Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

The canopy above the five of them stirred with the warm afternoon breeze that washed over the forest-covered hills, casting flickering patches of sunlight across the mossy forest floor. Birds called out now and then, and every few minutes, Burpy would let off a little burst of green mist like it was celebrating something while atop Archie's left shoulder.

Lazy, true to his nickname, buried himself in between the furs of Archie's Headdress of the Savage Ursine, basking in the rays of the warm afternoon twin suns atop Archie's head.

Archie, with his reinforced pack slung over one shoulder and runes scribbled on a parchment in his hands, signed a question mid-stride, keeping pace with the others: 'So… when are you planning to evolve, Tim?'

Tim arced up from the mossy path and lazily hovered beside him, wings beating with a soft hum.

"Oh, that?" he replied, casually circling once before gliding forward again. "Probably in about a month. There's a planetary solstice coming up on Hesperen – the planet where my parents have their home. Real old, big place in the side of a giant fuck off mountain. Really sunny."

"My mom picked it out a couple of thousand years back because the ley lines she found beneath it are formed in a spiral, which acts as huge natural conduits during the solstice. Makes it a prime spot for evolution for Solar Attuned creatures like me," Tim said.

Archie's brow rose slightly, intrigued. 'Is that where you were raised?'

"Partially," Tim replied. "When I wasn't stuck with my brood cohort getting lectured by Elder Scaelin about heritage, posture, and 'proper flame etiquette,'" he added, shuddering slightly at the memory. "Hesperen was a little less strict than the brood, but not by much."

Aoife, walking a few steps ahead, glanced back. "How so?"

"My parents are way more rigid than I am – like, way more. Especially my dad," Tim said with a huff. "Always sticking to a schedule that was created from way before I was forming inside my egg, all about discipline and tough love. It was exhausting."

He grinned. "That's why the moment I won a bet with them that earned me five years of freedom away from any daily schedule, I immediately booked it to the nearest planet with an Omniversal Solutions guild tavern."

"Winning that bet? Second-greatest moment of my life," he said with a satisfied sigh. "The greatest? My first day alone on a foreign planet."

From Archie's arm, Burpy let out a chirp, as if to voice agreement.

"Anyway," Tim continued, glancing back at Archie with a sheepish smile, "I was actually gonna ask… since you're basically a walking library now, would you mind if I borrowed that General Information Pamphlet you have about 'Class and Profession Evolutions'? I want to compare the options I receive and see if any of them pop up and could tell me the types of trials I could face and how the Classes and Professions offered stack up with each other."

'Yeah, as I said before, I have no problems at all with lending it to you,' Archie nodded, scratching the top of Burpy's head. In about two weeks, I should have the teleporter finished. Planning to evolve right after that's done. Once everything's set, I'll call you and you can borrow the book then.'

He didn't immediately get a response.

Tim, who had been flapping just above the group, had his head turned slightly. His glowing eyes were locked onto something just atop Archie's head.

Aoife slowed as well, her boots crunching gently against the leaf-strewn path. "…Uh, Archie?"

Archie blinked, then attempted to look upwards to no avail.

Burpy had leapt upward to join its twin, Lazy, atop Archie's headdress. The moment their eyes met, both centipedes went still – unnaturally so. A soft glow began to radiate from their bodies, green and black light pulsing in alternating waves before settling into a steady, unified rhythm. The glow grew brighter, outlining their forms in stark contrast against the golden hue of Archie's headdress.

"What the?" Tim muttered, wings flapping erratically as he hovered lower.

Then, without warning, the light deepened into a flash – and the two Glenwyn centipedes leaned into one another, their forms blurring at the edges.

A single shape remained.

Where there had once been two, there was now only one centipede, larger than either had been, its carapace shimmering with streaks of green across deep black. It twitched its antennae sleepily, then burrowed its head beneath its legs in what could only be described as a post-merge rest.

"…So that's new," Tim mumbled.

Aoife crouched down, squinting. "Did they just fuse like slimes? Or did they just evolve?"

'Yes, to the first,' Archie said, drawing both pairs of eyes to him. 'Burpy and Lazy were originally one creature. Back when they were imbued with nature spirits inside the Spirit Nucleus, I had just killed a giant centipede called a Temple Guardian – one that could split itself in two. I placed its Insectoid core next to the Spirit Nucleus in my old satchel and, somehow, they merged. However, notably, they do not split in the same way, probably due to both Burpy and Lazy being spirit beasts.'

[Glenwyn Centipede Lv 4]

Archie crouched behind a moss-covered boulder, a few meters away from the merged centipedes, with Aoife kneeling beside him and Tim perched above in the low branches of a crooked tree, all three keeping a cautious but curious eye on the merged centipede. It scuttered silently across the underbrush, its many legs barely making a sound as it moved in between the crunchy-looking leaves.

