Azmoz stood in the center of the clearing, his eyes fixed on the yellow-and-black insect hovering near his face. The bond was solid, a cold thread of connection that sat in the back of his mind. He could feel the hornet's simple instincts—the vibration of the air, the hunger for nectar, and the strange, buzzing loyalty it now felt toward him.
He needed to see the numbers. He needed to know exactly how close he was to the next level.
"OPEN," he whispered.
The purple slime slithered from his hand, swirling in the air before solidifying into the heavy, chitinous book. The pages flipped rapidly, skipping the hound and the spiders, landing directly on the new entry for the Hornet.
[New Bounded Added: +5 Exp]
The text shimmered, and the book turned to the final page.
Eighty-five. He was so close he could almost taste it. Fifteen points. That was all that stood between him and the transformation the Tome promised. He dismissed the book, watching it melt back into his arm, and looked at the hornet.
The insect began to circle him, its wings creating a high-pitched drone that seemed to pulse in time with the "Sense Link" in Azmoz's mind. It wasn't just flying aimlessly. Through the bond, Azmoz felt a distinct pull, a directional urge that the hornet was trying to communicate. It wanted him to follow. It wanted to show him where it came from.
"Show me," Azmoz muttered, adjusting the straps of his bag.
He followed the hornet deeper into the woods. The environment was changing. The trees here were taller, their trunks covered in a thick, pulsating moss that glowed with a faint, sickly green light. The air was heavy with the smell of rotting fruit and something sharp, like vinegar. As he walked, he practiced the "Sense Link." He would close his eyes for a few seconds, letting the hornet's vision take over.
It was like looking through a thousand tiny mirrors. He saw the forest in fragments—the heat signatures of small rodents in the brush, the ultraviolet patterns on the forest flowers, and the looming shape of his own body moving through the trees. It was disorienting, making his stomach churn, but he forced himself to endure it. He needed to master this.
After twenty minutes of trekking through the thick undergrowth, the hornet stopped. It hovered in front of a massive, gray structure hanging from the branch of an ancient, blackened oak.
It was the Nest.
Azmoz gasped, ducking behind a thicket of purple ferns. The nest was the size of a large boulder, a swirling masterpiece of chewed wood and dried saliva that looked like a palace made of gray paper. It was alive with movement. Hundreds—perhaps thousands—of hornets were crawling over the surface, their wings creating a low-frequency hum that made the very air vibrate.
Azmoz's first instinct was greed. If I bond with all of them, he thought, his heart racing, I'll be unstoppable. I could have an army.
He reached for the Tome, but he stopped himself. He remembered the spiders. The book had given him experience for the first bond, but the second one had provided nothing. These hornets were the same species. He could spend hours bonding with a hundred of them, and his experience bar wouldn't move a single inch. It was a waste of time and a waste of his limited "Bounded" slots.
"I need something new," he whispered to himself. "I need the leader."
But his presence hadn't gone unnoticed.
The forest was quiet, but the hornets were sensitive to the slightest vibration. One of the larger guards, a hornet with a dark, reddish tint to its wings, suddenly broke away from the nest. It circled the air, its antennae twitching, until its multifaceted eyes locked onto the tall, pale boy hiding in the ferns.
Zzzzt!
The guard emitted a sharp, buzzing alarm. Within seconds, the rhythmic hum of the nest changed. It became a roar. A cloud of yellow and black erupted from the paper palace, a living wall of stingers and wings.
"Oh, no," Azmoz hissed.
He didn't wait to see if they would attack. He turned and bolted. He ran through the thicket, the branches clawing at his face and tearing at his hoodie. He could hear them behind him—a swarm of a thousand angry hearts, all beating in unison. The sound was like a physical weight, pressing against his back.
He dived over a fallen log and slid down a muddy embankment, his boots skidding on the slick moss. He didn't stop until he reached a small, dark cave formed by two leaning boulders. He scrambled inside, pulling a heavy curtain of vines over the entrance.
He sat there in the dark, his chest heaving, his lungs burning as if he had swallowed hot coals. Outside, the hum of the swarm moved past his hiding spot, the sound fading as the hornets searched the surrounding woods for the intruder.
