Team Dahlia spent the next two weeks ripping through every Giant-Class bug that passed by their little mushroom hollow, and with every passing day, Dahlia grew more and more homesick for Tavern Emparatoria. The bug meat dishes she could prepare were nothing like the ones Uncle Safi could whip up in just a few minutes, and by now, she’d grown tired of eating the same herb-flavoured bug leg over and over again.

  She wasn’t alone in needing a palate cleanser, of course. It was right past noon on the first day of their final week, and the three of them had just finished lunch, so now they were lounging about the hollow with their backs against cushions and their hands resting on their foreheads—it’d been more herb-flavoured bug legs yet again. Dahlia felt sick to her stomach just lying on her bed. The mushroom flakes and herbs they used to season their bug meat weren’t bad, but they left an undesirable aftertaste in her mouth she just couldn’t get rid of no matter how many times she tried to rinse it off with clear river water. It was slightly bitter, it was slightly spicy, and… well, she was sick right now. That alone was proof she needed to get better in the cooking department.

  [This is why the Deepwater Legion Front in the far west is such an important front to hold: over eighty percent of the continent rely on it as a consistent source of salt,] Kari said, lying on its back on the bridge of her nose, groaning alongside her. [I think you should stop eating bug meat for a day or two. Not eating bug meat won’t kill you, but eating too much definitely can. Don’t underestimate indigestion sicknesses and the effects they’ll have on you in combat.]

  She mumbled something half-coherent in response as she rolled over, facing the wall of the hollow. Her status screen popped up without warning—Kari’s doing, most likely—so she distracted herself from the sickness by staring at the words and numbers.

  Very soon, she was certain her status screen would become so long she’d have to look down just to see the rest of it, and she wasn’t looking forward to when that’d happen.

  [Name: Dahlia Sina]

  [Grade: S-Rank Giant-Class]

  [Class: Assassin Bug]

  [Swarmblood Art: Recollection]

  [Aura: 1,301 (+270)]

  [Points: 28]

  [Strength: 4 (+3), Speed: 5 (+1), Toughness: 5 (+3), Dexterity: 4 (+1), Perception: 4 (+1)]

  [// MUTATION TREE]

  [T1 Mutation | Swarmguard Deity Lvl: 5]

  [T2 Mutations | Basic Chitin Lvl: 4 | Basic Antennae Lvl: 4]

  [T3 Mutations | Basic Claws | Stridulating Throat | Basic Setae Lvl: 2] 150P

  [// EQUIPPED SWARMSTEEL]

  [Assassin Bug Claw Gauntlets (Grade: C-Rank)(Str: +2/3)(Dex: +1/2)(Aura: +140/300)]

  [Adaptable Desert Locust Greaves (Grade: E-Rank)(Spd +1/1](Tou +2/2)(Aura: +40/60)]

  [Glasswing Butterfly Goggles (Grade: F-Rank)(Per: +1/1)(Tou: +0/1)(Aura: +10/10)]

  [Adaptable Firefly Bracers (Grade: C-Rank)(Str: +1/2)(Tou: +0/1)(Aura: +50/250)]

  [Adaptable Antlion Cloak (Grade: E-Rank)(Spd: +1/1)(Tou: +1/2)(Aura +30/120)]

  … You can’t condense it or anything?

  [Do you want me to condense it?]

  I don’t need to see my equipped Swarmsteel all the time. Unless I make something I actually like, just take it out of the status screen next time?

  [Very well.]

  Given the three of them had spent the past two weeks hunting down Giant-Class bugs, they’d each gotten several hundred points to throw into whatever attribute they wanted. Emilia and Muyang aside—none of them were willing to share their status screens—Dahlia had scattered her points across most of her attributes. At Kari’s suggestion, though, she’d also unlocked one of her tier three mutations. Even though she wanted to unlock one of her branch mutations to see what that was all about.

  [T3 Core Mutation: Basic Setae]

  [Brief Description: You have grown microscopic setae across your skin that will allow you to cling to and move on walls. Subsequent levels in this mutation will decrease the stamina drain from sticking on walls]

  Next on the agenda was definitely the branch mutations and remaining tier three mutations, considering Kari was just as excited as she was to know what sort of branch mutations the Assassin Bug Class offered, but just as she tried to swipe the status screen away so she could doze off for a nap, her antenna stood up straight. Across the room, Emilia’s ears perked and Muyang’s shoulder muscles tensed as well—so without looking at each other, they each raised a hand and counted down from three inside their heads.

  After five seconds, Dahlia rolled over groggily to see what the other two had thrown at her.

  Emilia and Muyang both went for scissors, and she went for paper.

  [You’re predictable,] Kari muttered, crossing its little legs on her shoulder as she groaned and crawled off her bed, ignoring Muyang's plea for caution and Emilia half-hearted mumbles for her to stay safe. [You play paper or scissors every single time. That’s why they always go for scissors themselves.]