"There," Aoife whispered to Archie, pointing at Burpy and Lazy's hunting target.

From beneath a patch of moss, a Burrowing Shrew emerged. Its wet, elongated nose twitched rapidly as it sniffed at the air, searching for earthworms to devour – oblivious to the danger creeping from behind it.

[Burrowing Shrew Lv 4]

The merged centipedes paused. Then, with a sudden burst of nature mana from the glowing bands lining its carapace, it surged forward. Roots erupted from the ground, curling with serpentine precision and latching onto the shrew's limbs, pinning it mid-squeak.

Before the creature could struggle free, the centipede's antennae pulsed once before it scurried forward, where it then began to eat its captured prey.

Tim let out a low whistle. "Well… That was a lot better than how I expected its first hunt to go."

Aoife leaned closer from atop the boulder, impressed. "Controlled and efficient."

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Archie said nothing, but a flicker of approval passed across his face.

The merged centipede didn't linger over its first victory. It coiled around the semi-eaten, dead shrew for a brief moment after taking two bites out of its corpse, antennae twitching, before lifting its head and clicking its bloodied mandibles once. Its body shimmered again with a light hum, and then it turned, already tracking its next prey.

[Hill Forest Frog Lv 5]

Further up the hill, nestled between two knotted tree roots, a hill forest frog rested on a sun-warmed patch of stone. It blinked lazily… until a low vibration in the air startled it. A heartbeat later, the centipede was upon it.

This time, the frog fought back.

It croaked loudly, unleashing a tongue whip imbued with minor applications of wind magic. The centipede dodged it with a jerking ripple of its body, then retaliated – its green-and-black carapace shifting as it cast a fan of razor-edged leaves that raked across the frog's hide.

The frog launched itself skyward, escaping the ground… but the centipede raised its head high and released a thorned vine upward like a striking cobra from between its mandibles. It wrapped around the frog's leg mid-jump, yanked it down, and slammed it to the forest floor with a thud, knocking the wind out of its lungs.

The centipede didn't hesitate as it channeled its nature mana once more. Another sharp burst of nature mana lanced out from the ground, and the frog went still after the root speared its side.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Archie, crouched atop the boulder, was just about to leap down and congratulate the twins on completing not one, but two hunts-

But he paused, catching the sudden, erratic twitching of their antennae.

The merged centipede snapped its head to the left, tensing its body like a drawn bow. Its antennae flicked rapidly, attempting to locate a stronger foe to hunt down.

A few minutes of searching later, the ground at the base of the hill burst open in a spray of dirt as a barkback badger clawed its way to the surface, snarling.

[Barkback Badger Lv 7]

The centipede let out a low, guttural, chittering hiss and began to prowl forward, segmented body shifting. The green and black shimmer of its carapace pulsed faintly, a warning.

Across the clearing, the barkback badger squared its stance. Broad and compact, its muscular frame shifted beneath plates of bark-like armor clattering against each other. Its eyes locked on the centipede, snout curled in a vicious snarl, claws raking the soil in tense anticipation.

Without warning, it lunged.

The centipede darted left, narrowly avoiding a crushing swipe. But it wasn't fast enough to evade the second – the badger slammed its hind leg around and clipped the centipede mid-body, sending it tumbling with a sharp crackle of mana. It hit a tree trunk with a hard thud and fell, writhing, green energy leaking faintly from one segment of its armored hide.

Aoife flinched. "It's hurt."

Archie chewed his upper lip, eyes locked on the fight. His fists clenching at his sides. I know.

"We should–"

'No.' He didn't look at her as he wrote out his words with a mana construct. 'Don't interfere.'

Aoife turned to him, mouth tightening. "But it's-"

'I'll only step in if they're in actual danger,' he wrote, his jaw clenched. 'They wanted a stronger hunt.'

Tim, once again perched on a nearby branch, nodded solemnly. "He's right. My brood's Elder used to tell us the same thing when I was still a hatchling under his training. If you continuously get bailed out of danger and are never truly in danger, records stop coming, because you aren't risking anything if you get saved whenever things go south."

"No danger equals no levels gained, and no levels gained equals no evolving," Tim finished.

The merged centipede was already back on its feet. It weaved to the side of another swipe, vines lashing out to strike at the joints of the badger's legs.

Archie exhaled through his nose. Tim's explanation reminded him of the hundreds of fantasy and mythological stories he'd read, where gods, goddesses, and various other powerful entities were restricted by the laws of the universe. Laws that said mortals had to fight their own wars, bleed their own blood.

Where the moment a god lifted a finger to help, the whole cosmic balance went to hell, and mortals paid the price.

Maybe such laws in mythos and fantasy novels were yet another influence of the System's Integration with his universe.

