Thousand Tongue Mage

When it was eventually Emilia's turn to be served eggs and toast, though, Zora made sure to trudge over and steal one of her crunchy eggs, tossing it into his mouth as he gave her a playful wink.

"Wait for the two of us in the eastern foyer, okay?" he said, patting her head over the countertop as he slipped a piece of bloodberry candy onto her plate as well. She started salivating the moment she smelled the human-flesh candy in front of her. "We'll go out and get the other teachers soon, so finish your plate and don't throw any of it into the bin. Even a spider saves every thread for its web."

He didn't wait to see if she was doing as he asked. The water was boiling and popping violently behind him, so he raced back over the stove and turned the fire down, peering into the pot. The legs looked red enough. Cecilia eventually walked over to check on his progress as well, and the two of them stared blankly down like witches waiting around a magic cauldron.

There was still the giant moth carcass they could eat in the western foyer, but they'd closed that door for the time being. They physically wouldn't have the stomach to eat and digest any part of the moth for breakfast, and they didn't want any kid wandering in and freaking out over the giant carcass.

"... For a humble language arts teacher, you sure know a lot about the Magicicada Witches," Cecilia said quietly, helping him stir the pot with her wand.

"A butterfly knows more than the garden it lands in," he replied plainly, poking one of the legs with his wand to see if it was tender enough. "In fact, I'm surprised you don't know who the Magicicada Witches are. Our Magicicada Classes were developed a long time ago based on their magic and mutations, after all. The mutations we can unlock are mutations they already have, and our magics are exactly identical."

"The mages are quite the secretive bunch, after all," she mumbled, "and so are you."

He didn't respond to that, and Cecilia looked at him quietly.

She remained silent and picked her words carefully.

"Do the Magicicada Witches have anything to do with why you ran away from the Fabre Household ten years ago?"

He stabbed one of the legs with his wand and pulled it out of the pot, still steaming. Cecilia did the same reluctantly, and for a good few seconds, all they did was blow on their legs, trying to cool them down to room temperature.

"... It's okay if you don't wanna tell me," she said, kicking the back of his knees and smirking as he yelped. "You were always the quiet kid in class, ever since mom picked you up and brought you here ten years ago. Given you've never told anyone about your past even as you opened up to me and Marcus and Julius, I'm not about to be annoying and start prying now, but…" she trailed off, kicking the back of his knees again. "If there's anything important I need to know about the Magicicada Witches, then you have to tell me, okay?"

He snorted, kicking the back of her knees in return.

"That goes without saying," he muttered. "If I knew how to kill Nona, I'd tell the world in a heartbeat. It's not about either of us here—our kids are the top priority."

Cecilia scowled at him as she stood up straight, rubbing the back of her knees. "Glad we're on the same page, then."

They clinked their wands and started stuffing the katydid meat down their throats, choking and gagging once more as they forced themselves to finish the entire pot. With that, they'd obtained the maximum amount of points they could obtain this morning. If they wanted more, they'd have to wait until launch after their stomachs finished crying and digesting all of the katydid meat.

Open status interface, he thought.

[// STATUS]

[Name: Zora Fabre]

[Grade: F-Rank Giant-Class]

[Specialized Class: Magicicada]

[Passive Mutation: Resilin Cords]

[Essence Art: God Tongue]

[Aura: 224 BeS]

[Points: 87 vBe]

[Strength: 2, Speed: 3, Toughness: 3, Dexterity: 2, Perception: 2]

[// MUTATION TREE]

[T1 Mutation | Pulsatile Lungs Lvl. 2]

[T2 Mutations | Basic Chitin | Basic Spiracles] 50P

He glanced at his status interface as he swallowed the last of the katydid meat, trying not to vomit all of it back into the pot.

"We've got… how many points do you have?" he asked, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "I got eighty-seven. It's a bit more than enough to level up a few attributes and unlock one of the tier two mutations."

