Rae settled in for the evening, preparing her bath, as Tian set them up with a shelter for the night.
Like the first one he had made, it had a dod roof, but this one had flat sides so that they could more easily hang hammocks across the length. The ladies were suspicious when Rae didn't make an appearance during the camp setup, as everyone knew that she revelled in the chance to decorate their spot for the night.
Especially this one, as Tian's tastes ran to a Fox's den, and he only made simple smooth stone walls and a rounded roof that looked like the one in the den where they had found him.
Eventually, Remi knew that she would have to expose him to Dwarven architecture. They loved stone as much as the Stonefur Divine Fox did, and they were much more decorative in their creation thods.
The small building was functional, though. It was Totem Ranked magical stone on all sides, so nothing was getting in except through the door, and once Lotus spent a few seconds with her plant growth skills, it looked like nothing more than a small hill.
That pleased the little Fox. Dens should be hidden from sight for safety.
"Is there a reason we're making a bombproof hidden bunker?" Dana asked as they finished the evening's shelter.
"It makes Tian happy." Karl replied with a shrug.
Dana shook her head in dismay and looked at the half tre thick walls of their shelter. It might be overkill, but the thick stone held its temperature very well, and it was much cooler in here than outside.
While they settled in to make dinner, Rae was balancing the contents of her bath with a level of precision that Remi's Alchemy students would be envious of.
She had used a Totem Ranked Ogre base, but with hints of Hill Giant, a dash of Crocolisk rescued from the last fight, a large splash of Lamia blood, also from the last battle, then a generous sprinkle of crab blood for seasoning.
That made the base scent, and a balance of Earth, Water and Beast focused energies.
Then she added half a litre of the Mythic Ranked monster blood that the Dwarves had procured for her and gave it a stir.
That was very close, but it was missing sothing.
[Karl, I need an update. Just a splash.] She insisted, while rummaging through her stored blood for the seasoning she needed.
Ah, there it was. Totem Ranked Lich Lord. That was the dark elent blood that she needed.
Karl gave her so new blood, now that he was Totem Rank, with an advanced bloodline. That added the spice Rae was hoping for, but it took a bit more Lich Lord to offset the chaos elent of Karl.
With the balance now perfect, Rae had Remi cast [Unobtrusive Behemoth] on her and hopped into the pool of blood.
Now that the pool of blood was massive compared to her body, like a human in the Golden Divine Academy's swimming pool, Rae was absolutely certain that she had made the correct choice.
Her body was processing through the blood at an astonishing rate, and her aura was soaring with the combination of monster, beast and undead energies. The balance was just right, slightly demonic, but mostly shadowy and bestial.
The extra dose of Totem Ranked Karl was an interesting high note in the energy flow, as it was sohow both monstrous and bestial at the sa ti, with notes of dragon and void. The extra energy types were adding more possibilities to her advancent, but Rae knew just what she wanted.
There was only one universal truth that really mattered to her.
Everything in the world should be afraid of the things that go bump in the night.
As she worked to integrate the Mythic Rank energies into her body, Rae felt an icy and dispassionate gaze upon her mind. Instinctively, she knew that it was the true attention of the Spider Goddess, and she smirked at the Divinity.
She wanted to see how her offspring were doing? Rae would remind her that she had created the perfect predators, and that one day soon, this particular child of her spiders would be standing before her with pride.
The Spider Goddess seed amused at the thought that Rae was so determined to beco a Divine Being herself, but the feeling soon faded, and that sense of simply being watched returned.
Rae understood, though. The Spider Goddess loved her children, and waited for one to make her proud. But she wouldn't do anything for them that they could do for themselves.
But that thought gave Rae a great idea.
All this ti, she was using blood to advance, and sohow she had managed to overlook the most obvious of all ingredients.
Herself.
Rae clipped her underside with one sharp foreleg and let her own ichor mix into the bath. The added source of energy, from the open wound on her abdon, massively increased the influx of power. However, it also added a hint of herself to the mix, and helped stabilize the energies, which now had overtones of her existing power to them.
If she could find a more powerful spider species for her next advancent, that might be even better. But so far, it hadn't happened during their travels.
Her power had casually soared past the breakpoint of Totem Rank, and she could feel the [Totemic Blessing] forming, but she wasn't done with the bath yet, and Rae was certain that she could get even more out of it before the process finished and her body reford.
So, by the ti that she stopped, the blood was completely gone, and her body had been scrubbed clean.
Then, like the crabs that she had added to the mix, Rae moulted her outer shell and stepped free from her past with a whole new body ready to face her Totem Ranked future.
{Evolution Complete}
{New Skill Gained} [Hemotoxic Strikes] wounds from physical strikes inflicted by the user will not heal naturally.
{New Racial Skill Gained} [Queen of the Damned] Intact targets of Blood Destruction can be temporarily raised as Blood Golems, undead constructs. Vulnerable to Lacerate, Bleed and Holy effects.
That was a lovely new skill. She could make them explode, then gather the pieces back together to attack their allies. It was devious, insidious, and positively hilarious.
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