Born a Monster

222 Servant of the Axe – Blood and Pain

Chapter Type: System, Character Development

[You have succeeded your Resist Poison check. Poison:5 remains. You have taken 12 points of Toxic damage; after ability activation, 8 points have been received. 32/40 health remain.]

“Gyaaah!” I said, or something similar. Hemotoxins just suck, on the level of pain they cause.

[You have failed your Resist Poison check. Poison:5 remains. You have taken 12 points of Toxic damage; after ability activation, 8 points have been received. 24/40 health remain.]

[You have succeeded your Resist Poison check. Poison:4 remains. You have taken 8 points of Toxic damage. 16/40 health remain.]

Damn it, I needed to unlock some sort of Toxin resistance cultivation method.

[Toxin Exposure Cultivation is already unlocked. Level 0, 7/10 XP to level 1.]

Really? When had that happened? I squashed the message telling me the cost to unlock System tracking.

I flagged the newly discovered cultivation into two more uses per day for my Toxin Reistance.

.....

[You have succeeded your Resist Poison check. Poison:3 remains. You have taken 6 points of Toxic damage; after ability activation, 2 points have been received. 14/40 health remain.]

Pain Tolerance fired off, too. “What IS this? Blowfish?”

The Tarantula shrugged. “Black Grass Viper.”

The other successes were all but guaranteed; as I said, I’d been upping my resistance against toxins. I still had no venom of my own to inject into others, but I’d almost always evolved toward my survival.

The governess sat there, very still, even while I drooled onto the floor.

“Ug. Hurg. Heh. Oooo...” But somehow, the pain wasn’t quite enough to knock me out.

The women looked at me, the one in horror, the other with a dawning appreciation. “Didn’t think that would work.”

I tried to flex my right arm, and nearly passed out from the pain. Someone whimpered, using my throat; I’m reasonably sure it was me.

If I had wanted to map the veins in that arm, that would have been the ideal time for it.

“Laughing. Gods.” I said, cradling my right wrist in my left hand. It looked slightly swollen, and felt as though it were over double its normal size.

The governess remained with her hands in her lap. “IF that is all the business we need to conduct here in my husband’s house, I should like for you to remove yourself now.”

The Tarantula smiled as she rose. “Will you need help getting home?”

“Some.” I admitted. “Nature never ceases to amaze.”

“Oh, alchemy and necromancy gave it a small boost, if I recall correctly. I admit, beyond an ability to kill magical beasts, I wasn’t all that interested.”

“Heh. If I were an assassin, I’d want to know as much as possible about anything I carried on my person that might kill me.”

“Don’t let it touch you; absolutely don’t drink it.” She said. “What else is there to know about poisons?”

I looked at her sideways. “You know more about poisons than that.”

“Oh yes, much more. It doesn’t mean I want YOU to know about poisons.”

The governess cleared her throat. “Senor, I am sorry you were attacked in this manner in my husband’s house. When you die, I hope it is quickly, not... as I just saw.”

“We’ll see which of us goes first.” I said, “But I don’t intend to make things any easier for her.”

“Of course.” She says, but the look of sorrow in her eyes sends me an entirely different message.

We stop by one of the guest privies on our way out; poison has always had that effect on my intestines. I expel what seems to be half my bodily volume before I am empty enough to wipe off and resume the long trudge home.

“If it matters,” I said, “it will take four days for me to heal from the health damage, longer to heal those burst blood vessels.” I almost told her there will be blood in my urine and stool during that time; almost.

“Oh, I hear a lot of whining. There happen to be four days left in this week.”

I flinch away from the sunlight; at some time during the process of fighting the poison, my eyes had changed.

She looked at me. “You are bleeding from your eyeball on this side.”

I looked at her. “What about the other?”

“Huh. Normal tears on that side. Is that usual?”

“More or less. Mostly less, but it’s within normal for the level of wounded that I’m at.

#

“Because OF COURSE it’s another woman.” Madonna said, before I can even finish introductions.

“What does that mean?” I ask, catching Kismet’s wrist as she tries to smack my eye.

“Rhishi, hire a MAN. We are NOT a harem.”