  But dad said I should never clench my fists, she thought, cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders, because if your fists are clenched, you aren’t holding onto anything, and you aren’t making anything. Your fist can only destroy, and that’s not what a Maker does.

  [Screw that. You should destroy them next time.]

  Kari.

  [It’s approaching quickly, but it’s alone. From its killing pressure I’m picking up through your antennae, I estimate it’s a C-Rank Giant-Class.]

  Picking up her giant Swarmsteel hammer on the way out, she tried to calm herself and breathe slowly, steadily. Her heart still hammered an anxious rhythm against her ribs whenever it was just her against a giant bug—the three of them may have done most of their fighting the past two weeks as a team, and she may have been the backline support for most of those fights, but there had been occasions where a giant bug or two ambushed her and she had to defend herself.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It was about a week ago when she’d finally realised why most participants seemed to carry a Swarmsteel weapon into the exam: Giant-Class bugs were giant. They were big, they had tough armour, and their vitals were often too hard to hit. She’d gotten by so far with her sharp claws and locust greaves that allowed to leap in close, but when there were two, three, or four Giant-Class bugs surrounding her, it was simply nerve-wracking to have to fight at such close-quarters. She wasn’t a thrill-seeker. She wasn’t like Alice who could literally jump from bug to bug to rip them apart with a hundred different silk weapons. She’d much rather stay grounded, stable, and fight her enemies head-to-head with all her advantages as an Assassin Bug Class user.

  That was, using her Swarmblood Art and her innate talent to see the silver threads—the lines of destruction.

  She stepped out of the mushroom hollow, squinting and wincing under the thick shafts of sunlight. The light made patches of earth glow, while other parts stayed dark and cool under the shade of giant mushroom caps. The air was damp and earthy with a hint of rotting mushrooms. Cicadas buzzed loudly, their droning song filling the forest. Birds flitted between the tall mushroom stalks, their wings flashing as they caught the sunlight, but… this peace wasn’t going to last forever.

  The giant fungi forest was shrinking by the day, and within a week, they had to hunt down the twin Mutant-Classes or die trying.

  [So start by killing this C-Rank Giant-Class bug confidently.]

  [Don’t jump around.]

  [Don’t dodge.]

  [Don’t fear.]

  [Stand your ground and unmake it.]

  Dragging her hammer behind her, she stopped walking after she was fifteen strides away from the hollow. Her antennae were pulsing in beats, responding to the distant sounds of mushroom trees falling, earth rumbling, leaves rustling. The C-Rank Giant-Class bug was charging straight at her, and she swallowed a hard gulp before forcing herself to exhale.

  She narrowed her eyes at the shadowy bug in front of her, pulling one leg back as she grabbed the handle of her hammer with two hands.

  It’s hard to tell what it is from this distance, but it’s a… darkling beetle.

  [Oval, somewhat rounded, convex body. Five-metre-class.]

  It’s called a darkling beetle because its chitin is usually really dark, but oftentimes, it also has a matte or a slightly glossy finish, and its surface texture may include fine ridges, grooves, or bumps.

  [That’s why jewellery and trinket Swarmsteel Makers pay a not-insignificant amount for their chitin. The natural glossy finish looks good as necklace chains or bracelet studs.]

  By the time they finished each other’s sentences, the giant darkling beetle had already burst from the forest, head pressed into the ground, its abdomen raised as it charged straight across the clearing.

  It wants to ram me with its head.

  [That’s good for you, then.]

  Fifteen metres until contact. Dahlia tightened her grip on her hammer and focused—the silver threads that usually appeared as separate, twirling strands in her eyes were now concentrated in the shape of dahlia blooms on the bug’s weak spots. Two silver flowers bloomed on the joints on its right foreleg, one bloomed under its jaw, and one bloomed on top of its head. The exact path she needed to take to reach those flowers didn’t matter, only that she did eventually.

  It’s a darkling beetle that prioritises energy conservation as its primary survival method. Its carapace is tough and sturdy, but it’s not very mobile naturally.

  [So when it’s charging at you like this with its head in the ground, sweep the leg.]

  Knock it off kilter.

  Five metres until contact. As her Dagger Antennae rippled from base to tip, she pivoted with her entire body, using herself as the fulcrum as she swung her hammer—and with her eyes aglow, she smashed the joint in its right leg, shattering chitin, tearing muscles, throwing it two metres to the side with a pained screech.

  Its charge halted. It almost slipped off the rest of its legs as it tried to stand in a panic, but she didn’t lose her balance. Her Segmented Setae prevented her from slipping. She took a firm step forward, reared her hammer behind her, and then exhaled again.

  Next.

