บท 39: Chapter 37

As usual, I found myself falling asleep surprisingly quickly. When I woke, I went through my new routine, stretching before entering the sandy bath. After this twelfth day's rest, I could feel an expectedly large amount of sloughed skin under my scales after my growth period. The itch was unbearable, and the release of the cleansing dirt bath was divine.

Finally ready to face it, I looked at my [Status]. Nothing had changed except my Stats, number of followers (30/49), and days passed before reaching adulthood (13/60). My new Stats had updated a surprising amount overnight.

[Stats:

-Constitution: 17+2=19

-Strength: 20+3=23

-Agility: 20+3=23

-Intelligence: 15+3=18

-Magic: 3+1=4]

As it was, I was basically twice as strong as a normal adult keelish would be after full maturation. And I still had eight more of these growth spurts? If [Exceptional Individual] added one point per stat and my evolution to Alpha had provided one point to all except Constitution… I'd gained so much more than I ever could have expected, and I truly did need to get every single member of the pack evolving and qualifying for [Exceptional Individual] immediately.

I'd grown, again, and was taller than before. I figured I'd gone from about 24 to 28 or so inches tall, which was getting towards the height of many keelish I'd seen in my previous life. That.. was strange, since while I'd had a couple of lucky encounters, the rest of the spawnlings that I'd seen that hadn't were still at least 18 inches tall and had eight growth periods remaining. However, the [System] gave no indication of why that was, so instead I focused on my current situation.

So far as I could tell, the growth brought about by [Quest] completions and evolution was more qualitative, a change in self. When those had happened, the changes I'd experienced were less visible, but were changes in my base self. These natural stages of growth came in the form of simple… growth, I supposed. We all grew taller, our bodies continued to fill out with more muscle, fat, and flesh, the frills along our heads grew more prominent, and so on.

With a sigh, I stepped out into the den, hoping to see how much everything had changed while we had been asleep. What I first noted, and was surprised to see, was that Sybil was still asleep. She had always awoken before me since joining the pack, and it was almost uncomfortable to see her asleep. I knew that she slept, just as the rest of us, but I'd never seen her act tired, much less sleep in. I smiled, feeling somehow as if I'd gotten one over on her, and surveyed the rest of the pack.

Since Percral, Ilne, and Katre had joined the pack, Sybil had led us all in expanding our space, taking loads of dirt out of our den's space and depositing them across the clearing in which the entrance to the den proper was found. Our personal den had expanded greatly and joined with a couple others in order to fit as many of us as there were, but what had been a cozy but comfortable space before was now packed without any space to spare. There were tails spread across others, legs used as pillows, and a sense of claustrophobia filling the area as I noticed some of the spawnlings beginning to stir.

Sybil was, unsurprisingly, the first to rise, and she stretched and shifted as she quickly rose to her feet. There was a sense of… satisfaction, somehow, in her bearing, and I felt a bit of the veneer of perfection that she kept up slip. As Sybil turned towards my personal quarters, she froze upon seeing me watching. Then, with a forced casualness, she strode back to me and nodded in greeting.

"Good morning Alpha. You were early to rise today."

I flicked my tail, feigning indifference. "I wonder if the rest of you simply slept in."

"Perhaps."

As Sybil stood, somewhat awkward, I sized her up. She hadn't grown as much as I had, but that wasn't surprising, considering the considerable size difference between us. As it was, I thought she had qualified for [Exceptional Individual], but I couldn't be sure. Her hands had developed differently from my own, and those of Oncli, Took, Treel, or the rest for that matter. Instead of the blunt, somewhat stubby fingers capped by thick, strong nails of the rest of the pack, Sybil's fingers had lengthened, her hands now almost humanlike.

Additionally, Sybil's shoulders hadn't broadened anywhere near as much as the rest of the pack's had, but the more closely I observed her, she had definitely evolved into something more specialized. I wished so deeply to be able to investigate further, to access some [Status] for all of my followers, but the [System] had not provided any such option. Regardless, my conclusion brought me some peace of mind.

"Have you seen what you were looking for?"

I was pulled from my musing and looked up into Sybil's eyes. Her head was cocked, curious but generally ambivalent.

"I was just hoping that you had grown as I have. As Oncli has. I'm hoping that I can help the whole pack to do so."

Sybil stared levelly into my eyes. She didn't often do that, and, before long, I broke the contact and looked over the rest of the pack.

"You hope to rule." Sybil's voice was matter of fact, simply stating what she thought to be obvious. "To rule over not just the brood, but all the swarm."

I hesitated then flared my frills in agreement. "I'm nothing if not ambitious. There are… things I must do." I could feel the hurt of betrayal burning within me as I was reminded of my goal: Viilor. While I did want to understand what had happened, more than that, I wanted to make him pay. He had his reasons, I was sure, but he had murdered me, and I wasn't going to roll over and accept that when I could build up a swarm of the strongest keelish in remembered history and force him to face the consequences.

After a moment, I noted Sybil's tense posture beside me and I forced myself to relax. I'd realized since getting my [Dominance] and [Innate Leadership] Skills that when I was riding an emotional high, it would influence my nearby followers to that same emotion. As I mastered myself, Sybil too was able to resume her calm demeanor.

"Do you wish to explain?"

I clicked my teeth together in denial more forcefully than necessary, the emotions still running hot even under my attempt at self control.

"Very well. Good luck on the hunt today, Alpha. Are you still planning to acquire a large hunt today and use that to smooth the transition to control over Shemira's pack?"

"Yes. We'll assume control when we return, and the provided food should soften the blow."

A flare of her frills in assent, and then Sybil was off to start directing her squad in expanding the den even more to accommodate our new sizes, as well as our soon-to-be companions.

As for me, I gathered the hunters, a full two dozen of us. We were going to see if we could find new prey and allow the weaker among us to finally qualify for [Exceptional Individual], if they hadn't yet. A good day.