“I’m willing to be part of a harem. Multiple men sounds like fun.” Madonna said.

“Ambassador,” Gamilla said, “Kismet has a point. Rumors are circling.”

“Rumors can kiss my scaled rump.” I said. I moved my hand around the table. “Wants to kill me. Wants me to die. Just wants the business my name is worth, and my childhood friend who is my employee. That’s hardly a harem.”

“And,” I added, “may I please remind everyone here that I am TWO? I have no need of a harem.”

Madonna snickered. “Just an instinctual desire for one.”

I took a deep breath, hold it, and let it out. “I am not gathering a harem.”

“Good,” Kismet said, “then it won’t hurt anything to add another man or two to the team.”

“Fine,” I said, “I guess it can’t hurt anything. Is there anything else to discuss? Finances?”

Gamilla smiles with those pointed teeth I envy. “Spiro the husband saw your duel from a second-story balcony. Seems he’s impressed you can take out people larger than yourself. Until the spring, we’re set.”

“Are we doing another run to the Makura for them?” I asked.

“Nope. It seems there’s a rumor going around that they cursed you.”

I waved a hand dismissively. “The timing of the curse is wrong for that. Fine, we’ll do it on our own and keep the profit.”

Kismet flexed her nostrils. “Rhishi, could you not kill the new girl for say, two weeks?”

“What happens in two weeks?” I asked.

“That’s how long it takes to learn how to increase your criticals with a blade.”

Madonna scoffed. “That’s how long it will take ME to learn that ability.” Madonna says.

“Oh yeah? Fine! It’s on.” She pointed at Tarantula. “No fair training her more than me.”

“If I train neither of you, it is completely fair.”

“Why is everyone looking at me?” I asked.

“Order her to train us.” Madonna said.

“Tarantula, would you please train them in swordplay until one of us kills the other?”

“Swordplay?” she snorted, “Swords are too important to PLAY with. But yes, I have no doubt I can teach the women something about how to kill people with them.”

The rest was just rumors and gossip, and guesswork from our last good reports.

“Well, I’m getting to sleep early then.” I said.

“What about dinner?” Kismet asked.

“I’m not cooking it tonight.”

Besides, it was my last night to report to Manajuwejet.

“Kid, what HAVE you been doing? Please do NOT say, ‘playing around with my own body using life shaping’.”

“I can barely sense the bloodlines of inheritance; I am nowhere near changing ANYTHING using life shaping. Why would I start with myself?”

“Kid, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you seem to live on the dangerous side of life.”

“That’s not my intention.” I said.

“Yeah... about that... there’s some kind of spirit named Adelose that wants you to... I’m sorry, I should take you to Pongo.”

“That sounds like something that deserves payment.”

He made a sound of slurping drool. “Ah, maybe. I could eat.”

“This seems to be taking longer.” I said, once we were under way.

“Yeah, you moved further from alignment with Pongo when you signed up with GOV.”

“Gee Oh Vee?” I asked.

“No, G O V, like the letters? Gods of Vengeance?”

“Why are you using Manoran letters?” I asked.

.....

“Because it’s just not as cool in Numerian.” He admitted. “Gov is short for governor, you see. A polite Manoran term for another aristocrat.”

“Only if they’re male.” I said.

“Gov could also be short for governess.”

“Let’s not argue semantics. It’s such a lovely night, the stars dancing beneath our feet.”

“Yeah, the dreaming stars will do that for a week or so. If you ignore them, they don’t invite you to dance with them.”

“Is that bad? They actually seem rather graceful.”

“Kid, stars BURN. With fire. Trust me, unless you’ve got dragon scales, just say ‘thank you, maybe later’.”

“I shouldn’t just say no?”

“Are you KIDDING? Do you know what it’s like if a star swears vengeance on you?”

“What is it like?”

“What is what like?” Pongo asked.

“Vengeful stars.” Manajuwejet said.

“Oh, it’s a lot like upsetting your sister. By pissing on her. In the sight of a thousand of her friends. Each of whom can manipulate fate itself to make sure you have a bad day. Stars have terrible memory, though. If you can survive the first millennia or so, they start forgiving you.”

“Just say thank you, maybe later, got it.” I said.