I wanted to test it so, so badly, with such fervor that I could almost taste the emotion on my tongue.

Of course, I wanted a lot of things right now. With each and every new flicker of the thought-light, new choices had presented themselves - and, almost without fail, I found myself drawn towards them.

[Guardian Link] was only the newest of the choices that called to me.

And call to me it did.

I let the thought-light’s wonderful glow press against me again, basking in its touch - and the knowledge that it brought with it.

Guardian Link: The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail has come far from where it started. You have become a growing Legend, the Little Guardian, with a likeness able to confer powerful blessings. You gain the ability to tap into any of your Foci’s blessings as long as you are within range of their various effects and activating The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail. (Provided by: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail], [Little Guardian])

More than any other reward, [Guardian Link] felt right. It felt like a culmination of my accomplishments, a fang that scored its mark against the flesh of the world, underlining the undeniable fact that I had succeeded in spreading the image of the Great Core.

Like it would push me further into the Great Core’s light.

Like it would help me spread that light even further.

And, in a flash of inspiration akin to the flicker of the thought-light itself, I was struck by an idea.

I reflexively selected my first choice. Before I could question myself, it had already been done. I needed to know if what I suspected was true - and now, with a simple rebirth able to easily wipe away any mistakes, I was confident enough to press forward. Maybe the Great Core had blessed me with such a well-timed reward to give me the confidence to make my decisions. If I was wrong, I could just try again.

I just…didn’t think that I was wrong.

The thought-light flickered.

Reward Chosen: Guardian Link.

[Guardian Link] Acquired.

[Guardian Link] was only one of many good options, and I was well aware of that; in the end, I might decide to go with something else. Without the Coreless around to take wounds for me, it wasn’t unlikely that I could die and be forced to choose something else anyway. In fact, I expected it to happen eventually. There would always be a chance of slithering into the blow of a dangerous bad-thing that I hadn’t seen coming. Even if I was far stronger than I had once been, I wasn’t invincible.

My scale-flesh offered no more protection than it ever had.

No, I expected to test most of the abilities that had caught my eye before I decided on the ones I wanted. Once I decided on two rewards that worked well, it wouldn’t take long to earn a third. Killing the Ascended had already put me halfway there.

Soon after, I assumed my three chosen rewards, combined with all of the power I had already accumulated, would make me strong enough to keep going and receive more. The very thought made my scale-flesh shiver in anticipation. After a moment, I pushed my hopes for the future aside, focusing on what I should do next.

The next choice wasn’t much more difficult. In the end, it was shaped by the decision that I had already made. I needed to see if my idea for [Guardian Link] worked the way that I thought it would - and I figured that since I had already decided that I was testing things anyway, I might as well go all the way in. Especially since one test might very well need the other.

Reward Chosen: The Golem’s Echo.

[The Golem’s Echo] Acquired.

My decisions made, the thought-light flickered away - only to flicker right back again, revealing another message from the thought-light that had been hiding right underneath my most recent rewards.

Gained Minor Title: [Ascended Seeker].

Description: After successfully devouring the Core of a fellow Ascended, your body has mutated to give you a keener sense for when Ascended are near.

Blooded Trait: [Ascended Sense] Acquired.

Suddenly, I could sense myself.

It was weird.

If scent-taste was like wisps against my tongue and sight glows upon my eyes, my new Ascended-focused sense was something more ethereal than both; like fleeting emotion or a nagging thought, lacking the tangibility of my other senses. And, just like a nagging thought, it was hard to ignore - a constant distraction that only faintly even existed, and yet that very faintness made it all the more distracting. An itch, incessantly telling me that something was near. That something was right on me.

Even if that something was only me.

Like any other sensation, I was sure that I would eventually grow used to it. I’d be able to ignore it, only noticing when something changed and a new Ascended grew near. Hopefully that would be soon. It was tireso-

Something skittered nearby, and I realized that it wasn’t the time to get lost in exploring new sensations. My scale-flesh flexed, rubbing against the glowing scales that marked [The Endless Cycle]. A soft light welled from the place where I rested, springing forth from both ore-flesh and dead scale-flesh and illuminating a small circle around me. Highlighting me.

