Ronin watched the far horizon his eyes lingering on an unnatural patch of gravy in the large ocean. Zarren watched the same patch, unable to see anything but still curious what he was seeing. She was unable to see anything, but knew that his higher cultivation and skills were more than enough to see what was happening.

  Suddenly, Ronin blurred and then was in front of her in a show of barely suppressed high tier. "He has ascended, its time for you to awaken." A white stone that Zarren recognized as an essence stone appeared in his hand. "Take this and absorb some of its essence."

  Zarren nodded. Taking the stone and sitting down on the wooden floor of the flying house, she began absorbing the essence. A few moments later, Zarren felt something within herself awakening. Opening her eyes, Tailana accepted the Talent scanner from Ronin.

  Tier 1 Talent Determined

  You gain a Spirit Bond. Your Spirit Bonds take the place of your core and innate skills.

  Secondary Effect: You are able to use the bloodlines of your Spirit Bonds

  Tertiary Effect: You are unable to bring Skills into your core spirit.

  Zarren looked over her Talent, not entirely sure what to make of it. After reading over it a second time, She showed the screen to Ronin.

  "Hmm, that, could either be an amazing Talent, or a mediocre one. Can you feel this spirit bond? Can you try and summon it?"

  As Ronin asked the question, Zarren realized she could in fact feel something. Poking at it Zarren felt that it would take little more than a push for the spirit to be summoned. Giving exactly that push, Zarren watched as a decorative circle formed in the air before her. It had the look of some kind of stylized seal with what looked like a roiling wave of bugs in the center of it.

  That was exactly what rushed out of the seal. Well, not exactly. It wasn't really a wave of bug, more of a small swarm, only around fifty of them. Each bug looked like it was made of flesh with a bone carapace and bone plating running up its body, with their body looking to be only around the same size as Ronin's hand.

  In a blur, Ronin moved forward and then back, holding one of the bugs pinched between his fingers.

  "These are interesting little buggers, pun very much intended." Ronin said with a small smirk.

  As he examined the bug, the rest of them moved towards Zarren. Stopping in front of her the bugs clicked their pincers and she heard a child like voice made up of a multitude of hisses, clicks, and low whispers speak to her.

  "How may we help the Monarch?" They? It? asked her.

  "Uh, Ronin."

  "Yeah? What is it Zar?"

  "The bugs just spoke to me and called me Monarch." She paused for a second. "At least I think they were speaking with me."

  "Of course Lady Monarch. Who else would be of high enough esteemed to be given such a name?" The swarm of bugs said before seemingly shifting their attention to Ronin. "Lady Monarch, who is this man that dares speak to you so casually? He is to strong for us to consume at the moment but if you wish it we will seek out the strength necessary to consume him."

  "WHAT! No don't do that!" Zarren shouted.

  Ronin was suddenly next to her. "What is going on? What did it say?" Ronin said, his eyes narrowing on the swarm and a sword appearing in his hand.

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  "Lady Monarch, the impudent one has a weapon. Run while we hold him back." The swarm said as it started to surge forward.

  "NO!" Zarren said as she stepped in between the two. "Your not going to eat anyone." Zarren said while pointing at the swarm of bugs. She paused for a moment and then amended what she said. "Your not going to eat anyone unless I give you permission." She pointed at Ronin. "And you should be threatening him… It… Them? What ever that doesn't matter. You are more than strong enough to kill the both of us before we could even blink."

  Zarren stepped back. "Now both of you play nice."

  "Ok"

  "As you Command Lady Monarch."

  "Good." Zarren turned to look at the swarm of bugs. "Do you have a name by chance?"

  "Will are yours in mind, body and spirit. We will answer to the you give us."

  "Ok." Zarren muttered to herself. "I'll take that as a no." Zarren though for a moment before settling on a name. "I'll name you Carter."

  Ronin gave her a weird look. "Your naming the swarm of bone plated flesh insects Carter?" Ronin asked her with a weird look.

  Zarren shrugged. "He feels like a Carter."

  "I will treasure the name you have given me for all of eternity Lady Monarch."

  Zarren sat down on the floor, her legs crossed and motioned for the swarm to come to her. In response it did. Like a wave, the swarm of bugs moved closer to her until they were just feet away from her. At this distance, Zarren could see that they were actually locusts and there looked to be a seem along their abdomen which she assumed housed wings.

  "Do you mind me asking what you are capable of?'

  "Of course not Lady Monarch. We exist to serve and it is only right that you know the capabilities of your subordinates. Our blood holds not only an affinity for the body, but also the capability to multiply through the consumption of biological material. Our spirit grants the ability to turn skills into diseases."

  Zarren took a moment to register that. "Your spirt as in you have a Talent?"

  "If that is what you call it, then yes, I do have a Talent Lady Monarch." Carter said.

  "You want to clue me in on what you two are talking about?" Ronin said, his voice filled with amusement despite Zarren knowing he was worried.

  "Uh, sure. Carter said that his blood, holds the power of an affinity for the body, and he can multiply through the consumption of biological material. I think he has a Talent to."

  "I'm going to assume that by his blood holds he means a bloodline and your Talents secondary effect would suggest so." Ronin said as he tossed the Talent scanner up before catching it. "I'm also surprised that Carter has a Talent but in some ways it isn't surprising as your Talent does have some pretty nasty restrictions so it makes sense that it would balance itself out." Ronin offered her the scanner. "Wanna scan him?"

  Zarren shrugged and accepted the scanner. Bringing it to Carter, she waiting until it had scanned him and then read the results.

  Tier 1 Talent Determined.

  Skills brough into your spirit become diseases.

  Zarren looked at the deceptively simply description before handing the Talent scanner to Ronin.

  Ronin glanced at the scanner and his entire body locked up. His head shot up and his fingers twitched as if clutching at his sword.

  "Zar, do you know how dangerous your summon is?" He asked, his voice more serious than she had ever heard him.

  Zarren bobbed her head side to side. "Its definitely dangerous but it can't be that bad."

  Ronin shook his head. "So you don't understand." He pointed at Carter. "Your summon is able to turn skills into diseases. Depending on how exactly those diseases work they could potentially spread throughout a world unchecked killing millions. Even if a high tier healer got their in time to cure them you could still kill thousands. If you get the right skills" Ronin visibly shuddered and his voice went low. "If you got a void skills, you could kill tens even hundreds of millions."

  "This Talent isn't all powerful, but it is certainly very strong if paired with the right skills. This is the kind of Talent that needs to be reported to they will want to get you to tier 3 to see what Carters Talent becomes. Hopefully it will offer control over the diseases but either way the empire will wish to keep track of you."

  "Wha-what about something else?" Zarren asked. "What if I joined the path. Its something I've thought of doing anyways so if I joined they would be able to keep an eye on me far easier and I would be able to work on tiering up."

  Ronin hesitated for a moment before nodding. "That is certainly an option and one they would likely allow."

  His eyes began flicking around before nodding. "I've gotten something set up. We will meet up with a representative of the empire in the next system over.

  With that, the two of them left the site of the ascension before anyone else did.