Below, the Barkback Badger charged with surprising speed for a beast so low to the ground, its thick claws tearing through dirt and moss as it barreled toward the merged centipede. The centipede braced, curling into a tight spiral before launching a burst of thorny vines outward.

They struck the badger's snout and chest – thorns embedding into its thick fur and barklike armor – but the beast barely slowed. It lunged again, and this time its jaws clamped down on the edge of the centipede's tail. A screech of pain tore from Burpy and Lazy as it was whipped around like a ragdoll and slammed into a boulder, cracking the stone.

Aoife's breath caught. "That's-"

Archie held out a hand without looking at her. 'Not yet.'

The Burpy and Lazy's merged body twitched where it lay. Then, light pulsed once across its glowing segments, and in a flicker of green and black energy, the form split.

Burpy and Lazy reappeared.

The badger blinked, caught off guard. Then it snarled and lunged again – only to snap its jaws on empty air. Lazy skittered just out of reach, darting under an overgrown root and lashing upward with sharpened earth spikes from below.

At the same time, Burpy launched a barrage of poison mist into the air that clung to the badger's eyes and nose. It reared back with a furious snarl, swiping wildly in every direction.

The twin centipedes circled, flanking.

Lazy crept low, skimming under the beast's belly and slicing with its sharp mandibles. It landed a hit but caught a glancing blow as the badger rolled mid-attack and smashed its weight down. Lazy let out a high-pitched rasp and limped away, blood dripping from a cracked leg segment.

Burpy hissed and launched itself at the badger's flank, biting down with venom-laced mandibles. A burst of acid hissed across the bark-plated hide, eating into it and making the badger howl, but it whipped around and smacked Burpy aside with a clawed paw. The green centipede bounced twice and curled up, stunned.

Aoife's hands clenched at her sides. "Archie-"

'I know,' Archie signed, eyes sharp. 'But they're still moving.'

His fists were clenched tight at the scene of Burpy and Lazy both on the ground. One of Lazy's antennae had bent backwards and leaked blood atop his face. Burpy's carapace bore hairline cracks and a sluggish leak of glowing green blood. But they rose again, slowly, determined.

Tim spoke quietly. "This is what it means to earn power. To feel your limits. And then break them."

The two centipedes glanced at each other, then turned toward the badger again.

They moved as one – Lazy darted forward, a feint. The badger went for him, right into Burpy's trap. A wide arc of nature mana bloomed from the ground, wrapping around the badger's limbs and pinning it in place with thornless vines. Lazy followed up with a burst of earthen spears from the ground, knocking the creature's legs out from under it.

It crashed hard, back exposed.

Burpy reared, venom glowing along its mandibles.

Lazy followed, flicking its tail as sharpened stone coiled around its limbs.

The final blow came in tandem – venom from above, piercing thorns from below.

The Barkback Badger let out a final roar-

Then collapsed.

Burpy and Lazy stood atop the fallen beast, their forms trembling slightly, bodies battered, but alive.

They were triumphant.

A chittering roar escaped the both of them.

Archie leaped off the boulder and took a few slow steps forward, and knelt down in front of the battered twin centipedes. His boots pressed into the torn soil, still damp with ichor and beast blood. His gaze softened as he looked at them: panting, bleeding, victorious.

A small, proud smile crept across his face.

At that moment, he even considered forming words aloud.

Pain shot down his throat, feeling like barbed wire pulling through and shredding everything inside. His fingers twitched, and he gritted his teeth hard enough to crack a molar.

The hex snapped tight around his throat like a vice.

His mana surged – Archie forced his body to flood with Adrenaline Rush at 45%. His muscles screamed in response, his veins protruding atop his throat. His breath hitched – he could feel his vocal cords beginning to tear.

Fuck off…

But still, he spoke.

"You..." he rasped, voice raw and broken, gaze fixed on the black centipede. "Are... Volos."

He turned his head slowly, throat tearing anew as Vital Metabolism tried to repair the damage being done to his body, blood flecking his lips. He pointed to the green centipede, who was now upright and trembling slightly from the adrenaline of battle.

"Y-You..." Archie's voice fractured, the sound deeper than he expected, distorted and guttural. "Are Ar– Arsenic."

As soon as the words left him, he deactivated Adrenaline Rush.

He coughed hard, once, twice – then hacked, a violent, rattling sound that made even Aoife flinch. A splash of dark red hit the ground beside him.

Volos and Arsenic scurried forward immediately, crawling up his arm and curling around his shoulders with worried chirps and antenna flicks.

"Whoa…" Tim said, leaping off the branch he stood on and now absentmindedly hovering in the air. "You weren't kidding when you said you got hit with a powerful curse."

He hovered closer, peering down at Archie's face. "Secondly, your voice is way deeper than I thought it would sound like. I always imagined you sounding a little more bookish."

Archie gave him a blood-specked glare, but the corner of his mouth twitched upward again despite the pain.