  [Like most insects, it has limited ventral protection. Its underside must remain flexible to allow it to breathe and digest food, so the exoskeleton plates there are typically thinner and much less rigid.]

  And this goes for its head, too.

  With an underhanded swing, she smashed the beetle’s head upwards, destroying the silver flower under its jaw. Its entire body lurched upwards like she’d just pried a sewer grate out of its hole, blood spraying everywhere, and that one good hit on its jaw destroyed its ability to even screech properly.

  She jumped with her locust greaves before it could fall back down, gripping her hammer with both hands one last time as she brought it over her head.

  Finally…

  [The head.]

  [Do I even have to explain why the head is usually a weak spot?]

  Surprisingly, the beetle was still conscious enough to know she was about to fall on it, so it reared back suddenly and stabbed two legs up at her. She didn’t jerk herself out of the way. Her Swarmguard Arms moved on their own to defend her, its legs scraping past her firefly bracers to electrify it slightly, and once she fell past its counter-attacking legs, she threw everything she had into one downwards smash.

  Her hammer absolutely pulverised its head as it landed straight on the final silver flower, and the ground beneath them cracked as she touched down, more blood and guts spraying onto her cloak.

  [... Not bad,] Kari said, clapping its legs as she spat and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, activating Swarmblood Art: Scourgewind briefly to vibrate off all the bloody bits clinging to her body. [But if you had more strength, you could’ve just killed it with the uppercut. Jumping like that is just more work for more flair, and nobody’s even watching.]

  I know–

  [Also, try to mitigate air time as much as possible. You don’t have a wing mutation, so you can’t exactly ‘jerk out of the way’ while you’re falling. Lots of flying bugs can just swoop at you while you’re super defenceless.]

  I didn’t exactly have a choice there–

  [Also, you need to be more confident in your ability. Your silver flowers bloomed three times because you can’t see any way to kill it in less than three hits. However, it was charging at you with its head literally already pressed into the ground. You could’ve just done a downwards smash right off the bat.]

  Can’t you compliment me on just one thing?

  Kari had to think for a moment as she let go of her hammer, stepping over the beetle’s pulverised head to climb onto its carapace.

  [Your hammer is pretty powerful.]

  [Adaptable {Amalgamation} Hammer (Grade: E-Rank)(Str: +0/4)(Aura: + 10/60)]

  As she started carving away at the beetle’s chitin with her claws, she threw a glance back at her giant hammer. It was just as tall as she was, and the whole thing was made out of a hundred different bug parts—she didn’t even know what she’d slammed onto it, only that at some point, even Kari couldn’t tell her what type of bug it was made out of. For now, she called it the ‘Amalgamated Hammer’: the shaft was a gnarled spiral of fused exoskeleton fragments, and the head was interlocking carapaces filled with mandibles, claws, and fractured wings. She made sure to carve and smoothen the exterior carapaces so the hammer looked relatively normal on the outside, but there was a little plug on one end of the head where she could pop it open and… ‘feed’ the inside of the hammer with more bug parts.

  She’d bled on the hammer with her golden blood during the initial forge to make all the individual parts stick together better—and to make it ‘adaptable’ so her own attributes would also transfer to the hammer—but she’d no idea what she’d really made by putting her blood in it.

  It was black and gold streaked, though, just like all her other adaptable Swarmsteel, so she’d keep an eye on it. She wouldn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to see it coming to life and gnawing on some other Swarmsteel.

  What have I made, Kari?

  At first, I just wanted to make a normal hammer, but then Emilia and Muyang kept bringing home so many different bug parts, so then I got excited and started cobbling more parts together, and then I also started bleeding on it just to see what would happen, and now–

  [I don’t know, either.]

  [But its killing pressure… frightens me a little.]

  …

  So maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to strip the darkling beetle’s chitin and feed it all into her hammer, but she’d already finished carving up the beetle, head to elytra. If she wasn’t going to feed her hammer again, she might as well use it for something else.

  With a fraction of her spoils of war stuffed under her cloak, she picked the hammer up and began dragging it back to the mushroom hollow. She’d have to take multiple trips just to haul everything inside, but she had time. Until Emilia and Muyang felt like going out to actively hunt the Mutant-Classes, she’d just stay back, rest her indigestion on her comfy little bed, and–

  From out of nowhere, a Noble-Blood and a Plagueplain Doctor came crashing through the giant fungi trees on the left, their trail of clashing blades bringing down an entire mushroom that collapsed on her mushroom hollow with a heavy thump.

  … Goddamnit.

  What is it this time?

  The link to the Discord server is with nearly five hundred members, where you can get notifications for chapter updates, check out my writing progress, and read daily facts about this insect-based world. My is here with up to eight advanced chapters for this story and Storm Strider and Thousand Tongue Mage, so it's twenty-four advanced chapters in total.

  See you next Friday!