Anger bubbled up in his chest, hot and bitter. He was tired of running. He had run from the school bullies, he had run from the library director, he had run from the Mayor, and now he was running from bugs.
"No more," he growled, his hands clenching into fists. "I am the one with the Tome. I am the one who evolves."
He realized the swarm was out in the woods, searching for him. The nest would be vulnerable. Most of the soldiers were gone, leaving only the young and the one who mattered most—the Queen.
Azmoz waited. He counted his heartbeats, letting the adrenaline cool into a sharp, focused rage. When the forest outside grew quiet again, he stepped out of the cave. He didn't head away from the nest. He headed straight back toward it.
He reached the clearing of the Paper Palace again. He was careful this time, staying in the deep shadows of the glowing moss. He looked at the nest. It was quieter now, with only a few dozen guards circling the entrance.
"Time to work," he whispered.
He focused on the tattoo on his arm. Come out.
The two Level 1 spiders crawled onto the ground, while the Bounded hornet hovered near his shoulder. Azmoz didn't feel like a victim anymore; he felt like a general.
"Spiders, go to the base of the tree," he commanded, his intent flowing through the link. "Wait for my signal. Hornet, you're the distraction."
The Bounded hornet shot forward, flying directly toward the nest. The guards immediately reacted, swiveling their heads toward the lone intruder. As they moved to intercept, Azmoz gave the mental shout.
Now!
The two spiders moved with terrifying speed. As they reached the trunk of the oak, their bodies began to grow. The Size Manipulation skill made their carapaces creak as they expanded to the size of a man's fist. They scurried up the bark, their hooked legs digging deep into the wood.
The guard hornets tried to sting the spiders, but the spiders' Level 1 armor was too thick. One spider used its larger mass to knock a guard out of the air, while the other reached the hanging attachment of the nest.
With a violent snap of its mandibles, the spider bit through the thick, paper-like pillar that held the nest to the branch.
The Paper Palace fell.
It hit the ground with a heavy, muffled thud, splitting open like a ripe fruit. Thousands of larvae and stunned hornets tumbled into the dirt. And then, from the center of the wreckage, she emerged.
The Queen was magnificent. She was twice the size of a normal hornet, her body a deep, royal purple that shimmered like polished amethyst. Her wings were long and elegant, and her stinger was a curved, black needle that looked like it was made of obsidian.
She let out a low, vibrating hum that made Azmoz's teeth ache. This wasn't a Level 0 insect. This was something else.
The Queen lunged at the nearest spider, her movement so fast it was almost a blur. She slammed into the spider, her powerful jaws tearing at its leg. The spider hissed, trying to use its weight to pin her down, but the Queen was too agile. She circled, looking for a gap in the armor.
"Spiders, together!" Azmoz shouted.
The second spider jumped from the tree, landing directly on the Queen's back. The Queen thrashed, her wings buzzing with such force that they kicked up a cloud of dust and dead leaves. She managed to buck the second spider off, but the first one saw its opening.
It reared back, its fangs glowing with a faint, greenish light.
[Skill Activated: Potent Neurotoxin]
The spider sank its fangs into the Queen's abdomen. The Queen let out a high-pitched, clicking shriek. She tried to fly, her wings beating frantically, but the toxin was already spreading. Her movements became jerky and slow. She tumbled back into the ruins of her nest, her long, elegant legs twitching as the paralysis took hold.
The remaining guards, seeing their Queen fall, scattered into the woods, their collective will broken.
The clearing fell silent. The only sound was the crackling of the broken nest and the heavy thud of Azmoz's heart. He stepped out from the shadows, his boots crunching on the gray paper of the ruined hive. He walked toward the fallen Queen, his shadow falling over her shimmering purple body.
She was still alive, her eyes fixed on him with a primal, fading defiance.
Azmoz looked down at his right arm. The tattoo was burning, the ink swirling with a desperate, hungry energy. He was one touch away from 100%. He reached out a trembling hand, his fingers inches away from the Queen's paralyzed back.
He didn't feel sorry for her. He didn't feel sorry for the nest. He only felt the pull of the Tome, and the promise of what he was about to become.
His finger touched the purple carapace.