"I got eighty-five," Cecilia said, squinting at her own status interface off to the side; neither of them could see each other's screens, though, so he was sure he looked just as stupid staring off into nothing as she was doing from his perspective. "That's still a lot of points, though. Do we have to unlock another mutation? What if we just put everything into strength so our subconscious believes our spells can hit harder?"

"The mutations are typically worth the points. They're like additional passive and active abilities while our attribute levels only influence our basic physiology," he said. "Sure, we could raise our strength levels to four and spend the rest of the points on the other attributes, but I'm quite certain at least one tier two mutation will be worth it."

"And… what do they do?"

He looked pointedly over to the side and willed another interface into existence.

[T2 Core Mutation: Basic Chitin]

[Brief Description: You will grow thin chitin plates across your skin that are ten percent as tough as your toughness level. Subsequent levels in this mutation will increase their toughness. At max level, they will be as tough as your toughness level]

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[T2 Core Mutation: Basic Spiracles]

[Brief Description: You will evolve specialised spiracle pores around your neck, passively increasing your oxygen intake by ten percent. Subsequent levels in this mutation will enhance your oxygen intake efficiency. At max level, they will passively double your oxygen intake]

"... 'Basic Chitin' sounds better for the time being, no?" he said, cracking his neck as he mused at the options. "We can get both tier two mutations if we have enough points, but I'm not sure it's healthy for us to bloat on bug meat. I don't presume you have enough room left in your stomach to digest that moth in the foyer, hm?"

"Sucks to be small-eaters."

"What do you want, then?"

Cecilia tilted her head back, thinking for a moment. "I imagine 'Basic Spiracles' pairs well with 'Pulsatile Lungs'—increased oxygen intake efficiency with increased lung capacity—but 'Basic Chitin' for immediate defense sounds nice. It means we won't get nicked or cut by small edges as much, right?"

"Well, it depends on how many chitin plates we actually mutate, and where they mutate," he mumbled. "I'll go first to see where they show up."

It was the same as increasing his attributes. All he had to do was 'will' his system to unlock the tier two mutation on the left, and immediately, he felt his skin itching and warbling and… hardening all over.

[T2 Core Mutation Unlocked: Basic Chitin Lvl. 1]

[Brief Description: You will grow thin chitin plates across your skin that are ten percent as tough as your toughness level. Subsequent levels in this mutation will increase their toughness. At max level, they will be as tough as your toughness level]

[Points: 87 vBe → 37 vBe]

He winced and leaned back against the kitchen counter, scratching his face as Cecilia watched on in horror. Most of them were covered under his clothes, but he could tell thin chitin plates were forming over his forearms, calves, thighs, back, chest, and cheeks. They weren't heavy at all. In fact, he couldn't even feel them without running his fingers across them, but flicking them returned sharp and brittle clinks like he was flicking the rim of a wine glass.

"... Yep. Go ahead and unlock 'Basic Chitin'," he said. "This seems useful enough. I'm assuming for each level, these plates' toughnesses will increase by ten percent, so at max level—"

"When we get hit on these plates, it's like we'll have double our toughness levels."

Cecilia needed no telling twice. She gulped and lurched a little as her skin warbled as well, but then her eyes flitted over her own interface as she read the brief description as well—he was quite sure they made the correct choice picking this mutation.

"About basic mutations," she mumbled, pointing at the air. "You said something about… at certain levels, we can unlock something?"

"Branch mutations," he said, nodding quickly. "Again: the cost to increase a mutation's level is that mutation's current level cubed multiplied by its tier, and once a 'Basic' mutation reaches level five, we'll get to choose between three branch mutations that'll augment the mutation even further. Right now, all 'Basic Chitin' does is evolve chitin plates across our skin, but I wouldn't be surprised if the branch mutation gives our plates some extra utility at level five."

"And these branch mutation offerings are the same for everyone?"