Marking me for any bad-things to see.

The thought wasn’t as daunting as it had once been. Still, there was no reason to dally. Any moment that I wasted lost in my thoughts left room for a bad-thing to descend upon me. And, in my desire to look over my rewards, I had wasted many of them. With how large the cavern had appeared as I was falling, there could be any number of bad-things already on their way, drawn to one of the brightest spots in the cavern.

I looked around, head bobbing. A forked tongue stretched out to taste the air. There was…something. A lot of somethings, even if I didn’t know what. I could taste the ore-flesh tang of blood, some far older than others, emanating from every direction; others were far too close for comfort. I could hear the faint sounds of movement, of skittering limbs somewhere outside of the tiny circle of light that surrounded me. Through [Verdure Parasite], I could sense the bits of plant-flesh ringing the cavern’s walls and filling its cracks. There weren’t as many of them as I would have liked, but there were enough nearby that a spore-root could take hold fairly quickly. It wouldn’t be instant; the many-nest above was too far away for me to draw from. It would still be one of my best options.

More limbs skittered; behind, in front, and to my sides. Too many limbs. A horrible suspicion grew in my mind.

I spit out a giant torrent of [Mana Fire] into the darkness, the bright blue flames accompanied by a flicker of the thought-light. My mana noticeably dipped.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Fire VI] Increased.

[Mana Fire VII] Acquired.

The enemy revealed itself in a blaze of fire. The horrible, disgusting, terrible enemy. Almost a third of a not-Needle tall, the giant abomination reared back on its many, many legs, a set of dripping fangs clicking together in a silent shriek of agony. I fought off a shudder of revulsion at the massive Aridae-like bad-thing.

So many awful, revolting legs.

A set of fangs cut off my thought, piercing straight through my tail-flesh in the midst of my distraction.

I was lifted from the ground as the bad-thing behind me pulled up, still caught within its giant fangs. Venom coursed through my blood, and drops of vitality began to pool in my mana core. With a twist, I pulled myself, scoring a gash in the nearest of the bad-thing’s legs. A cloud of spores puffed from my mouth, taking root within the wound and catching my many-legged attacker off guard before I brought my fangs down upon my own flesh. Vitality flowed, rushing through my blood and beginning to repair the damage that the bad-thing’s venom and fangs had inflicted.

At the same time, I reached out with [Verdure Parasite], pulling on the nearby plant-flesh. The infested bad-thing began to twitch, already beginning to see the wisdom of following the Great Core. It didn’t deserve it.

None of them did.

Now behind me, the flaming bad-thing chittered and threw itself against my length in a fit of rage, piercing uncovered scale-flesh again and again. A few of its attacks bounced off of the protection of my ore-flesh, finding home instead in the bad-thing that still held me captive within its long fangs. Another stream of venom flowed through me, overpowering the few drops of vitality that I had already released.

Other abominations pressed in from the sides, reaching out with enough numbers that I had difficulty striking back. They skittered into the light on eight legs, near-silent save for the occasional scrape of clawed limbs.

I breathed deep, letting loose another gush of [Mana Fire] before twisting it into [Chrono Fire] - this time at myself. Then, with a thought-hiss and a twitch of still-growing spore-roots, my captor was forced to throw me from its fangs.

I landed, hissing in anger. Testing my idea for [Guardian Link] would have to wait. There were legs to break.

Still, at the very least, testing my rewards would be enjoyable. I’d get to kill horrible abominations again and again, bringing them back only to murder them again each time I tried something new.

That was a blessing in itself.

My flesh wrapped in the warm embrace of [Chrono Fire], I pulled on my most recent reward - the first of what I hoped would be many satisfying tests.

I summoned [The Golem’s Echo].