle prowess, at the cost of rationality. This skill can evolve. Conditions: Hidden.]
[Skill: Evolutionary Foresight--the skill user will have the benefit of seeing their imdiate evolutionary possibilities and the requirents to fulfill them. This skill cannot evolve.]
Well, I guess that's all well and good. Just as I was going to resu my status deep-dive, Greel's voice rang out.
"Trash! Git over 'ere!" The spawnlings all congregated in what I'll call the front of the room, facing the exit.
"I'm 'appy to say that I'll have you little shits out from under my feet tomorrow." The swarm of spawnlings looked confused. "You all are gonna go on yer first hunt tomorrow, and that ans that yeh'll 'ave to take care of yerselves from tomorrow morning. By the way, that's four hours from now." Greel bared his teeth, seemingly in mirth.
"Sleep well! It'll be all of you's first night's sleep and many of you's last!"
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