He had to think for a moment, scratching the back of his head as he tried to recall what he'd read in a textbook. "Not exactly, I don't think. The branch mutation offerings depend on your physiology, preferences, overall build, and a whole slew of other biological factors that the system automatically takes into account during the moment of selection. We may not get the same branch mutation offerings even if our attribute and mutation levels are the exact same."

Cecilia mumbled something under her breath—something about 'you should be a system class instructor instead of a language-arts teacher'—but he ignored it and waved the brief description interface away.

They had more important things to talk about than daydreaming about what sort of branch mutations were offered to the Magicicada Class.

"... So? Who are we looking for first?" he asked, both hands still on the counter as he kept scratching his skin. He'd get used to his chitin plates soon enough. "I'm the only teacher who survived the south, and you're the only teacher who survived the west, so what next? Go east for Marcus, or go north for Julius?"

"Marcus," she grumbled, without missing a beat.

"Agreed," he said, nodding vigorously.

"And we're taking Emilia with us again, right?"

He frowned, giving her a blank, empty stare.

"We can't just leave her here with the rest of the kids, can we?" he said. "She… should stick with me. Just in case."

"But if we're going to be running into an Insect God, maybe it'd be safer if she were here," she countered, biting her lip as she glanced back at Emilia, lowering her voice. "Even if she is strong and fast and helpful, and she did save our asses last night with those threads, she's still—"

"I know," he mumbled. "I don't like it either."

"..."

Cecilia sighed, kicking the back of his knees again.

"Where are we putting the rest of our points?" she asked.

"At least one more level in strength, first," he said without hesitation. "Then we can increase both mutations we currently have by at least one level, and if we have any points left, we can just scatter them across the other attributes evenly."

"Shouldn't we try to aim for a branch mutation quickly first?"

He shook his head. "Now's not the time to get all creative. Hitting hard is more than half the battle, so let's just hit things hard with more strength and bludgeon through every bug in our way."

With that, he willed the system to allocate the rest of his points, and he glanced at the status interface only briefly again.

[Strength: 2 → 3]

[Dexterity: 2 → 3]

[Perception: 2 → 3]

[Pulsatile Lungs Lvl. 2 → Pulsatile Lungs Lvl. 3]

[Basic Chitin Lvl. 1 → Basic Chitin Lvl. 2]

[Points: 37 vBe → 3 vBe]

[Grade: E-Rank Giant-Class → D-Rank Giant Class]

"... Says here that my 'grade' has increased as well," Cecilia said absentmindedly, staring off into empty air. "So the system now thinks I'm on par with an D-Rank Giant-Class bug?"

Zora shrugged. "Seems like it."

"I don't wanna be compared to a bug, though."

"It's supposed to be an honour. For your reference, most humans with classes are around A-Rank Critter-Class, which means this stickman right here," he said, thumbing at himself, "is much more physically fit than your average human."

Cecilia looked at him pointedly, her expression one of complete disbelief.

"Nope," she said plainly. "I don't accept it."

"The almighty system says so."

"Nope."

… And Emilia heard everything they were talking about.

She'd ducked under the countertop the moment Mister Zora gave her her favourite bloodberry candy and turned away. The two teachers had been whispering so quietly amongst themselves that she was just a bit too curious about what adults like Mister Zora and Miss Cecilia talked about when they were alone.

She hadn't really planned on overhearing anything important—really, she just wanted to clean her plate and suck on her bloodberry candy somewhere close to Mister Zora—but she'd heard everything they said anyways, and she couldn't help but feel a painful twinge in her chest as she took small bites out of her toast.

She didn't like the toast.

She didn't like this 'normal 'human food.

But I can't be a bother to Mister Zora and Miss Cecilia.

If they think I'm weak, they'll leave me behind here.

If I'm irritating, they'll leave me behind here.

I don't… want that.

So she ate the toast.

She forced every last crumb down her mouth and swallowed hard.